In the trailer, we see Lee speaking through Cumming as he recounts his time at the Academy in 1993. When he walked in as a pale, supposedly 16-year-old teenager with distinctive hair and glasses, no one was the wiser. Through a mix of animation and testimony from his classmates, one of whom is director McLeod and a former teacher, the footage depicts Lee as a good student with respect and care for those around him. Despite an alleged transfer, Lee made such an impression at Bearsden that he was chosen by name as a student who seemed to have been at the academy forever. In Lee’s own words, “Hiding in plain sight is the best place you can hide.”
Lee’s world is torn apart when the police, at his taunts, find several of his passports. The trailer then dives into the darker side of Lee’s story, including a story where he and a group of other students were being chased by police when he revealed his secret. Despite his best efforts, no one can really understand why Lee, actually 30 years old Brian McKinnon, will pose as a student at the academy and hang out with high school students. It spirals out of control in one of the most bizarre true events ever, which happens to so many people who had fabricated memories with Lee, who were having a rude awakening that they were only “of the end”. means”.
Along with a mix of animation and interviews by Lee and others, the film also includes archival footage from the Academy and local reports to bring viewers back to the times of Lee’s deception. Because of his time at the academy with Lee, McLeod proved to be the perfect person to put the documentary together. He described Lee’s arrival at IndieWire from Bearsden, saying:
“It was 1993 and I was 15 when Brandon first came into my high school class. He was from Canada, had a strange accent and looked different to the rest of us kids. He was basically a class geek. But As the years progressed as a junior, he became one of the most popular kids in the school. We won’t be able to discover the secret of his success until after graduation.”
When Lee declined to be interviewed on camera, MacLeod had the idea to bring in Cumming as the mouthpiece of Lee’s words, after learning that the actor was originally supposed to play Lee in a film in the 1990s. Although it was never successful. When he approached the veteran actor about the role, McLeod said, “I think Allen was tickled that the part came back to him after that time. And I think he relented. Enjoyed the challenge of living without a character. On your own voice. The result is this incredible performance that Allen has pulled off, it’s truly breathtaking.”
Magnolia Pictures picked up my old school For distribution after running Sundance. It is set to debut in theaters on July 22. Watch the trailer below.
