A story of triumph, determination, and one woman’s dream for an entire community.
The red carpet was buzzing inside the Rose Wagner Theater in Salt Lake City, Utah in anticipation for Dream Horse which premiered Friday, January 24th. Many moviegoers expressed excitement overseeing this adaptation having seen the original film it was based on, Dark Horse, which won the World Cinema Documentary Audience Award back in 2015 at Sundance.
Owen Teale, Di Botcher, Toni Collette, Damian Lewis, and Anthony O’Donnell appear in Dream Horse by Euros Lyn Courtesy of Sundance Institute | photo by Kerry Brown
We caught up with Toni Collette and Dream Horse director Euros Lyn at The Sundance Film Festival on opening night.
The Knockturnal: There’s a lot of buzz around this film tonight, people are excited to see it!
Euros Lyn: I mean it’s an incredible story and when the documentary screened here five years ago it captured the hearts of it’s viewers because there’s so much honor, heroism and hope in this story about the community. A community that’s lost it’s pride and yet in the midst of it is this amazing woman, Jan Vokes, who makes a dream come true and takes a whole community with her.
The Knockturnal: Why did you feel Toni Collette was the best person to portray Jan?
Euros Lyn: Well where do I start? She’s such a charismatic star with films as varied as Sixth Sense, Muriel’s Wedding, Little Miss Sunshine, so many amazing and radically different movies. She gets to the truth of the character in the movies that very few actresses do. She can play real people and yet has the magnetism and charisma to light up that screen. She can be funny, she can be hard, she can be determined. I mean, she’s just incredible and a lovely person to work with.
The Knockturnal: This film is about a powerhouse woman that changed a town and instilled a lot of hope in something that seemed desolate at the time. Why do you feel that even today we need stories about hope, triumph and one person making a difference?
Toni Collette: I think society does a great job of ostracizing us and making us feel, as we stare into our phones, alone in the world. This is a story about unity, coming together, building a dream, and sharing all that comes with that. It’s incredibly empowering, inspirational, and very moving. It has a huge heart and I think in these dark time times this film will go a long way.
