You survive in this business long enough,and if
you're lucky enough, you have something called a career.

I have been asked over the years, "What's been your best experience?" "Your worst experience?"

I'll sidestep the latter, gracefully if I can,
and answer the former...

Hands down, working on
David Cronenberg's first feature, Shivers. *

David, as the movie going public has discovered
over the years, has a ferocious imagination,
and the screenplay for his first feature was no exception.
It was a cerebral feast.

I had heard that David was about to direct
this film and I called him at home in pursuit of an audition
(people still listed their numbers in those days).

The year was 1974, and I traveled as Allan Migicovsky.

My first feature had recently opened,
"The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz," and David was familiar
with my work, "Ah yes, the young Leonard Cohen,"
was how David welcomed/greeted me.

And he couldn't have been more gracious.

I read for him, and then a second reading
followed for Ivan Reitman,who was producing the film,
and voila I was on board.

If memory serves, we shot the film somewhere
between 14 and 17 days, with a budget somewhere
around $160,000.00

It had the spirit of today's "Indies" features....
we were flying by the seat of our pants, and there wasn't
always a second take...so it 'behooved' you
to get it right the first time.

I honed my work ethic on this film,
and when I've had the good fortune over the years
to work on larger budgeted features or guest star on a
TV series the "given" of doing 2 or 3 and even more takes on
a specific scene still plays out as a luxury to me.

*Shivers was the American release title.
The Canadian release title, outside the province of Quebec was, They Came From Within. Inside the province of Quebec,
the English release title was, The Parasite Murders;
the French release title was Frissons...which translates into...
you guessed it, SHIVERS.