Meeting Actor Mitchell Reaume

Don Hickey, iFilmGroup’s Community Engagement Manager was invited to attend a luncheon in London early in 2019 for Chris Potter a TV star and director.

This was the day that Don Hickey met Mitchell Reaume. “I was really impressed with Mitchell’s manners and his excitement of meeting Chris Potter from the Canadian Heartland TV series. He could rhyme off past episodes, actors and names of all the horses”, said Hickey.

Hickey invited Mitchell to auditions for the movie “Not Ready” held in St. Thomas at the Elgin Theatre Guild (ETG). “Mitchell came to the auditions with a prepared monologue and blew us away”, said Matthew Marshall, director/producer at m & s Marshall Productions. This was Mitchell’s first movie audition and he was among many other individuals auditioning this day. iFilmGroup gives opportunities to individuals that would like to act, a chance to prove themselves. Acting coaches are available during the auditions and provide help for any individuals that might struggle with lines, timing or presentation. Mitchell was very excited about being on a real stage with lights and cameras. Mitchell said, “ This is what I always wanted to do, to be in a movie.”

Matthew Marshall, a co-founder of iFilmGroup says, “Elgin Theatre Guild has some great talent and iFilmGroup holds workshops for youth and adults at ETG. Over the years I’ve been watching the results of the work at ETG. It only seemed sensible to marry our two groups together for some film productions and auditions. On this day we held auditions at this location in St. Thomas. Don Hickey had told me about a young male wanting to be an actor and that this would be his first audition. This is the day I met Mitchell Reaume.”

Mitchell’s audition was fantastic. Hickey looked at Marshall and Marshall looked at Hickey. They both beamed huge smiles and realized that this just might be a “great star” in the making.

Everyone in attendance took to Mitchell right away. Many seasoned actors were stunned by Mitchell’s great performance. Mitchell was not with the Guild but was invited right off the street, so to speak, by Don Hickey. Mitchell is a natural actor and Hickey saw that.

Can Mitchell Act Under Pressure ?

Day six was the biggest shoot to date of assembled actors and crew. The day of filming was at the Elgin Theatre Guild in St. Thomas, Ontario. Don Hickey of iFilmGroup estimated that there were over 50 people involved with the filming process. Lesley Chapman from the Guild happily watched as her group of “Theatre Kids” (over 25 young people) were “blocked” for filming for two very huge scenes.

The mandate behind iFilmGroup is “inter-generational”- young people with adults, mentoring each other. The opportunity came up when writing the script to cast many youth from the ETG. Donald Michael Hickey the writer of the script “Not Ready” and co-founder of iFilmGroup admits that the talent from these young actors is superb.

One young man, not yet affiliated with the ETG group of kids was here to act. Film director Matthew Marshall spoke to Mitchell during rehearsals prior to shooting scenes that Mitchell would be in.

Mitchell was sent downstairs to wardrobe, and then returned on stage in full costume for the film scene, the crew and other cast members were spellbound by his appearance. All eyes were glued on Mitchell. Mitchell played an important role during this scene. He was cast to open this scene as a “focal point” actor that would lead the other characters into the scene.

This was the largest cast of any scene in the movie thus far. The importance of this scene was explained to Mitchell and he showed confidence.

Hickey looked at Marshall, and Marshall looked at Hickey… no smiles now, they both held their breaths.

Blocked into position and Mitchell in costume, this opening scene resting on Mitchell’s shoulders… then Marshall called “ACTION”.

Film director Matthew Marshall congratulates Mitchell Reaume on his “one take” perfect performance.

“Here’s an example of a young man with a dream, waiting and wanting to be a part of the film industry, but not knowing how to get his foot in the door without spending loads of cash and having to travel distances away from London. But, he took the initiative to appear at a luncheon in London where he met people in the film business. He arrived as a “fan” but left with an offer to act in a movie. How neat is that?”, said Hickey.

Marshall said, “What a greatly rewarding experience for us at iFilmGroup and for Mitchell to have him as an “actor”, and the fact is, that life turned his dreams into reality and we’re happy the day we met- Mitchell Reaume, and now Mitchell has fans! Awesome!”

The Rest of the Cast of the Huge Scene

iFilmGroup - Press Release - Meeting Mitchell Reaume - 08-08-19