March 5, 2010

ALLIANCE FILMS

Woody Harrelson plays a construction worker who directs road traffic by day and at night dons a duct-taped sweater to protect Hamilton.

In new Woody Harrelson movie, Hamilton, Ont. construction worker becomes ‘Defendor’ at night

PETER KENTER

correspondent

The recent Canadian movie release Defendor pulls off a neat trick by daring to set the tale of an everyday superhero in an undisguised Hamilton, Ont. Neater still? Defendor’s lead character, played by Woody Harrelson, is a Steeltown construction worker.

Arthur Poppington doesn’t have any extraordinary super powers, mind you. By day he directs traffic on road construction sites. By night, he dons a costume festooned with a duct tape letter “D” and takes to the streets in a utility bucket truck to make Hamilton’s streets a little safer — and manages to do just that.

“The story was partly inspired by a friend’s story, who used to work in public works,” director Peter Stebbings tells Daily Commercial News.

“He told me about a slow guy (who) used to do exactly what Arthur did. I was struck by the story and the character described to me. I thought it was a great career and back story for Arthur, particularly, because he could access the storage depots — his own Bat Cave, if you like.”

Stebbings says he’s fascinated by the out-of-the way spaces designed to store construction equipment and materials.

“They’re little crevices in a cityscape often unseen by the public eye,” says Stebbings. “In Vancouver there is a storage depot under Granville Bridge for example. That was a space that always intrigued me and I always fantasized about what was in there.”

Stebbings says he was also inspired by some of the personal qualities that seem to be part of the typical construction worker’s make-up. Those qualities were imbued in the character of Paul Carter, a Public Works foreman played by Michael Kelly, who is Poppington’s best friend.

“There is a rough and ready quality to the job,” he says.

“I’m not passing judgment about whether these people are generally good or even generally bad but there is an honesty to working with your hands, and roadworks labour is often hard fought, smashing through concrete, dealing with hot tar, etc. I wanted Arthur’s best friend to be honest. The guy who told me that story about the slow guy and the yard was honest, too. It seemed like a good fit.”

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