As a producer-actor duo, Jane Loughman and Toronto’s David Hewlett have worked together on films in the past, but this year’s The Swearing Jar marks not only Loughman’s TIFF debut but the pair’s own TIFF debut working on the same movie together. Loughman produced the film and Stargate star David Hewlett played the role of Bill. With the theatrical release of the film premiering on Friday, the couple shared the details of their disastrous first date, unexpected Forest Hill proposal and what it was like working on a movie together.
How they met
Jane: We met at a party in L.A. because we were both hiding and trying to avoid all the schmoozers.
David: And here’s the twist: we were both married to other people.
Jane: But it really was a very innocent meeting at the time. Years later, I hosted a party, an Independence Day party, but it wasn’t in July — it was in April, to celebrate both my divorce and my new U.S. citizenship. I invited David and his wife, and he sent me an email saying, “Please take my wife’s name off the list, it’s just me now, we’re no longer together.”
The first date
Jane: I told him, “I’ve got practice in that. I’m learning how to put my life back together after divorce as well. Come on out, I can take you out for drinks and you can tell me all about it.”
David: But then I cancelled like three times!
Jane: I started calling it my “non-date with the actor guy” because I thought it was never going to happen. But then it finally did, on a Sunday afternoon.
David: It was a disaster. I pulled up to her hotel, and I couldn’t figure out the buzzer to open the gates, and I couldn’t work out the door. I’m sitting there thinking, “Maybe I should just go home,” and then I look up and there’s this vision of a movie star–gorgeous, blond woman standing there with a cigarette and a glass of wine. And then the horror sets in because I’m wearing cut-off khaki pants and a torn T-shirt. So we went, and I spilled the soy sauce —
Jane: And I popped him in the face with an edamame!
David: So it was a disaster, and we agreed to do it again.
The proposal
David: It was Christmas Eve at my dad’s place, and at the bottom of Jane’s stocking, there were the usual nuts and the mandarin, but there was also a wedding ring.
Jane: David had actually asked for my dad’s blessing in the summer, but then we had a miscarriage, and I guess it didn’t feel like the right time. And I think my dad was worried that he wasn’t going to [propose]! We were actually going to go away for my birthday, but that didn’t work out, and he had this grand plan to propose to me somewhere exotic on the beach. But that’s how we ended up in his childhood bedroom in Forest Hill on Christmas Eve!
The wedding
Jane: So of course, as soon as he proposed to me, I got accidentally knocked up. And I decided I wasn’t waddling up any aisles, and I wasn’t having a big celebration where I couldn’t drink and join in, so we pushed the wedding to the following summer. We had it at Warwick Castle, which sounds so pompous and princessy, but I had visited there as a child and had this dream of growing up and getting married there.
David: And we had our secret wedding in Hawaii before all that.… We just wanted to have a wedding to ourselves.
Working on a movie together
David: With The Swearing Jar, I tried to talk her out of it the entire time. I was telling her that you shouldn’t work with family, it’ll be a disaster, and it was my sister’s script as well. And then I adored it when I saw it.
Jane: He was my mascot. He was there on the first day and he was there for one of the last days.
David: I’m always so grumpy when I’m asked to do stuff like this, but I love it when I’m there.
The secret to success
David: A sense of humour.
Jane: I think also a sense of feeling completely and utterly supported in decisions is essential too.
You can watch David Hewlett in The Swearing Jar this weekend at Cineplex Varisty cinema.