Mark Ruffalo – Planet of the Blind

This from TheStar.com: McKellar, 44, is the screenwriter and co-star of Blindness, the
Canada-Brazil-Japan co-production chosen to open the 61st edition of the Cannes Film Festival…

Directed by Fernando Meirelles (City of God), the film is
an adaptation of Portuguese writer José Saramago’s Nobel Prize-winning
1995 novel about the panic and violence that follows an unexplained
epidemic of blindness. It was shot in Toronto and Brazil last summer.

It’s
the second time McKellar has come to Cannes with a high-profile film
about a global calamity. He was here a decade ago with Last Night,
his curiously upbeat directorial feature debut about the end of the
world. He admits it’s a strange fascination for a guy who had "a quite
placid North Toronto upbringing."

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Blindness stars Mark Ruffalo and Julianne Moore in the lead
roles of a doctor and his wife attempting to come to grips with the
calamity. The supporting cast is loaded with Canuck talent, including
McKellar, Sandra Oh, Maury Chaykin, Martha Burns and Susan Coyne.

McKellar is hoping viewers will recognize Blindness as a film that deals in bigger ideas than just terrifying people.

"We
shouldn’t be scared of blind people. They’re not monsters. To me,
humanity is exposed when people are blind; they’re not dehumanized."

Blindness
is a more substantial film than the usual show-opener at Cannes, which
tends to be a lighter affair driven by stars who provide the desired
glitter on the red carpet into the Palais des Festivals.

"It’s a
good thing. (Cannes officials) are trying to change their image. I
don’t know how the Cannes audience will respond to the film, but,
hopefully, it still works on a commercial level or a thriller level,
while also having more to say."