Change of Heart (1993)

Interesting facts

Change of Heart is a 1993 Canadian-British family road movie directed and co-produced by Donald Shebib, based on a story by Shebib and Terence Heffernan. The film stars newcomer Sarah Campbell Jeremy Ratchford, and veteran Canadian actors Barbara Hamilton and Heath Lamberts.

Production

Change of Heart was Donald Shebib's first film since directing the 1990 made for television film The Little Kidnappers. Screenwriter Terence Heffernan had previously collaborated with Shebib on the TV movie The Canary (1974) and on Shebib's 1981 feature Heartaches. The screenplay, titled Maggie & Felix, was developed from a story by both Heffernan and Shebib.

In a 2013 interview, Shebib remarked that Felix was supposed to be more like the character of Uncle Buck, and that he had hoped to cast John Candy for the part, suggesting the film would have been "a huge success" had that happened: "I think he got [the script] and his agent said, "You're not even allowed to read it," because it didn't come with an offer.

Like most of his previous films, Change of Heart was shot primarily in Toronto, from 19 January to 29 February 1992.

Shebib said that Change of Heart was made "very cheaply." Shebib described raising money for the project as "sheer hell": "I was scrambling around looking for ways of making money. There just wasn't anything." Producer Chalmers Adams, who was also Shebib's lawyer, was responsible for the film finally securing funding.

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