INTERVIEW: THE CAST OF "GOON" - FEATURING SEANN WILLIAM SCOTT, LIEV SCHREIBER, JAY BARUCHEL, MICHAEL DOWSE & MORE

Seann William Scott at the Toronto Premiere of Goon - February 2012

Canadian Director Michael Dowse (Fubar, It's All Gone Pete Tong) premiered his latest Hockey-Comedy back in September at TIFF to rousing reception and now is ready to unleash a "rink of fire" to the masses.  Alliance Films has shown its firm vote of confidence in the distinctly-Canadian Film, touring it over the past week with stop-offs in Vancouver, Winnipeg, Montreal and tonight, Toronto.  

Montreal's Jay Baruchel not only co-wrote Goon together with Evan Goldberg, but also stars in it.  He is said to have been moved to tears by a surprise visit from now-Fiancée and then-Co-Star Alison Pill. The two developed a romance on-set and thus, the Film can be said to be a Labour of Love, in more ways than one. In addition to Dowse and Baruchel, talents David Paetkau, Liev Schreiber and Seann William Scott graced the Fan and Media-filled Red Carpet also at Toronto's Scotiabank Theatre.

Goon centers upon Doug (Scott), a Jewish-Canadian Bouncer and trained Boxer whom after years of struggling to find his niche, gets hired aboard a floundering Halifax Hockey Team as someone whose purpose solely is to help his Team win fights on-the-ice, fully utilizing those Boxing chops. Doug turns out to be a much better at his job than anticipated and this causes some friction within his Team, especially with its Captain of many vices Xavier (Marc-André Grondin), and also a competing team's soon-to-retire star, the tough-as-nails Ross (Schreiber). Along the way, Doug falls for Eva (Pill) whom at first appears emotionally unavailable, but nonetheless he is determined to win her affections. With the support of his Team and Buddy Pat (Jay Baruchel), he enjoys a celebrated, although stormy rise to the top - even if it should come at the expense of his overachieving Parents.

Certainly not lacking controversy, Goon has gained much Media attention of late for both its shocking Posters, showing Baruchel in what might be considered a lewd act, but more so its violent on-ice beatdowns.  A Representative for the City of Toronto has denied that it ordered the removal of the offending Posters namely from bus shelters, according to a probe by The Globe & Mail.

Baruchel poked fun at the situation, performing quickly an encore of the said lewd act for the Cameras, shouting "Here you go, one more time!".  On a more delicate note, I asked Baruchel about how this Film might be misconstrued solely as a tough, violent Film when in fact much of it actually is a Love Story.  "Yes, that's exactly right. I was raised to believe that toughness has nothing to do with being a good person or not", he comments.   "It's also a reaction to a terrifying trend in movies where they're always cynical and always come from a mean-spirited place. I just wanted to bring a happiness and heart back into Films.".

KICK-ASS STAR LYNDSY FONSECA IN TORONTO FILMING NIKTA

Things are so looking up for Lyndsy Fonseca. The actress who hails from Oakland, California got her start with recurring roles on shows like The Young and The Restless, Desperate Housewives, Big Love and more recently How I Met Your Mother. That would explain why she looks so familiar. Aside from a part in this year's comedy Hot Tub Time Machine, she recently starred in critically and commercially acclaimed Action-Hero flick Kick-Ass. Fans will be delighted to know that she will be reprising her role as Katie Deauxma in the upcoming sequel, which is set to be released in 2012.

I ran into Fonseca by chance recently in casual mode and she was absolutely lovely in-person. She was hanging out with a couple fellow cast members Ashton Moore and Julie Gonzalo of The CW Network's much-hyped Nikita chatting about everything from where to eat good Organic food in Toronto (they agreed on True in Yorkville) to which characater co-star Shane West killed today on the set. She took a moment to greet a few fans and was amazed how prepared some of them were with 8x10s of her in-hand. Fonseca then was seen exchanging hugs with Gonvalo, sending her off in her Taxi. Lyndsy Fonseca - remember this name, Peaches. 

(Photo credit: Mr. Will-W.)