After establishing a career as a solid working actor with over 40 film and television credits to his name, 37-year-old Torontonian Adam MacDonald decided to conquer a new mountain: directing. His debut feature, Backcountry, premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival as a part of the Discovery program, and is an eerie backwoods horror film based on a true story of a couple that embarks on a camping trip in the Ontario wilderness that goes horribly awry, leaving them stranded without food and water, and forced to face the unforgiving elements in North Bay, Ontario.
In this episode of The Director's Canvas, we met up with Adam on the top of the Thompson Hotel to talk about his transition from actor to filmmaker, how legendary horror film director George A. Romero's multiple rejections inpired him to direct, and the fears of presenting your first feature to critics.