TORONTO — Quebec filmmaker Marianne Farley might have songwriter Diane Warren to thank for a new flicker of inspiration.
The two Academy Award nominees crossed paths at Sunday’s awards show where Warren shared a rave review of Farley’s short film “Marguerite,” before throwing out an offer to create a song for a full-length version of the story.
“If you make a feature of ‘Marguerite’ I want to do your song,” Farley recalled Warren telling her at the ceremony.
“She said, ‘Take my phone number and call me when you’re making your film.’”
Warren is the mastermind behind numerous successful Hollywood ballads, including Celine Dion’s “Because You Loved Me” and Lady Gaga’s ”Til It Happens to You.” She was up for her 10th Oscar nomination at this year’s ceremony for Jennifer Hudson’s rousing “I’ll Fight” from the Ruth Bader Ginsburg documentary “RBG.”
“Marguerite” tells the tender story of an elderly woman who begins to acknowledge certain truths she’s neglected about her past after befriending her nurse.
Adapting the short film into a feature-length project is an idea Farley dismissed ”long ago,” before Warren expressed interest.
“I kind of moved on, but maybe that’s something I should start thinking about,” she said.
“She actually planted a seed in my brain,” Farley added.
Neither of the two nominated live-action short films from Quebec picked up an Oscar, but the filmmakers say their glitzy evening was still packed with highlights.
Jeremy Comte, director of fellow short nominee ”Fauve,” ran into Oscar-winning “Roma” filmmaker Alfonso Cuaron during a visit to the bar.
He also got a taste of the celebrity star power inside the Governors Ball after the broadcast.
“Rami Malek ran by me — but with maybe like 20 photographers coming after him,” Comte said.
“It was kind of crazy.”