By Emily R. Zarevich, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Jessica Clement, born in Burlington and currently residing in Dundas, has been in the acting business for 25 years. Her first acting credit was a small role as an actor’s daughter in 2010’s Small Town Murder Songs, and from there she has enjoyed a series of steady successes. But one notable film role allowed her the opportunity to show off her hometown to big filmmaking names. This was her role in 2023’s Dream Scenario, directed by Kristoffer Borgli. In this surrealist dark comedy, Clement appears as the offspring of a meek biology professor who discovers he has the ability to enter other people’s dreams.
Dream Scenario premiered at TIFF on September 9, 2023, and made its U.S. theatrical debut on November 10, 2023. In the film, Clement is Hannah Matthews, the daughter of Paul Matthews, who is played by none other than the famously versatile Hollywood actor Nicolas Cage. Hannah is a regular teenage girl who is powerless to stop either the disastrous crumbling of Paul’s worldwide reputation or the dissolution of his marriage to her mother, Janet, played by Julianne Nicholson. Hannah shares this helplessness with her little sister Sophie, played by Lily Bird. Many scenes in Dream Scenario were filmed in Burlington, particularly in the Aldershot area. Film viewers from this city will quickly recognize the popular Russell Williams Family Restaurant as the setting for a restaurant scene.
Jessica Clement currently runs Hamont Acting Studio in Dundas, Ontario, and offers well-honed, professional guidance in the acting field. She was happy to speak out about her experiences filming Dream Scenario just a few years ago and the City of Burlington’s benefits as a filming location. Answers have been condensed and lightly edited for clarity and flow.
How did you come to be cast in Dream Scenario?
It was like any audition. I got it through my agent. I remember that they had already cast the mom and dad, so Nicolas Cage and Julianne Nicholson were already a part of it. To me, that was good news because I believed that I could be a believable daughter to the two of them. That’s always exciting. I did a self-tape at home, and then there were in-person callbacks.
I remember when I was in the waiting room for the callback, I saw somebody who was obviously reading for the younger sister Sophie. This was Lily. I looked at her and went, “If she books this, I’ll book this,” because the roles were so similar. I went in and did the audition. There wasn’t too much for my character Hannah to really have to do. She doesn’t have any huge scenes, but she does have to fit into the family pretty effortlessly. They had us improvise a fight with the dad. I had such a fun time!
When you were filming Dream Scenario, how did it feel to work with someone as famous as Nicolas Cage?
It was pretty surreal. I mean, to be honest, I had somehow not seen any Nick Cage movies, which I know is crazy because he has done so many of them. But it definitely helped me to just be able to work with him as any other actor. Obviously, I’ve seen his face before, but I was doing another movie at the same time with Richard Gere. This was the movie Longing. I had seen Gere’s face before because I was a big fan of Chicago.
Because I was filming both movies at the same time, I kind of felt like my fangirl was taken out on Richard Gere. So when I was working with Nick, I was able to be kind of like a peer. I think that helped a lot because I’m sure that he works with a lot of people who have a hard time even looking him in the eye. That would not have been helpful at all, since I had to play his daughter. It was really nice for both of us to be able to work just actor-to-actor. And I talked to him about Richard Gere because they had done a movie together!
Were any of your scenes in Dream Scenario filmed in Burlington?
Well, not actually any of the scenes I was in, but I did visit because I’m from Burlington and scenes were filmed specifically in Aldershot. I went to Aldershot High. That’s where I grew up. They also filmed at Russell Williams, which is a super special restaurant to me. My mom worked there all throughout high school and college to get herself through college. And then my best friend was working there at the time they were filming. It just felt like I could show the crew and cast a little piece of my home, so I did hang out on that day.
And then there was another day when they were filming on North Shore [Road]. There’s this beautiful, circular house on North Shore, and I’ve always wondered what it looked like on the inside. That was the house they used to film a dinner scene, and also the outdoor dream scene at the very beginning, where Lily is up in the air. I went to support Lily because she was nervous about that scene. I got to see the inside of the house, and I got to bring my dad and our family dog at the time to visit the set.
In your opinion, what makes Burlington work so well as a filming location?
I do have an acting studio. It’s an educational studio for new actors to get the opportunity to work with a professional crew to do these demo short films. I do help actors get on their feet by giving them some demo footage. Because my entire family lives in Burlington, those are the locations that we get for free. I go to my dad’s house and I use it all the time because it’s on the water and it backs onto a golf course. It’s a really beautiful location to film at. And I just know it so well.
I think that Burlington can play its own kind of character because there are so many different divisions of Burlington. I grew up in Aldershot, and I’ve talked to people who grew up at Walkers and Dundas. It’s just such a different vibe. I think that you can probably tell quite a few stories within this town.
