A couple of weeks ago at the Forest City Film Festival, in downtown London, I made my theatrical debut. What a weird experience it is to see yourself up on the big screen! To experience the real time audience response, hear the audio and music over a proper system in its full glory, and just to sit amongst fellow humans taking in a grand venture was such an incredible treat.
The short film shot on Pelee Island in the summer of 2023 was written by Henry Adam Svec and directed by Erin Brandenburg. For some reason, they thought I might work for the part of Harold Murphy, a middle-aged musician who goes on retreat in an attempt to rekindle the creative spark.
Erin Brandenburg, Henry Adam Svec & Ron Leary at the Forest City Film Festival screening of The Wreck of Harold Murphy (photo: Ken Mills, Oct 25, 2025)
Pelee Island is such a beautiful setting for a film, endlessly rich visuals and sounds and, well, there’s just a spirit to the place. All three of us have a deep connection to the Island so it was a treat to get to share that love of place with others.
It was a gruelling 3-day shoot with a ton of ground to cover in a very short period of time. At most I had the luxury of nailing each scene in the first take, or maybe second if lucky. It was all a little daunting at first considering it was my first ever acting gig, but then I just leaned on decades of stage experience, got out of the brain and listened to what the director and DOP instructed me to do and then did my best to deliver as honest a performance as possible. No one threw tomatoes at the screening so I’ll take that as a good sign.
Harold talks to Barb on the phone while mesmerized by a moose. (A still image from The Wreck of Harold Murphy, 2025)
Initially it was suggested to use one of my older recorded songs but I wasn’t too keen on the idea as I still consider myself an actively creating artist, always pushing, and didn’t want to be presented as a legacy artist. So I convinced Erin and Henry to use something fresh and new instead. So fresh, little did they know at the time, but it wasn’t even completely finished yet by the filming date and the moments where I’m writing the song throughout the film in fact I was also still doing so in real life.
The song is called “Soul Remote” and the lyrics lined up perfectly for the film’s story line, even though that was never the intention with the song when I’d initially laid its foundation. But it just came out at the right time. It would appear that some of Harold’s struggles were certainly reflecting some of my own at the time.
Also, beyond the screening, it was a great honour to be invited by the Forest City Film Festival to perform “Soul Remote” at Opening Night, the previous night. What a treat is was to get to sing to a theatre full of people, it had been too long. I could get used to that!
There’s more screenings in the works, for Windsor and hopefully Toronto as well. I’ll keep you posted on those. If you haven’t already, sign up for my mailing list as that’s likely where the tip off will come out first.
There sure are a whole lot of moving parts to make a film, and it takes a village to complete.
Here are The Wreck of Harold Murphy credits:
Directed by Erin Brandenburg
Written by Henry Adam Svec
Produced by Erin Brandenburg, Ron Leary, Henry Adam Svec, Martin Wojtunik
Starring: Ron Leary, Monica Dottor, Jazza Torres, Erin Brandenburg, Henry Adam Svec
Cinematographer: Christina Ienna
Production Designer: Rod Strickland
Editor: Howie Shia
Original Sculptures by Rod Strickland
Songs by Ron Leary
Music and Composition by Andrew Penner
1st Assistant Director: Nazerah Carlile
1st AC: Nick Coffin
Gaffer: Anya Shor
Grip: Kelly Read
Production Audio: Jonas Bonnetta
Production Assistants: Emalee Brandenburg , Rhea Brandenburg
Driver: Andrew Penner
Wardrobe Assistant: Mary Svec
Catering: Emalee Brandenburg, Rhea Brandenburg, One of A Kind Pelee, Jeff Wiper
Props: Julian Higuerey Núñez, Henry Adam Svec
Audio Mixer: Andrew Penner
Additional Guitar: Dean Drouillard
Colourist: Javier Lovera
Costume Consultant: Nancy Perrin
Production Consultant: Shannon Lea Doyle
Beer provided by Red Barn Brewery
Cameras by Arri Rentals
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If you’d like to listen to the recorded version of “Soul Remote,” here's the Official Video. The video was a side project of mine with Garth Jackson (2025). Our intention was to channel Andy Warhol’s screen test films. While I was aware of these short films from an earlier project I had worked on, I only truly came to understand their power upon visiting the Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh and witnessing them projected floor to ceiling. They truly knocked me out and I figured we should try capture some of that magic ourselves.
