Donald D'Haene

LGBTQ, son of Belgian immigrants, Canadian born, Actor, Singer, Director, Playwright, Producer, TV presenter, Blogger for Huffington Post, Publisher, Editor, Talk Show Host, Author of two memoirs - Father's Touch and Amazon's No One Wants To Read That You're Happy; doc filmmaker, cat lover, Canadian, I was on The OPRAH Winfrey Show in 2010.

Interpreting Erik challenged every skill I’ve acquired and some I needed to develop.
I’ve made a career out of telling my story. And I’ve been an interviewer all of my life. Combining these two facts to tell, convey the story of the most important person in my life, my brother, with emotion yet distance, with sympathy but objectivity, artfully yet neutrally is one of toughest challenges I’ve ever taken on.
Consider the patience required to direct one’s surving siblings. I suggest it’s a tougher assignment than directing one’s partner in life.
And how does one direct a professional actor to portray one’s late brother removing every artifice of “acting” to create a down-to-earth human being whose main goal in life was existing yet another hour, let alone a day?
I took all my skills of grand standing, over-the-top, carnival barking and brought it all down to a whisper, a quiet, impactful, retelling of a life foreign to my experience and yet, as if my twin in life. Whereas I lived, survived, thrived, consciously within, my twin in blood and spirt, my brother lived without, as many as hours as possible unconscious, to avoid living, feeling, remembering.
A hellish trip to give my brother peace. To artfully capture, if but for a few moments, some of which he lived, him not knowing that another human soul would know his name, remember him, or share in interpreting his experience.