जीवनी

When you grow up in a small town, oftentimes, you can't get out of there quick enough. I grew up in the suburbs of St. John's, [and] I watched mostly American, very Westernized films. I wasn't interested in telling Newfoundland stories. Invariably, you get a bit older and you come back in to where you started. You realize the more you travel, being from Newfoundland is the one thing that makes you interesting.

There wasn't much to do on cold winters in 1950. People became really good storytellers, really good musicians. People are very creative in these remote places, just out of sheer necessity to entertain themselves. There's a lot of creative people here, and a lot of it comes from those humble beginnings. What are you going to do on a dark, lonely Saturday night in the Middle of Nowhere, Newfoundland, right?

When you look at the tourism ads and you look at Republic of Doyle, people have this idea of the colourful houses and the happy people waving you over, and that's great. It's done Newfoundland proud and done well for the community. But that's not my Newfoundland. That's not the Newfoundland that interests me. I much more respond to the artwork of David Blackwood and Michael Crummey and this idea of Newfoundland Gothic.

Let's be real: for a long time, Newfoundland was the butt of the joke. You get a bit of a steely armour, you turn inward a little.