Whether it’s children killing time or frat boys determining who will clean up the mystery vomit, everybody enjoys a game of Rock, Paper, Scissors. It spans cultures and generations, and has even spawned leagues of semi-professional play. One such competition inspired actors Tim Doiron and April Mullen (pictured) to make a film about the subject. “Four years ago we read an article about a Rock, Paper, Scissors world championship being held in Toronto. That propelled us to the idea of a film about someone who took the game way too seriously.”
They continued to attend a variety of RPS tournaments and, as Mullen says, “were impressed by the real life characters and knew that they would be a great basis for a script.” The pair crafted a mockumentary titled Rock, Paper, Scissors: The Way of the Tosser, co-directing the film as well as playing the leads and filling out the rest of the cast and crew with friends from their days at Ryerson. The movie premiered at the 2007 Cambridge Film festival, where it won the Audience Award, before picking up Best Canadian Film honours at the Edmonton International Film Festival. Then came the trouble of getting the movie seen outside of the festival circuit.
As Doiron says, “We needed to find a way to get Canadians to see Canadian work, which seems impossible these days. Since we play the lead roles, we thought we could bring the characters to life and take the movie across the country that way.”
So, for the past few months they’ve been touring around Canada, introducing screenings in character. This tour culminates with a three-day stint in Toronto, where the film will be shown at Ryerson on April 3, 8pm, before going to the Bloor Cinema (506 Bloor W.) on April 4 and 5 at 9:30pm. There will be a Q&A at each screening, as well as competitive Rock, Paper, Scissors tournaments that offer cash prizes and a walk-on role in the filmmakers’ next project. So if you think you’ve got the skillz, this could be the ideal opportunity to show your A game. Just don’t lead off with Rock… way too predictable.