'You belong here': Star Hollywood director lavishes praise on Vancouver | Daily Hive

Osgood Perkins and Chris Ferguson at the Whistler Film Festival.

The Vancouver film industry continued to shine bright in 2025, and star director Osgood Perkins recently sang its praises to one of the industry’s biggest media outlets.

Perkins and producer Chris Ferguson were at the Whistler Film Festival in early December for a conversation with George Stroumboulopoulos about the craft of psychological thrillers and the creative process.

Ahead of the masterclass session, the filmmaking duo had a conversation with The Hollywood Reporter (THR), where they shared their love of Vancouver.

“Vancouver is real sweet,” said Perkins in THR. “It’s a very vibrant, liberal, expansive artistic city that cares about its people.”

George Stroumboulopoulos, Osgood Perkins, and Chris Ferguson at the Whistler Film Festival.

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Perkins is the director of such hit films as Longlegs, Keeper, and The Monkey.

All three films were shot in Vancouver, adding to a busy production schedule across the region alongside films like Eternity and The Social Reckoning, and TV shows like Malcolm in the Middle and The Reluctant Traveller.

He and Ferguson are also investors of Vancouver’s The Park Theatre alongside other acclaimed filmmakers and actors like Sean Baker, Samantha Quan, and Finn Wolfhard.

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Perkins has also applied for permanent residence status in Canada so that he and his family can remain in the city while he works on his next Vancouver film projects.

“Permanent residency is a really nice deal,” explained Perkins to THR. “It gives us some financial perks. It gives my family a sense of roots.

“I have a young son who’s six, who goes to school in Vancouver, and feeling like you belong here. You’re not just visiting.”

Ferguson added that the way the city has embraced the Legally Blonde and Nope actor has been very special.

“It’s been cool to see Vancouver accept Oz the way Toronto accepts and celebrates Guillermo del Toro,” added Ferguson. “Here he’s keynoting the Whistler Film Festival. We just need the government to accept him in the same way and give him PR (permanent residency).”

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Daily Hive also recently spoke with Vancouver-born Ferguson about the comparisons between the city and Hollywood.

The film producer behind films like Afflicted, Little Fish, and more recent box office hits like Dangerous Animals had some answers.

“I think there are some areas we’re thriving in, absolutely. But there are areas that we are not,” he said. “For the most part, Vancouver is a production town where a producer in L.A. has a project, and they want to get it done, and they hire a line producer in Vancouver, and those people go and make sure the project gets made.

“For me to see Vancouver thriving, I would want to see more production companies up here that are genuinely producing projects.”