Joe Drennan
Staff Writer

When Brent Boyd told his mom Carol he was leaving Forest Lake and moving to Los Angeles to become a screenwriter she was a bit worried for him.

ìI told him either he is going to be really rich or really poor,î Carol Trudeau said. ìThere are a million writers out there and itís just the luck of the draw a lot of times. You can be an excellent screenwriter, but it takes the right person to pick up your script.î

Boyd is one of the lucky screenwriters in that one of his scripts was picked up by a film company and turned into a movie. Entitled Entertainment liked Boydís script ìAurora Borealisî and gathered a star studded cast to make the movie.

Aurora Borealis

The movie is loosely biographical for Boyd. He said he used to visit his grandfather who had both Parkinsonís and Alzheimerís at Birchwood Healthcare Center in Forest Lake, giving him the idea for the movie.

The movie tells the story of Duncan Shoter, played by Joshua Jackson, who hasnít had the best luck keeping jobs. While visiting his grandmother Ruth, played by Louise Fletcher and his grandfather Ronald whose faculties are failing, played by Donald Sutherland, at their new senior residence, Duncan becomes the buildingís new handyman in an effort to keep him close to his grandfather.

In the movie Ronald has a home nurse Kate, played by Juliette Lewis, who catches the eye of Duncan and a love story ensues.

ìI began writing the story about the guy and his grandfather and grandmother and I started adding things to turn it into a cinematic story,î Boyd said. ìThe story is very Minnesotan.î

To get the Minnesotan feel, various scenes were shot around Minneapolis.

ìThere is a great snowmobiling scene,î Boyd said, ìand since I now live in LA I think I just wanted to remind myself of what itís like to be home and how much I love Minnesota when I wrote this movie. This story is as much about the relationship between a guy and his grandfather as it is about Minnesota.î

One part of the story that certainly is not biographical for Boyd is Duncanís relationship with his mother. In the movie Duncanís mother is quite neglectful and doesnít want to have much to do with him. Boyd and his mother are quite the opposite though.

ìWith parts of the movie autobiographical, the one part I want to make sure people know is I am not like the mother in the movie,î Trudeau said. ìI said, ëBrent, how could this be?í He told me he had to make some differences from reality to make the story work.î

Boyd noted that his mother was quite the opposite of the mother in the movie and has always been very supportive of him.

Trudeau was able to visit Boyd on the set of the movie

ìIt was such a thrill to have her on the set and have her spend time with the actors,î Boyd said.

ìI think just being on a movie set is interesting, but seeing the respect from the actors and staff for Brent was amazing,î Trudeau said. ìI was in awe because this is my son. Itís a real different feeling to see that heís a big boy and has the respect of all these people.î

Premier

Aurora Borealis premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival April 22 to a full audience.

ìI was trying hard not to throw up during the premier,î Boyd said. ìI was pretty nervous, but it was a lot of fun because people laughed in the right places, and oddly enough, itís a great feeling to be in a room with a few hundred people that are crying beaches of something you wrote. It made me feel like I had done a good job.î

Boyd was joined by his mom and other family members at the premier.

ìThe whole extolment of being at a movie premier was one thing, but since my son had his own production made it really special,î Trudeau said.

A national release date for Aurora Borealis has not been set, but Boyd said Entitled Entertainment is currently in negotiations with distributors and the movie could be in theaters by the end of the year.

ìI think it will be exciting because there are so many people waiting to see the movie,î Trudeau said. ìIt will be exciting to see their reaction.î

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