Kris Lemche is relishing what he calls a season of calm.

The former Ontario native has two movies he shot in British Columbia last year currently in simultaneous release. In Final Destination 3, he plays a doomed high school student and in A Simple Curve, he is a young man trying to put meaning in his life.

“These films couldn’t be more totally different universes,” says Lemche from his home in Los Angeles. “A Simple Curve was a tiny film we shot in the interior of B.C. in three weeks. We worked 16-hour days and I was on set every day.

“Final Destination 3 was a $30-million production that I was a small part of. I just had to turn up, have fun and collect a paycheque. Some weeks I only worked a few days.”

In A Simple Curve, Lemche, 27, plays the rebellious son of an American draft dodger who raised him in the Slocan Valley. Lemche says he felt “so much responsibility for A Simple Curve. It was like I was carrying the movie on my shoulders and I loved the responsibility.

“With Final Destination 3, it was as if the picture was this huge tidal wave that was going to hit land no matter what I did or didn’t do. I just got on and enjoyed the wild ride.”

Guerilla-style shoot

It was not until trailers for Final Destination 3 began appearing in cinemas and on TV that Lemche realized being in the slasher movie carried more responsibility than he realized.

“I’ve always been a really private person and love that I was virtually unrecognized in L.A. so the past few weeks have seemed like intense chaos. The moment the first ads began appearing for Final Destination 3, people started coming up to me and asking me how I died in the film and in what order. These movies have such an incredible fan base and I suddenly found myself part of their fascination for the films.”

Lemche was born in Brampton and began acting in Toronto when he was 15.

When he was 20, he moved to L.A.

“I was living in this little apartment in Toronto with some other guys. One of them happened to also be an actor. When we got evicted from our apartment, he and I packed up the ’85 Jetta and headed to L.A.”

Two months later Lemche’s roommate moved back to Toronto.

“He had things back in Canada he had to sort out.

“I had a great deal of determination to stick it out and make things work in L.A. That was the difference between the two of us.”

Ironically. several of Lemche’s biggest projects. including Ginger Snaps, eXistence, Knockaround Guys and the TV series La Femme Nikita, brought him back to Canada.

He recalls the guerilla-style shooting of A Simple Curve as one of the most exciting experiences of his career.

“We shot in a little town of no more than 300 people. Our whole crew increased that by about 100 people.”

A Simple Curve, which was produced by Calgarian George Baptist, had its premiere at the 2005 Toronto Film Festival and, the following month, played to sold-out houses at the Calgary and Vancouver festivals.