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"Not on the part of the artist," the famed director of In the Heat of the Night and Moonstruck is quick to add, stressing that he is referring to the bankers and investors with the money to finance entertainment projects.
"It's that nobody believes in art in Canada," says Jewison, who is in town tonight and tomorrow to make appearances at the Local Heroes film fest. "It's difficult for them to embrace success. Americans love success. Americans are just gamblers. We're not."
Jewison says that if a Canadian investor had started to bankroll him in the late '60s after Heat had established him as a major commercial force and while the filmmaker still had hits like Fiddler on the Roof and Moonstruck in his future, that bank or investor would have made a lot of money.
Needless to say, no one made that move and Jewison continued to work in Hollywood. Even if he is a professional expatriate, Jewison remains proudly Canadian and keenly interested in the arts in his native land. In 1988, he established the Canadian Film Centre and he proudly points out that 95% of the artists who have passed through the centre - including Don McKellar - are now working in film and TV production.
Tonight, Jewision will introduce a screening of his 1987 Oscar-winner Moonstruck (at 7 p.m. at the Garneau) and tomorrow morning at 10 he will appear in conversation with filmmaker Bruce McDonald (Highway 61), also at the Garneau.