Episode 498 Daniel Stern James vs. His Future Self

Daniel Stern and Face2Face host David Peck talk about his new film James vs. His Future Self, sculpting, good conversation, staying focused, regret and living in the moment, and why there’s no ketchup in the future.

Watch it on: Bell On Demand, Shaw and iTunes.

Synopsis:

When an uptight time-travelling obsessed young scientist is visited by his nihilistic future self, he’s told that he needs to give up his dream of becoming the world’s first time traveler, or else. But when he won’t go along with the plan, it becomes a wicked battle of man versus himself – literally.

In James vs His Future Self, Jonas Chernick is James, a brilliant and obsessed particle physicist on the brink of inventing time travel who, in the process, has relegated the only two people who care about him to the sidelines. Daniel Stern is Jimmy, the future, time-travelling version of James, now angry, cynical and driven by regret and loss. Jimmy’s obsessed with righting the wrongs of his life by convincing his younger self to give up his obsession with time travel and to finally stop and smell the roses. Or else.

Directed by Jeremy LaLonde (Cinequest Best Comedy award-winner The Go-Getters, Slamdance hit and Canadian Film Fest award-winner How to Plan an Orgy in a Small Town) and co-written by LaLonde and Chernick, James vs His Future Self is an existential twist on the time-traveller-arrives-to-save-the-future trope. An homage to the classic sci-fi rom-coms of the 80’s and 90’s, a la Back to the Future, James vs His Future Self is a rare Canadian indie film filled with raunchy humour, heartfelt romance, surprising twists and packed with noteworthy performances.

At the center are Chernick (currently co-starring on the Netflix/CBC hit comedy series Workin’ Moms, and star of the 2012 TIFF award-winner My Awkward Sexual Adventure) and Daniel Stern as his future self, giving the comeback performance of his career. Winner of the Jury Award for Best Supporting Actor at the Toronto After Dark Film Festival, and nominated for a Canadian Screen Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role, Stern (who also currently stars in the hit Hulu series Shrill) is hilarious, dangerous and surprisingly emotional as Jimmy, James’s determined future self.

Alongside Chernick and Stern are head-turning performances by three extraordinary actresses. James is affected by the gravitational pull of three fierce women in his life. His sister Meredith (Bitten’s Tommie-Amber Pirie) wants both of them to get over the death of their parents 15 years earlier and finally forge their own paths in the world. His best friend / soul mate Courtney (Cleopatra Coleman, from Netflix’s In The Shadow of the Moon and the Fox series Last Man On Earth) is a genius scientist in her own right, and is being courted by CERN to relocate to Switzerland and work on the Large Hadron Collider. This would remove her from James’s life, presumably forever. And Dr. Rowley (Joker & Six Feet Under’s Frances Conroy) is the metaphoric Devil on his shoulder, a lonely giant in the science world whose approval and acceptance could make James’s time-travel dreams a reality.

Is the future inevitable? Or can Jimmy change James’s course?

About Daniel:

Daniel Stern recently completed a major arc playing Aidy Bryant’s (SNL) father in the Hulu comedy series Shrill, produced by Lorne Michaels.  Stern can also now be seen starring in Game Over Man! opposite Adam Devine, Anders Holm and Blake Anderson in the Kyle Newacheck-directed Netflix feature.

Stern appears on Judd Apatow’s Netflix series Love and previously co-starred in WGN’s Manhattan and feature films including Diner, It’s My Turn, Breaking Away, and the City Slickers and Home Alone franchises.

He’ll next be seen starring in the feature film Everything’s Peachy, which he adapted from of his own stage play, and which he’ll be directing in 2019.

Image Copyright: Northern Banner Releasing. Used with permission.

F2F Music and Image Copyright: David Peck and Face2Face. Used with permission.

For more information about David Peck’s podcasting, writing and public speaking please visit his site here.

With thanks to Josh Snethlage and Mixed Media Sound.