Brett Donahue’s new romcom The Love Club sets itself apart from the rest. “I think the fact that these films are set up as a series of four is pretty unique,” he says. “The watchers can get attached to the characters and enjoy how they each step into the forefront of their own stories and then step back to the supporting characters in all the others. That, and I’m in one of them of course! So that’s pretty special.” He is reflective on the alchemy that creates a good partnership. We are all flawed human beings at the end of the day. “It’s funny that we use the word ‘settle.’ because it implies accepting something that’s not the ideal, but also finding the place to set up roots somewhere; make a home. I think this is interesting because both are kind of what happens in relationships, aren’t they? I don’t think any partner will be ideal in every context, nor should we think we’re ideal in every context either. I think what finding love is, is finding that person who helps you express who you really are. It’s never healthy if people aren’t being met, fed, motivated and inspired to want to be with their partner so the idea of ‘settling’ in this case isn’t healthy. We all need to evaluate what we give to our relationships and what we can expect to receive from our partners, and if it’s falling short of what makes you happy, then maybe it’s not the relationship to stay in. I think self-love is incredibly important. I think we can (naively) put so much on the shoulders of our loved ones to get us out of the feelings we might be having. Of course we all want to be loved and cared for by others, but there’s so much one can do for themselves to make their lives so much better. Knowing oneself, and being comfortable there with all the goods, and understanding of the bads, is the best place you can be. It’s probably the most honest place to be, and I’d say it’s the best version of yourself to bring into the life of another person.”
His character Noah is doing a bit of soul-searching himself. “Noah is an aspiring singer-songwriter, traveling around in his Westfalia van, practicing his craft and trying to get his music discovered. At his core, Noah is a really sincere guy and a bit of a romantic, which leads him to get involved with Tara in ways that he never really expected. What was fun to play out is that both of these characters were pretty upfront about what they thought about love, and with their differing opinions, agreed to carry out a pretend relationship. What’s lovely, and what was really fun to play in the shooting of it, despite their charade, was through the creation of music together where Tara and Noah started to develop feelings for each other. Falling in love through creation is such a fun and fertile place to be.” In reality, music has never been Brett’s forte. “I had to learn how to sing and play the piano at the same time. I’ve been playing piano for years, but singing and playing has never been my thing. Or I should say, I’ve never been very good at it,” he laughs. “With this film, I had to get a few songs under my belt in a real short amount of time, so it was a bit of a sprint trying to get some of these melodies under my fingers.” If we are lucky, we all have many different kinds of love in our lives. “Friendships can be just as important to our lives as romantic relationships. I can say that I’m so. so, so very fortunate to have great friends in my life. My friendships have always held such an importance to me, and through that I’ve been able to surround myself by people that don’t only love me, but guide me, inspire me, challenge me and hold me to my sh**.”
He hopes to fill his professional future with kindness and generosity. “Most recently, I had the opportunity to work with Alfred Molina. He was a real treasure of a human being and a great actor. He had such a wonderful, kind, and gracious presence on set and treated everyone in every role with such respect. It was a real reminder of decency in a world that can be so clouded by egos. I love Wes Anderson films. I think he always creates such a defined aesthetic of design and shot selection, and it would be such a wonderful challenge to try to integrate into it.” If you’re swooning over Brett, you can watch him in several other projects! “Apart from The Love Club: Tara, I have a film called Luckless in Love that just premiered on Uptv. You can find me in the hit series Three Pines on Amazon Prime, and a Québécoise series called Portrait Robot that is about to start shooting its third season.” His performances are sure to make your heart beat faster.
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Brett Donahue Creates His Way to Love in “The Love Club.” Photo Credit: Courtesy of Project Four PR.
