Jack McGee, center, gave a gutsy performance as a crusty, sick father who opens up to his wandering son in the short feature "No Place Like Home," which opened for Chronic Town last night at the Viewpoint Theatre. See more photos in today's April 1 Photo Gallery.

Calabasas, Calif., April 1, 2008 - JR Bourne knew he was in for a challenge when he read the script for Chronic Town. He is in virtually every scene and his taxi-driving character - Truman Korovin - has to fight a kind of resignation that has him navigating the lower end of the spectrum of emotions. Oh, and the film was to be shot in 19 days, 16 of which the cast endured in the coldest March in a century in Fairbanks, Alaska.

"At -42 degrees," he said after a well-received screening at the Viewpoint Theatre yesterday, "if you stand on a park bench and urinate, it will freeze before it hits the ground."

Working with director Tom Hines and a strong cast, Bourne and his mates were more than up to the challenge. Chronic Town, which had its West Coast premiere here, debuted to similar strong reviews at the Sundance Film Festival.

The Festival's other two films that screened yesterday - Chain Link and Eduart from Greece - also fell into the Method Fest pattern of strong character-driven films. Chain Link, playing to a capacity crowd at the Louis B. Mayer Theatre, examined the tough choices that must be made in life and a man released from prison searched for a better life and the family he has long wanted.

Presented by the City of Calabasas, the Method Fest concludes its screenings tonight with the Closing Night film Diminished Capacity. Starring Alan Alda, Matthew Broderick, and Virginia Masden, the film will screen at 7 p.m. at the Mayer Theatre. (See the Screening Schedule for more details, trailers, and directions).

The Method Fest closes with its annual Awards Ceremony on Thursday evening at the Viewpoint Theatre.

In Chronic Town, Bourne and Hines create a world where emotional iciness mirrors the white and frigid landscape of Fairbanks. In fact, Truman's girlfriend dumps him, symbolically, on the cold night of the year, setting off a chain of events that sends Truman to the local "looney bin," where he meets other characters struggling to face the crisis that have defined their lives.

He befriends a local stripper, who claims in group therapy sessions, that her father raped her when she was a child. Actually, she later confides to Truman, her brother raped her and her father, who has moved to Fairbanks, has been supportive. No matter, the damage is done as one of the characters from the therapy group guns down the father.

That's a tough stretch to relate to issue and emotions like that. So, how, Bourne was asked do you prepare for such a role?

"When I come across a character that I don't have that much in common with," said Bourne, "I connect on the emotional level. Other things add on that an actor does. But I just let the colors come out. And when you work with a cast like this one and a director like Tom it also makes it so much easier. "

On getting the script two weeks before shooting began, Bourne sought help from his acting coach, with whom he spent a 48-hour cram sessiion. It was worth the effort, as Bourne and the rest of the cast kept up a difficult pace, going through 6-7 pages of script a day.

"It was all thanks to the actors that we were able to do this," said Hines. "They were on their games everyday."

"Tom created a safe environment for us to allow us to get to places with our characters," said Bourne. "That created a beautiful environment for us. Shooting the film was light for us - even though the emotions and subject was dark. We had a good time."

So did the audience at Viewpoint.

The 2008 Method Fest is well on its way to screening some 25 features and 48 short films in its 10th year. Tickets for individual films and shorts may be purchased online at www.brownpapertickets.com, 800-838-3006.  Ticket prices range from $10 for most individual screenings (excluding opening, centerpiece films, and closing night films).

Award Winners at the 2008 Method Fest
Richard Jenkins, left, receives Method Fest a career achievement award from USA Today film critic Claudia Puig on March 29, as Festival Executive Director Don Franken looks on. A day later, Melissa Leo, center in right photo, received the 2008 Method Fest Maverick Award from Jenelle Riley of Back Stage. Relive these and other memorable 2008 Festival moments by accessing the daily Home Pages of methodfest.com via links in the top of the left-hand column on this page.