In what’s called the clear-cut docudrama on The Tragically Hip, The Tragically Hip: No Dress Rehearsal ( currently on Prime Video) narrates the complete tale of the cherished Canadian band. Directed by Mike Downie, bro of the late band participant Gord, Paul Langlois, Gord Sinclair, Rob Baker, Johnny Fay, and significant Canadians consisting of Will Arnett, Dan Aykroyd and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, took a seat with the supervisor to speak about the band’s heritage.
Tragically Hip: No Dress Rehearsal is mainly arranged chronologically, starting with the band’s simple origins in Kingston,Ont From there we discover their increase to success, diving deep right into crucial elements of the band, like Gord’s special efficiency design and body language on phase.
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‘What do the Americans believe?’
But there’s one historical discussion that Downie deals with in the docuseries, which’s conversations regarding the band’s success in Canada versus the UNITED STATE While The Tragically Hip have actually executed offered out performances at significant and legendary united state locations, and have actually executed reside on programs like Saturday Night Live, there’s been a certain idea that the band never ever “made it big” with Americans.
“When I was setting up, I really wanted to answer this question once and for all, because I feel like for a lot of people there is this asterisk about, ‘Oh huge success in Canada, not nearly as much in America,'” Downie claimed in a meeting throughout the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). “I think we really took a good run at it in the documentary, because the truth is, it really wasn’t about measuring it country-to-country. It was really this idea of validation.”
“In the ’80s and ’90s, we were looking at our own artists, our own anything, and just saying, ‘Yeah that’s pretty great, but what do the Americans think?’ We were sort of going to back to almost a parental kind of approval thing that we needed. And that’s kind of what happened to this really important band in Canada. And then of course it flipped because then Canadians go, ‘Oh, wait a minute. This means everything to us. We love this.’ And now we just realize it doesn’t matter what the rest of the world thinks, because it’s ours. But that’s a country kind of coming into its own a little bit and that confidence wasn’t really there before.”
Downie included that he thinks the band had a self-confidence in themselves, due to the stamina of this “brotherhood” and their “collaboration,” which included their songwriting and efficiencies.
“The other part of it is, as Paul said, ‘Come on tour.’ … Go to these sold out important clubs and … arenas in the States and see for yourself, because people are there having a hell of a good time, and people are lined up and people are waiting to get in,” Downie claimed.
“So I really feel like it was this moment of time, and not a short amount of time, where Canadians were, I think, kind of coming out of our shell a little bit. Growing up in the shadow of Great Britain and the United States. … I believe that The Tragically Hip helped move that forward in a big way.”
Time to speak about Gord Downie’s fatality
While Tragically Hip: No Dress Rehearsal offers actually intriguing and enjoyable understanding right into the band all at once, there’s certainly substantial rate of interest in just how the docuseries deals with Gord’s fatality in 2017, after he was detected with mind cancer cells. These are especially wholehearted and psychological minutes in the docudrama, with the band and Gord’s family members remembering his last days.
Downie emphasized that locating the ideal timing to speak about his bro, with time having actually passed from his fatality, was a crucial element of making this docuseries occur. But he highlighted that, specifically in the very early days of recording, it seemed like there was a swelling in his throat when discussing his bro.
“I think timing was a huge part of it,” Downie claimed. “I know for the guys in the band the years after Gord’s passing were a little lost, just kind of retreat into your own experience, and I had a similar experience as well, just to figure out what it’s all about.”
“But when we went into the high school, [Kingston Collegiate and Vocational Institute (KCVI)], it was vacant, then sold to Queen’s University, but students were all gone. And in October of 2021 we were able to go in there for four days and really just kind of take it over, use it as a our set. That was almost four years to the day that Gord had passed, and I kind of just realized this recently, that was probably the right amount of time. It was still really close, you see it in the interviews, but there’s also enough distance to have some clarity as well, and to start talking about the band.”
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Watch The Tragically Hip: No Dress Rehearsal on Prime Video with a totally free test, after that $9.99/ month
In an amazingly intimate docueseries, Tragically Hip: No Dress Rehearsal actually catches this distinctively motivating significance of the band, providing Canadians something to really feel especially pleased with.
