Canadian actress/activist (and now, director) Sarah Polley had her own "unique" reaction to Terry Gilliam's latest polarizing oddity "Tideland": she published a letter she'd written to the filmmaker upon hearing of his plan to shoot in Saskatchewan, which documented the alleged "traumas" she'd endured as a result of his demanding conditions when she appeared (at age 9) in his problem-plagued 1988 epic "The Adventures Of Baron Munchausen". So concerned was she for the health of "Tideland" star Jodell Ferdland, she called ACTRA (Canada's version of SAG) and urged them to keep an eye on the girl!
Claims Polley: "Basically, I remember being afraid a lot of the time. I felt incredibly unsafe. I remember a couple of trips to the hospital after being in freezing water for long periods of time, losing quite a bit of my hearing for days at a time due to explosives, having my heart monitored when one went off relatively close to me, etc. I remember running through this long sort of corridor where explosives went off every few feet, things were on fire, etc..."
Gilliam, obviously a good sport, responded with civility and some regret: "As far as the scars of Munchausen go, I had no idea that they were that deep...You seemed so focused, I had no idea you were having such a terrifying time." However, the director did question her memory as to what scenes she actually appeared in, and what were, in fact, the work of her double...
Here's a link to their exchange as published in The Toronto Star.
