Happy Monday!
If you haven’t seen it on Instagram yet, we’ve recently shared the first stills from our upcoming short film, I’m Not Supposed To Be Here. Set during the Korean War, the film follows Canadian soldier Frank Richardson as his worst nightmare unfolds among the men he trusts most. Stay tuned for some exciting news in the coming weeks!
We shot this film back in the fall of 2024, and in a lot of ways, it’s been in the works for longer than that. It really began when Adrien and I first met.
Back in 2022, we landed on the same University intramural soccer team and somehow ended up in the same Creative Writing class. The class had a final assignment, and that’s where it started: Adrien developed what would become 8-Ball, while I went in a different direction and wrote a short story that felt like the Vietnam War collided with Black Mirror.
As you know, 8-Ball became our first film, and without realizing it, we were laying the groundwork for everything that followed.
Fast forward to summer 2024. We thought we were making a tap-dancing film (more on that in last week’s newsletter (click read online to find it!))… until Adrien watched too much Stanley Kubrick and got hit with an idea.
“What if we adapted your war story into a screenplay?”
I laughed. Then I quickly realized who I was speaking to. Within weeks, the right crew was in place-creatives who believed in the idea from the jump. Producer Charlotte McDowell came aboard, with Phillip LeMoyne stepping in as our DOP.
To make it perfect for the visual medium, two major changes were required:
First, the focus shifted. What had been an internal, linear story became a film about PTSD, about how trauma fractures time, memory, and identity long after the fighting ends.
Second, the setting changed. We weren’t in Vietnam anymore. Our location scouts made that clear. The forests around Whitby, Ontario, demanded something else. I went home and spent the night researching until I found it: the Canadian Princess Patricia’s Infantry and the Battle of Kapyong, specifically their extraordinary defence of Hill 677 (read all about it here!).
That discovery became the backbone of the film.
Suddenly, Adrien and I were standing in the woods with a full cast and crew, watching Canadian and Chinese soldiers face off - dressed for the 1950s, replica Kalashnikovs in hand. One of those moments where you step back and think: there’s no way this is real.
A story that once lived in my head ended up looking better on screen than I ever imagined - not because of luck, but because of passionate collaborators and a shared refusal to let the idea fade away.
That’s been my experience working with Adrien. When I think something’s too ambitious, he says, then we should go for it.
I’ve attached my original short story that I’m Not Supposed To Be Here was based on, to this week’s newsletter if you’re curious - just know it WILL spoil the film.
We hope you’re getting some rest this holiday season. More stories - and a few surprises - coming soon.
Happy Holidays,
Pat and the Marquet Films team
