TORONTO 鈥� Toronto-born actor Chris Diamantopoulos says he always seeks projects that are shot and set in Canada but has often been put off by the way his country is portrayed on American TV.
鈥淭ypically, when you hear about a quintessentially Canadian show, you get these sorts of Canadian parodies 鈥� you've got the moose, you've got the beaver, you've got the 'sorry,' you've got the 'aboot,'鈥� he reflects during a call from his home in Los Angeles.
His new series 鈥淭he Sticky鈥� taps into yet another distinctly Canadian staple by setting the action in Quebec's maple syrup industry, but Diamantopoulos says the Prime Video dramedy offers a refreshingly offbeat story that doesn鈥檛 lean on stale stereotypes.
鈥淚t shows us a part of Canada that we've never seen before as viewing audiences 鈥� this sort of Qu茅b茅cois, dark, criminal underbelly," says Diamantopoulos, whose past credits include the HBO comedy "Silicon Valley."
He says he hopes the series demonstrates that Canada has "gritty, layered stories" worth telling on a global scale.
Its U.S. creators Brian Donovan and Ed Herro drew inspiration from the infamous Great Canadian Maple Syrup Heist, a months-long criminal operation in 2011 and 2012, when criminals made off with $18.7 million worth of maple syrup from the Federation of Quebec Maple Syrup Producers, which controls 77 per cent of the world's maple syrup supply.
The show follows Ruth Landry, a frustrated maple syrup farmer played by seasoned character actor Margo Martindale, who plans to steal millions of dollars' worth of syrup from the bureaucrats attempting to seize her farm. She hatches the plot with the help of Diamantopoulos鈥� low-level mobster Mike and Quebec actor Guillaume Cyr鈥檚 docile security guard Remy. Jamie Lee Curtis executive produced and appears later in the series, which premieres Friday.
Donovan says he was drawn to story of "the big rich, powerful people versus the workers."
"Just the idea that the people doing the work have bigger people trying to take money out of their pockets. That's something everyone experiences in one way or another," Donovan says in a recent call from Los Angeles.
鈥淭he Sticky鈥� joins several Canadian originals on Prime Video鈥檚 slate, which includes new survivalist reality series 鈥淗ard North,鈥� in-development true crime docuseries 鈥淚n Cold Water: The Shelter Bay Mystery鈥� and three upcoming projects by Ottawa comedian Tom Green.
Donovan says Prime Video's investment in Canadian content comes amid an increasingly crowded TV landscape.
鈥淚n the U.S., we鈥檙e just oversaturated, so I think there's a desire to tell interesting stories about interesting places and be specific about who you're talking about,鈥� he says.
鈥淚t's a great opportunity to highlight new people who there haven't been shows based on before. I've never seen a show about Montreal the way that we made it.鈥�
Donovan and Herro are both American, a fact Herro acknowledges might raise doubts about their ability to craft a story that feels authentically Canadian.
鈥淲e're not Canadian, so that comes with a whole bunch of carpetbagging concerns and everything. I get it,鈥� he says.
Donovan says the duo made sure to hire an all-Canadian crew and mostly Canadian cast, with the exception of Martindale and Curtis. They also recruited a cultural consultant to make sure the show passed 鈥渢he authenticity test.鈥�
鈥淲e went in knowing that we were not the experts and we should talk to the experts on the ground. We wanted it to be an authentic story that people from Canada and specifically Quebec would gravitate toward and recognize themselves in.鈥�
Donovan says he and Herro also constantly sought Cyr鈥檚 input to make sure the series 鈥� shot in and around Montreal 鈥� felt Qu茅b茅cois.
鈥淚 said to them at the start, 鈥業f you want to be realistic, the whole series will be in French,鈥�" recalls Cyr.
鈥淏ut you don't want that because you want it to be a global show. So how can we put some French flavour on an anglophone series? OK, the slurs will be in French.鈥�
Cyr says he provided input on everything from the dialogue to the music to the casting of beloved Qu茅b茅cois actor Guy Nadon as the head of the provincial syrup barons.
"It's kind of the first time that the Quebec flavour is being shown worldwide," says Cyr.
"It's not another story about a billionaire who lives in New York. It's a story about three normal people who desperately want more in life. It's a very universal theme."
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 4, 2024.
Alex Nino Gheciu, The Canadian Press
