Photo courtesy of Tim Doiron

Ryerson grads April Mullen, Tim Doirin and Ryan Tilley star in film-fest favourite Way Of The Tosser.

Filmmakers April Mullen and Tim Doiron have finished their labour of love. It’s a little-screened, low-budget film made by a crew full of Ryerson grads – and it’s been the audience favourite at every film festival it’s visited.
   
“The programmer of the Edmonton International Film Festival (EIFF) says it was one of the funniest films he had ever seen – ever,” Mullen said, calling on the ride home from the airport.
   
The duo spent five “jam-packed” days in the Alberta capital for the film’s North American premiere and returned Sunday night with the EIFF’s Audience Choice Award for Best Canadian Feature in tow.
   
The driving force behind this groundbreaking comedy is simple: one man’s quest to win over the woman he loves, prove his worth to his rivals, and become the world champion at – wait for it – Rock, Paper, Scissors.
   
Rock, Paper, Scissors: Way Of The Tosser is a mockumentary following three avid “tossers”: Gary Brewer (Doiron), his girlfriend Holly (no relation) Brewer (Mullen), and their best friend and trusty sidekick Trevor Morehouse (Ryerson grad Ryan Tilley). The trio practise their technique, make tinfoil Viking helmets, navigate the cutthroat competitive Rock, Paper, Scissors (RPS) circuit, and infiltrate the real-life 2006 RPS World Championships, held last fall at Toronto’s Steam Whistle brewery.
   
“It’s really full of honesty. It’s zany, it’s off the wall, it’s something never seen before. I think it’s genuine in the sense that it always surprises you,” Mullen said.
   
“Every time you turn a corner, the tossers are doing something even more bizarre, and it’s so grounded in truth you can’t help but think, ‘what are these people doing now?’”
   
The directors stress that while Rock, Paper, Scissors provides much of the basis for the plot, it’s the movie’s trio of lovable leads that gives the film its sparkle.
   
“(Gary’s) whole life is riding on the championship,” Mullen said. “It’s the lifelong, passionate dream, the story of the hero in all of us, and trying to prove to the love of his life that he’s worthy of her.”
   
Though the sport figures prominently in the film, Doiron and Mullen put Gary and his posse first. The duo even did the bulk of its Edmonton radio and TV press for Way Of The Tosser in-character as their tossing alter-egos.
   
Mullen said they spent most of the interviews wondering when they were going to be asked “filmmaking questions.”
   
The film premiered at the Cambridge Film Festival in the United Kingdom last July. The filmmakers took home the festival’s audience choice award there as well.
   
The characters’ proud, unironic use of the word “tosser” (a synonym for the more common Britishism “wanker”) might have helped capture English audiences, but Mullen said it was the film’s broad approach to comedy that truly won them over. “The Brits really listened to the script – every word of the script,” she said. “They love the literary jokes, while the North Americans go really crazy for the one-liners and the slapstick. There’s some kind of comedy in there for everybody.  The audiences really pay attention and try to grasp the world of the tosser.” 
   
The film’s crew has strong roots in Ryerson. Doiron and Mullens are both theatre grads who recruited film and theatre alumni to work on Way Of The Tosser; the duo credits editor Luke Higginson and director of photography Daniel Grant with much of the finished product.
   
“Daniel is an incredibly gifted man in terms of cinematography,” Mullen said. “We always knew about his work and were keeping an eye on him when we were in school. We wanted to work with him and he brought on his posse, also from Ryerson.”
   
The directors looked to their former classmates at the theatre school and found actors Tilley, Chris Baker and Peter Pasyk.

“We all had the same training, and knew how we worked together and how we rehearsed. It came together really easily.”

Ryerson’s campus makes a few guest appearances too. “The big fight scene, or rather, the ‘underground street match,’ was shot right up from Ryerson – in an alley a one-minute walk away,” Mullen said. The Pitman Hall quad also pops up in a training sequence featuring uber-tosser Baxter Pound (the trio’s archnemesis). The rest of the film was shot on location in some of Niagara Falls’s most retro, wood-panelled basements in order to to achieve a dated, “Polaroid-style” esthetic for the film.
   
It’s this slightly yellowed, small-town feel that’s earned it descriptions like “Napoleon Dynamite and FUBAR’s lovechild.”
   
“But those styles are totally different,” Doiron said. “We got to the point where we don’t even consider it a mockumentary anymore. There’s real people in our film. A lot of them, too – the stakes are higher in that sense.”
   
Indeed, the Rock, Paper, Scissors world championships are very real.  “That’s the thing about Rock Paper Scissors,” Doiron said. “The competition’s taken very seriously. It’s intense. It would blow your mind.”
   
Those vying for the championship tend to get caught up in the tournament, crafting gimmicks and personas and showing up in their best warm-up hoodies, sweatbands, and mullet wigs. And they say pro wrestlers have all the fun.
   
“It’s almost a heightened sense of reality, a heightened sense of character. All of that makes it way more intense and way more enjoyable.”
   
Championship Rock, Paper, Scissors is, predictably, a little more intense and stylish than what you played on the schoolyard. Doiron and Brewer dreamed up a few signature moves for their characters, like Gary’s windmilling “power pump,” but a lot of real-life RPS custom made it into the movie.
   
“We went to tournaments and found out that there are different tosses,” Doiron said.  “Like, the ‘street match’ rules (two pumps of the fist, or ‘primes,’ before making your move) versus ‘tournament’ rules (three primes before your throw), those are real.”
   
All three throws are central to the strategy of the game, but each of the film’s main characters has a favourite. “Gary throws scissors. That’s his power toss,” Mullen said, lapsing for a moment into Holly Brewer mode. “I throw paper.” (Trevor, completing the trifecta, prefers rock – delivered with thumb out.) Gary’s biggest handicap? He never, ever plays paper.
   
The filmmakers immersed themselves in the game throughout the course of the shoot, learning to see RPS as a battle of wits instead of a game of chance.
   
“In real life, people actually train to look out for ‘tells,’” Doiron said.
  
“Through the making of this film, I got a huge understanding of the psychological part of the game. Rock’s the most aggressive throw, and if you’re ever in doubt, throw paper. That’ll increase your odds of winning by three to five per cent. Proven statistic.”
  
 Gary doesn’t come out with top honours at the championships — that was London, England’s Bob Cooper — but the film’s cast will be attending this year’s tournament on Saturday for a victory lap.
    
“We will all be there,” Mullins said. “We’re all competing. Even the arch-nemesis is gonna be there. Still vying for that title.”
   
Rock, Paper, Scissors: Way Of The Tosser will be screened at 8 p.m. Friday at the Royal Theatre for a one-night-only “gala” showing. The 2007 RPS World Championships will be held Saturday at the Steam Whistle Brewery. For more information, visit: http://www.worldrps.com.

This version has been corrected from the printed version.