What if...? Studios: Canada's February 1990 Millenium Quarter Commercial

The Commercial

December 6 - 7, 1998

I left Calgary for Toronto on an Air Canada flight at 12:10 p.m. on Sunday, December 6, 1998 to film a commercial for my millennium coin. My commercial was going to be the first one filmed and the other 11 commercials, one for each 1999 quarter, were scheduled for production immediately after mine.

The flight to Toronto was uneventful ... it left on time and arrived on time ... just the way I like it. I kept my luggage with me on the airplane. I was too nervous to check it in because I did not want it to get lost. The filming of the commercial was on a very tight schedule and I knew that we would not have time to track lost luggage. I took three different outfits to wear in a variety of color combinations. I still had no idea what the script for the commercial was about ... all the ad agency (Wunderman Cato Johnson) told me was that it would be filmed outside at Rattle Snake Point, which is part of the Niagara escarpment. They also wanted to make sure that I was comfortable around dogs. I think it gave them great pleasure to keep me in suspense.

I was greeted by Kimberley Walsh at the Pearson International Airport in Toronto. She held a very large sign with my name on it. Kimberley said that she felt a little awkward standing there because she thought that she might have overdone the size of the sign. I then noticed the man standing beside her held up only a small used envelope with a name scribbled on the backside. I told Kimberley the sign looked great and it made me feel very important. "No autographs please!"

After searching the parking lot for her car, Kimberley drove me to the Radisson Airport Hotel. Along the way it started to rain lightly. After unpacking, we went across the street to Kelsey's for dinner. By this time the rain was really coming down and we got wet before we reached the front door.

I asked Kimberley what would happen if it continued to rain. "Don't worry, " she said, "it will stop… I hope…" Despite her reassuring words, I could tell she was worried and so was I. The next day I found out that they had no contingency plans for bad weather. It was basically a do or die situation.

During supper Kimberley went over the script with me. It was going to be a 30 second commercial that would explain the symbolism of the images on the coin and introduce me as the coin's creator. The good news was that I didn't have to talk. They would be hiring a professional actor to do a voice over. Essentially the commercial would show me going out for a walk with my dog, standing at the edge of a cliff and looking out over the magnificent Niagara landscape, glancing down at my quarter in my hand and thinking happy thoughts. It sounded simple enough ... but as I knew from many past productions that I had worked on for the school board, nothing is ever simple.

When we left the restaurant we had to run back to the hotel because it was now raining harder than when we first arrived. With a worried expression on her face, Kimberley told me that she would be picking me up around 7:30 a.m.

I had a hard time falling to sleep but it had nothing to do with the anticipation of the coming day or the fact that my body was still on Calgary time. The real problem was that I like it quiet and, unfortunately, this hotel was situated right in the landing path of one of the busiest airports in Canada. Every five minutes a large jet would come roaring past my window.

Eventually, I did get to sleep but woke up at 2:00 a.m. to go to the bathroom. Even half asleep, I noticed two things: first, the planes had stopped flying over the hotel and, secondly, it was still raining.

I had set two alarm clocks and asked for a 6:00 a.m. wakeup call ... was I nervous? … not I. As it turned out, the alarm clocks were not needed because I woke up 20 minutes before they went off.

Dec. 7, 1998

When I woke up I quickly looked out the window to see if it was still raining. Luck was on my side, the rain had stopped and the streets were dry. I knew it is going to be a great day!

Kimberley picked me up at 7:15 a.m. Three other people from the ad agency were with her. After a quick stop at a doughnut shop for coffee, we arrived 45 minutes later at Rattle Snake Point. Until we got to the parking lot, I had no idea how big the production for the commercial was going to be. I thought the crew might consist of three or four guys with some lights and an expensive video camera. Boy, was I ever wrong. The parking lot was full of cars, two big motor homes, three vans full of equipment, a catering truck and a large mess tent. In total, there were approximately twenty people involved with the filming of the commercial. This was going to be fun!

We immediately walked to the location where the first shot was going to take place. There I met the director and the camera crew looked over what I was wearing. They liked my shirt and fleece jacket but suggested that I change my pants to a darker color. I went back to the parking lot and entered one of the motor homes, which was serving as my dressing room. The young lady in charge of the wardrobe selected the pants she wanted me to wear. After a quick change, the makeup artist applied makeup and hair spray. I was now ready for my 30 seconds of fame.

Before the first shot I was introduced to the dog that I would be working with throughout the day. His name was Cash and he was a three-year old golden lab. The first scene had me walking with Cash down a narrow path and stopping in front of the camera to pick up a rock. It sounded simple but it took about 10 tries to get it right. Either I made a mistake, or Cash did, or the cameraman did. It was during this series of retakes that I was able to learn how to control Cash with treats in my right hand.

The next shot involved me walking through a wooded area. The scene looked a little gray and bleak because the maple trees had lost their leaves a few months earlier. However, for a film crew this is a minor inconvenience. To add a little color they simply placed about 15 Christmas trees in the background. Despite the fact that I had to be careful where I placed my feet because of the slick moss, the shot was completed within a half-hour.

In the next scene, I had to sit on the edge of a 75-foot cliff with Cash. After looking around at the beautiful Niagara escarpment, I had to open my hand to reveal my quarter. I was really excited about this shot because it would be the first time that I would get to see the coin. But first I had to practice the scene several times with a normal Canadian caribou quarter. They continued to keep me in suspense. The people from the Royal Mint were just as excited as I was because they couldn't wait to see my reaction to the quarter. Once they did give it to me, I was overwhelmed. It was absolutely beautiful! The engravers had done an excellent job. They told me that the head of the Royal Mint, Danielle Wetherup, indicated that this coin design was her favorite. At that moment, I felt very proud.

The filming of the shot at the cliff was very difficult and a number of events made me nervous. First, the camera crew only had a very small area on the edge of the cliff next to me to work out their camera movements. Secondly, there were people directly behind me setting up a large light reflector screen. Thirdly, Cash was afraid of the cliff and did not want to be anywhere near the edge. He kept shaking and trying to pull himself away. And finally, the people from the ad agency and the representative from the Royal Mint were afraid that I would drop the quarter over the cliff. For security reasons, they had only brought one of my quarters from Ottawa. As a result, I requested that I be tied to the end of a climbing rope and anchored to one of the maple trees. At first I was very comfortable sitting on the edge of the cliff by myself not tied in but with all the movement around me I got a little nervous. Besides, if a rope attached to me made me feel more relaxed, I was sure that my acting ability would greatly improve. It couldn't get worse!

To help with the problem of the coin slipping out of my hands, sticky stuff was put on my fingers. Despite having sweaty hands the sticky stuff seemed to work. I never dropped the quarter.

After the cliff shot we broke for lunch and I took the opportunity to show my photos of Writing-On-Stone Provincial Park to the people from the Royal Mint and the ad agency. They were very impressed with the area and the petroglyphs.

The food was excellent but I only got about 1/2 hour to eat and then I had to get back to work. I was taken to an enclosed picnic site, which had been transformed into the still photographer's temporary studio. He had a gas generator running to operate his lights. He took a number of photos of me to be used in newspaper ads.

Before we could finish the photo session, I was rushed back to the cliff to do some more filming. This shot involved me walking to the edge of the cliff and looking around at the distant landscape. The camera was set up at the far end of the cliff band so that it could pan up the cliff and see Cash and me. This shot, like the others, took longer than I thought. I think that I did my acting job OK but they kept trying different camera movements.

After this shot, I was rushed back to the still photographer's studio and started to do some test photos of me holding a quarter between my fingers. We just got the hand and finger positions figured out when I was called back to the cliff to do some more filming.

This next scene had me throwing a rock over the cliff and it only took about five takes. I must be getting better.

The last shot had Cash and me jumping over a crack in the cliff. The camera was positioned pointing up at Cash and me from the bottom of cliff's crack. We were starting to run out of daylight and Cash refused to jump over the crack. The trainer spent about 10 minutes working with Cash before he would even get close to the crack. He eventually starting jumping the crack like a real professional. I found that treats do a marvelous job in taking a dog's mind off fear. This shot only took four takes.

After the filming of the last scene, I was promptly taken back to the still photographer's studio to finish the close-up photos of my hand holding the quarter between my fingers. After that I had to sign an ACTRA contract which made me a member of the Canadian actors guild for the next 31 days.

Before the ink of my signature could dry, I was rushed away in a car for the airport. My return trip to Calgary, like the flight to Toronto, was uneventful ... left on time and arrived on time (9:10 p.m.). Although I had fun ... I was glad it was over. I am now looking forward to the coin launch at Writing-on-Stone Provincial Park on February 1, 1999.

Lonnie's Coin Journal