almost cost director Risa Bramon-Garcia her job. In 1982, when the York theatre grad [BA'77] was working as a casting agent for HBO, she discovered Carrey
performing in Toronto.
While she believed he was hot property, she says, her employers didn't. "They thought he was ridiculous," says Bramon-Garcia. "I nearly got fired over it."
After she graduated from York, Bramon-Garcia packed her bags and headed for New York (on the same day Elvis died, she's quick to point out). Omen? Who knows. She
immediately got a job with a small theatre company .
Eventually she put on a few shows of her own. But she couldn't make ends meet on $75 a week so she ended up waiting tables and serving customers like Blondie's Deborah
Harry and Elvis Costello who both appeared - 20 years later - in 200 Cigarettes, her directorial debut.
Her film, set in the East Village in the early '80s, follows a group of angst-ridden young adults looking for the party of their lives on New Year's Eve. Despite boasting a huge
cast that includes Ben Affleck, Courtney Love (above with Bramon-Garcia) and Christina Ricci, Bramon-Garcia insists it's a "small character piece".
How did she react to the reviews of her film? "I didn't read most of them. I did read the New York Times and Los Angeles Times. Both were positive, so it was hard not to."
