Born to be Blue

Trumpeter and jazz singer Chet Baker (Ethan Hawke) became an icon in the 1950s. As the film begins, it's the late 1960s and Chet is playing himself in a film about his own life.

He strikes up a passionate romance on and off the set with Jane (Carmen Ejogo), an actress playing one of his lovers, but when he's brutally beaten in a parking lot after a gig, his future suddenly isn't so bright.

His mouth is so badly damaged that his musical career is derailed and as a consequence, the film is shelved. However, Jane stands by him and he becomes determined to regain his place among his peers — including his friend and collaborator Dizzy Gillespie (Kevin Hanchard), his rival Miles Davis (Kedar Brown) and his reticent producer (Callum Keith Rennie).

  Canadian Connection: Filmed in Sudbury and Espanola, Ontario. Director/screenwriter Robert Budreau and most of the supporting cast members are Canadian, including Stephen McHattie, Janet-Laine Green and Katie Boland.