| Breakfast with Scot | |
| Director: | Laurie Lynd |
| Producer: | Paul Brown Howard Rosenman Nadine Schiff |
| Based On: | Breakfast with Scot by Michael Downing |
| Starring: | Thomas Cavanagh Ben Shenkman Noah Bernett |
| Music: | Robert Carli |
| Cinematography: | David A. Makin |
| Editing: | Susan Shipton |
| Distributor: | Miracle Pictures |
| Runtime: | 95 minutes |
| Country: | Canada |
| Language: | English |
Breakfast with Scot is a 2007 Canadian comedy film. It is adapted from the 1999 novel by Tufts University professor Michael Downing.[1] [2]
The screenplay was adapted by Sean Reycraft from the book by Michael Downing, and the film was directed by Laurie Lynd. The film attracted significant press attention in 2006,[3] when the National Hockey League and the Toronto Maple Leafs announced that they had approved the use of the team's logo and uniforms in the film.[1] [4] [5] [6] Breakfast with Scot was the first gay-themed film ever to receive this type of approval from a professional sports league.[7] [8]
In early 2007, several months before the film's release, an excerpt was screened at Toronto's Inside Out Film and Video Festival as an advance preview, alongside Lynd's earlier short films RSVP and The Fairy Who Didn't Want to Be a Fairy Anymore.[9]
Eric McNally (Tom Cavanagh) is a gay retired hockey player turned television sportscaster who lives with his partner Sam (Ben Shenkman), a sports lawyer. Sam unexpectedly becomes the legal guardian of his brother's stepson, Scot (Noah Bernett), due to his mother's overdose. This immediately turns their lives upside down because Eric is not patient and is not used to having a child in his house. In addition to the demands of being a parent, Scot's non-traditional choices of clothing and hobbies begin to intrude on Eric's desire to remain closeted at work. As Eric and his partner Sam try to teach Scot how to be a stereotypical boy to prevent bullying at school, Scot experiences gender dysmorphia while completely changing his identity.
Over time, Eric's unwillingness to accept the situation eventually fades as Scot teaches Eric about loving your true self and accepting one's identity.
In Breakfast with Scot some common themes in the movie are; loving your true self, learning to accept one's identity, and ignoring what other's think of you. Throughout the movie Scot loves himself and is not ashamed of what he likes. He expresses himself through clothes and makeup. He dresses very feminine and does not care what anyone else thinks about him.
Moving on to the second theme (learning to accept one's identity) Eric was closed off because of his “masculinity” and then at the end of the movie he accepts himself and who he is. Eric McNally decides to tell everyone that he has a partner and is taking care of Scot.
Lastly, the third theme (ignoring what other's think of you) Scot does not care what Eric or Sam, classmates, or anyone else think about how he dresses, acts, looks. He teaches Eric to do the same and not worry if someone does or does not like him.
The film won the Globola Audience Award for the best international movie at the Lesbisch Schwule Filmtage Hamburg (Hamburg International Queer Film Festival) in October 2008.[10]
It also won the Family Feature Film award from the Directors Guild of Canada, November 2008.[11]
One evangelical Christian group, the Canada Family Action Coalition, responded to the film with anger, calling for a boycott of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment (MLSE).[1]