Deaner ’89 takes audiences on a wild ride through the chaotic world of Dean Murdoch, a teenage hockey star in the late 1980s whose life is turned upside down by the discovery of his Indigenous heritage. The film, set against a backdrop of small-town hockey culture, Jazzercise, and a society where seatbelts were optional (how did even they survive back then, you may ask), follows Dean as he navigates his way through a series of increasingly bizarre and challenging situations. The arrival of a mysterious trunk filled with his estranged father’s belongings sets Dean on a path of self-discovery, forcing him to confront his identity and heritage. With a blend of high-tempo comedy and serious undertones, Deaner ’89 explores the complexities of identity, the impact of hidden family secrets, and the importance of embracing one’s past to shape a better future.

In an interview with Ulkar Alakbarova for moviemovesme.com, Paul Spence, who both wrote the screenplay and portrayed Dean Murdoch, offers a deep dive into the creative process behind the film. Spence discusses how his personal experiences and family history influenced the narrative, particularly in relation to Canada’s Indigenous adoption policies and the theme of hidden heritage. He also sheds light on the challenges of balancing the film’s comedic tone with its more serious themes, the process of bringing Dean’s character to life, and the broader life lessons that can be drawn from Dean’s tumultuous journey. Through this conversation, Spence provides valuable insights into the making of Deaner ’89 and the powerful messages embedded within its humor and heart.

MOVIEMOVESME: Thank you for such a crazy journey in ‘Deaner ’89.’ I understand the film explores themes of identity and hidden heritage, particularly in relation to Indigenous history, with a personal connection to your own story. How did you balance these personal elements with Dean Murdoch’s story to ensure it resonated effectively on screen?

Paul Spence: Yeah, that’s an interesting question. I would say that what I really tried to do was just to be as, I guess, authentic as possible and refer to things that I was comfortable and familiar with. Like my own father’s story is one where he came from Northern Saskatchewan and he wasn’t really familiar with his Indigenous roots. He just looked Indigenous and people would say that he was, and his mom would tell him that he wasn’t. So that was the baseline for me thinking about what identity is, especially when it comes to our modern world, like right now, 2024, what is it to be Indigenous? And I think the answer is that it’s so, so varied and every single story is so different.

So, I just tried to tell my story, which was the idea of finding out something very important about your past and your Indigenous lineage later in life and how that can have an effect on you. I was in my thirties when I understood about the Métis side of my parentage, and I thought it would be more interesting if it happened at a very seminal part of someone’s childhood or young adulthood, like 16 years old. I thought then that could really be a bit more of a springboard into action rather than when you’re already kind of like an adult and kind of know who you are and your sense of self is more established. So layering some of my experiences and my father’s experience onto a teenage Dean I thought would be kind of interesting. Yeah, because it would really affect who he was and what he thought about his future and so forth.

MMM: The movie is described as a high-tempo comedy, but it also tackles serious issues like Canada’s Indigenous adoption policies and Dean’s journey of discovering his identity. As both the writer and actor, how did you balance maintaining a comedic tone while also addressing these important themes?

Paul Spence: Well, that is something that I was really working hard to strike that balance. I was working hard to strike from the very, very beginning of this process right up until the editing part of the process, because there’s a version of the movie that just has all the jokes in, and then there’s a version of the movie that has less jokes in it. You know what I mean? There’s a million ways to edit a movie together.

And I think we did ultimately stick to mostly what I had conceived in my head, which was that you want there to be someone giving you the permission structure to laugh every minute or so. That was kind of what I had in my head. Every minute or two, I wanted the permission structure to be there to laugh, whether you were laughing at how stupid something was, if you were laughing at an actual setup and a punch line, or you were kind of laughing uncomfortably because the situation was kind of awkward. I just wanted to make sure that there was that permission structure to laugh throughout the film and never get bogged down in what I was ultimately trying to say, which is that there’s a serious side to Dean’s upbringing. But Dean is ultimately a very fun character and hopefully it’s a very funny movie.

So yeah, it’s all about pacing really. And when we were watching it near the end of the editing process, I guess what we were really kind of keying into which was we never wanted to let people forget exactly why Dean was on this journey in the first place is that his dead father, who his parents didn’t really tell him much about, belly splashed his way into his life out of the blue. But at the same time, it’s upbeat and it’s funny. So how do you walk that line? Yeah, I guess ultimately it was, that’s what I said, it was really about the pacing of making sure that the audience had the permission structure to laugh and felt that jokes were coming somewhat frequently.

And I think basically how we ended up answering that was by having the talking head, the interview version of Dean, having him there. Basically, whenever something serious came up, we would give Dean the opportunity to talk about it. And even if he’s answering a serious question about adoption, about his Indigenous past and stuff, just the way that Dean answers questions very frankly I think was part of the way that we made it funny, while at the same time respecting the topic that we were discussing, if that makes sense.

MMM: I’m curious about Dean’s character. People often try to run from their past or heritage to avoid blame or accusations, whether related to Indigenous matters or LGBTQ issues. In Dean’s story, he seems incomplete until he embraces his past. As a writer and actor with a personal connection to this story, how important do you think it is for people to embrace their past, and how can doing so help them feel more complete and proud of who they are?

Paul Spence: A number of years ago, I worked on the National Inquiry for Missing Indigenous Women and Girls, sorry, Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls. And throughout that process, we interviewed hundreds of people. Some of them were not comfortable talking about their past, and some of them were. For some of them, talking about their past, it very much was a relief, and it helped them sort of come to grips with some of the things that had happened, and it helped them with their identity. And other people, they didn’t want to. They were uncomfortable with it. And so I think it’s important to respect that every person’s journey is different.

And in my case, it was important for me to basically to address what happened with my dad’s past and my own, and I was comfortable with that. But I think the expectation of every… Everyone who has something traumatic or something surprising in their past, it’s a bit… Yeah, I think you just have to respect that that’s maybe not the way for everyone. Like someone who was adopted and they just say like, “Well, I don’t really want to know who my parents were.” You kind of need to respect that. You know what I mean? Even if you feel like, well, no, I mean, it would be cool to sort of… Maybe you’re Iranian or maybe they sort of have a certain skin tone or whatever, and you’re curious as to where they might’ve come from and they don’t know. And if they don’t want to know, I think it’s important to respect that as much as it is important to respect someone who does want to follow their journey, just because it can be the kind of thing that really does change your life.

And this film was very much like a journey of discovery for Dean. It’s told in a comedic manner, but it can be very traumatic in the real world as well. And I think you just have to respect the fact that maybe not everybody wants to go through that. Yeah, I guess that would be my answer.

MMM: As both the writer and lead actor, how do you shift your mindset from creating the character to fully embodying them on screen? How do you transition between these roles, and what’s your process for getting into character?

Paul Spence: That’s a really good question. I think that the trick, if there is a trick, and I can’t say that this would work for every film, but just because this movie was so very much based in an era, like a nostalgic era, like a very specific nostalgic era, the end of the eighties, I really focused on where I was. You know, was I in my girlfriend’s bedroom? Was I in a biker’s barn? Was I in the back of a van? Was I driving an eighties car? And just to really let myself sink into the physical world that I was in, I felt that that really helped.

And shooting in Winnipeg was fantastic because it was just such a great eighties town. Everything felt so eighties in every single location we were at. It wasn’t like one of those film sets where you’ve got this one tiny little corner, and then if you take two steps out, you’re in a completely different universe. You know what I mean? Winnipeg very much did feel… Most of our locations, they really did feel like the eighties. So I think that was a big part of it.

And I guess also just because I was so… I’ve been playing the character for so long, it’s actually quite easy to just kind get into it. So once I understood who teenage Dean was, I just would just really lean into that and just sort of say, “What would a teenager do?” And then look in the mirror and see that I had braces and this kind of greasy long hair. There was a lot of character method acting going on too, for sure.

MMM: When I watch a movie, I often wonder what happens to the characters after the credits roll. As a writer and actor, do you ever think about your characters’ lives beyond the story’s end? Do you imagine their future, like whether they got married, had kids, or stayed single? Do you find yourself thinking about their ongoing journey, even if they’re just imaginary characters?

Paul Spence: And I think that was one of the reasons that I kind of ended the movie the way I did. I didn’t mean to say I, but I mean we. Obviously, it was teamwork. But that was one of the reasons that we did it the way we did, because I wanted it to be satisfying at the end of it. I didn’t want people to come away  wondering, “Oh, what happens to Dean?” I wanted them to feel like, “Oh, well, Dean got rich. In the most unconventional, hilarious way possible, but he did make a success for himself.”

And I’m of a certain age where I’m starting… You know, you have career choices and you’ve been doing whatever you’ve been doing for 20 or 30 years. I wanted to come away with the idea that you’re never too young to start a new chapter in your life. Whether it’s like a new relationship or it’s a new job, or it’s a new approach on life. You want to get exercise and you want to eat differently. You want to try new things. I don’t think it’s ever too late. We are constantly changing as human beings. The person that you were six months ago is not the person that you are today. Even if it’s just a marginal change or it’s a major change, you were a different person. You can never walk in the same river twice. And I think that that was something that I wanted people to take away from this movie.

And so you asked me, do I think about my characters after I’m done with them? I mean, I do so all the time, and I think in this case specifically, I definitely wanted people to come away with the notion that you are this character in this movie. You know what I mean? I want you to understand that what happened to Dean could happen to you, not necessarily in his specific way, but just not forgetting that you can keep morphing. You know what I mean? You don’t just have one, oh, you started out as a caterpillar and now you’re a butterfly. It’s like, no, you can continually have those changes of personality and it never truly over.

And I think that, yeah, that would be the final word of positivity that I was really trying to impress, with the story’s ending anyway. Because I do think about that all the time. I didn’t want people thinking like, “Oh, and then Dean, he ends up just being sort of a hard partying guy who had a crazy childhood.” That seemed unsatisfying. So it was like, how do we make that more interesting? So people walk out of the theater like, “Yeah, Dean’s going to be okay. And maybe I’m going to be okay.”

MMM: To wrap up, I have one final question. At the start of the movie, Dean is on a self-destructive path—swearing, reckless, and seemingly headed for disaster. Yet by the end, he becomes successful, despite his troubled beginnings. Many people might relate to Dean’s journey, feeling stuck at the bottom and thinking they’ll never rise above it. As someone who wrote and played this character, what would you say to someone who feels like they’re doomed and can’t turn their life around? What lesson do you hope people take from Dean’s journey?

Paul Spence: I would say that there’s a line you have to find between creating expectations for yourself that are unrealistic. I will never be the prime minister of Canada. I won’t be. To have that expectation on myself is ridiculous. I’m guaranteed to be disappointed. But if I have the expectation of making a difference in the political landscape of my city or my neighborhood, or even the building that I live in, in a positive way, that’s something that you can sink your teeth into. And just to try and make small changes to your own life and to the life of people around you on a daily basis. Just little things like that. If you expect to become rich at the end of a ten-year period by doing X, you’re almost guaranteed to be disappointed. But if you expect to find some happiness and some satisfaction because you are putting more good into the world and you’re taking care of yourself, in 10 years, you will definitely see a positive change. That much I can guarantee.

And so, I think it’s a matter of managing the expectation with the natural tendency of the human being, which is somewhat sloth-like, you know what I mean? Most people have a hard time getting out of bed on a Saturday morning when they don’t have to. Do you jump on the bike? Do you get some exercise? Do you go to that second job so you have a little bit more money to go on a vacation? All these things that you can do that a lot of people don’t, just because it’s easiest not to. I think it’s easy to find excuses to not do something.

So yeah, just find that balance between creating an expectation for yourself that’s unrealistic and just being lazy and not going out and doing it and finding excuses for why you’re not successful. To find that balance, I think that you can really walk that line. And I think that everybody is capable of making tomorrow just a little bit better than today with a little bit of effort and some foresight.

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