Not romancing our home: Did Kathleen Turner dis Hamilton as ‘awful’ steeltown near Toronto in New York Post column?
American actress Kathleen Turner recently opened up to a gossip columnist about shooting an independent film in an absolutely awful small steel town outside Toronto" and it made it onto the pages of the New York Post on Tuesday, in a bit of quasi-celebrity bumf from columnist Cindy Adams.
Hmmm. There now hangs over Turner's head a smog of suspicion that she might have been referring to a not-so-small-anymore city" that produces more film and TV work than steel.
Anyway, we hereby serve notice to Ms. Turner and the New York Post that we are poised to raise our hackles in deep injury and offence ... or not be offended at all, somewhat like Schrodinger's cat in the box with respect to being alive or dead, depending on whether she meant us or Oshawa, Nanticoke or St. Catharines.
Do they make steel? Do we? What is steel anyway? It is rich to be insulted as a steel town when the insulter has made her cheese in the business largely on the strength of a voice that sounds like it belongs to a bullfrog with bronchitis who has been inhaling Steeltown smokestack emissions like Cheech and Chong toking on homegrown.
I don't mean that as insult. Kathleen Turner's cavernously deep baritone has a wonderful quality to it, but it does not sound like it was bred in the Hamptons.
Here is the possibly offending passage from the New York Post: I'd been shooting an independent film in an absolutely awful small steel town outside Toronto."
A Spectator inquiry to the City of Hamilton - which keeps track of many of the films shot here for promotional purposes - asking about whether The White House Plumbers," the HBO TV series being discussed by Turner in the Post, did film in Hamilton went unanswered on Tuesday. Most of the production is listed as taking place in New York State.
The excerpt from the column, in which Turner goes on to bemoan the contrast between her and Michael Douglas (her co-star in Romancing the Stone"), who was ensconced in London, England, shooting a movie there, was sent to us by Victoria Balfour, whose grandfather William Southam once owned The Spectator.
Victoria (thank you for sending this to us) goes on to say she believes Turner did mean Hamilton. Says Victoria, I disagree. I think Hamilton is very interesting. I live in New York state but tell all my friends that Hamilton is far prettier than Toronto. I think you need to address this!"
Well, here we are, asking for some answers. We should invite Kathleen Turner to come back. She had to quarantine while she was ... here, or what might have been here. There are other sides to us. We are not awful. Well, not all of us. Unless she meant Nanticoke. Then all is forgiven.
And, really, awful" compared to what? Has she ever been to L.A.? Or London, England, for that matter, with its soccer fans?
Hamilton, let us hold our awful" little heads up high.
Jeff Mahoney is a Hamilton-based reporter and columnist covering culture and lifestyle stories, commentary and humour for The Spectator. Reach him via email: jmahoney@thespec.com