Will Sasso, Kevin McDonald Set to Star in ‘Deaner ’89’ Action Comedy (Exclusive)

Will Sasso, Kevin McDonald (The Kids in the Hall) and Paul Spence are set to star in Deaner ’89an action comedy from director Sam McGlynn that has started production in Winnipeg.

Sasso is best known for the late-night sketch-comedy series MADtv. He has also starred in TV’s $#*! My Dad Says and Less Than Perfect and on the film side, Sasso featured in The Three Stooges as Curly. Star Slade, Maddy Foley and Mary Walsh are part of the ensemble cast for the feature that has Spence, who also wrote the film, reprising his original character, Dean “Deaner” Murdoch, from two movies and a TV series as part of the Fubar mockumentary property.

Michael Dowse’s 2002 headbanger movie Fubarabout two beer-loving heavy metal musicians, Dean and Terry, played by Spence and Dave Lawrence, debuted at Sundance and was followed by the Fubar TV series and 2010 movie sequel, Fubar 2.

Indigenous film and TV producer Eagle Vision, a co-producer on Capoteand PSA Productions are producing Deaner ’89 that has party machine Murdoch in a flash back to high school in 1989 when, as a hockey star in a blue-collar steel town in Manitoba, his life is turned upside down when he learns of his recently deceased birth father’s Métis heritage, or mixed indigenous and European ancestry.

Murdoch starts listening to his father’s heavy metal albums, dressing in his clothes, rebelling against hockey stardom and running with a down-and-out biker gang. Deaner ’89 is in part inspired by Spence’s own family past, which allowed the filmmaker to explore the comedy behind a fictional character from the Fubar Franchise.

“My father’s Métis heritage was hidden from him until after his parents passed away, and once this became the cornerstone of the plot, everything else fell into place,” Spence, who is also producing the film, said in a statement. Director McGlynn is a creative director at visual effects house Method Studios.

Deaner ’89 is produced by Kyle Irving and is executive produced by Anishinaabe filmmaker Lisa Meeches and Rebecca Gibson, all of whom are part of Eagle Vision. The indie has financing from Telefilm Canada, Eagle Vision, Mongrel Media, the Indigenous Screen Office and Manitoba Film and Music.