EXPECT the unexpected from Sarah Polley. The actress burst onto the scene in the mid-1990s with two hits by fellow Canadian Atom Egoyan, “Exotica”‘ and “The Sweet Hereafter.” But despite the acclaim, she didn’t run off to play in Hollywood. Instead, she continued to appear in indies, many in her native Canada, with a few journeys south, including the recent remake of the zombie thriller “Dawn of the Dead.”‘
Now, she’s come up with a new surprise. The petite strawberry blonde has written and directed her first feature, “Away From Her,” opening Friday in New York. Based on “The Bear Came Over the Mountain,” a short story by Alice Munro, it tells of a woman – played by the great Julie Christie, looking more radiant than ever at 65 – who goes into a nursing home when her memory starts to fade.
But why would Polley, still in her 20s, decide to make a movie about old age?
“I read it and was moved by its profound love story,” she told The Post during a visit to New York.
The film also stars Gordon Pinsent, who very much channels one of Swedish writer/director Ingmar Bergman’s film regulars, Erland Josephson.
“Even though Bergman is one of my favorite directors and Josephson is one of my favorite actors, I didn’t consciously think of that when I did the film. Your unconscious really speaks to the things that influence you.”
Perhaps what also influenced Polley – who began acting when she was 4 – were her parents, British-born actor Michael Polley and actress/casting director Diane Polley, who died of cancer when she was 11.
Polley’s also kept her personal life “in the business” by marrying film editor David Wharnsby in 2003, who worked with her on “Away From Her.”
But all this connection to Hollywood still doesn’t make Polley, a lifelong Toronto resident, want to move south and west. “I’m a homebody, and I have a life I’m really happy with,” she says.