<\/p>\n
It began with Short studying to be a social worker at McMaster University, when his best friend Eugene Levy<\/a> persuaded his friend to come to Toronto and try his hand at theatre. Short gave himself a year, and he and Levy moved into a house together on Avenue Road, that became a hang-out for a group of young actors who would go on to SCTV and Saturday Night Live.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The two would ultimately marry\u00a0and raise three children, in what, by all accounts was a tight and loving marriage that lasted until her death from cancer in 2010.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n The\u00a0documentary features a lot of home movies\u00a0showing them as a couple very much in sync and at ease with each other, both prioritizing family and friendships.\u00a0<\/p>\n Whether in Toronto, Los Angeles, or at their cottage, they\u2019d host\u00a0friends, most of them celebrities, for\u00a0summer vacations, and Christmas parties.\u00a0We see home movies of summer fun, with Tom Hanks,\u00a0Rita Wilson<\/a>, Catherine O’Hara<\/a>, Andrea <\/a>Martin<\/a>, Steve Martin<\/a>,\u00a0Goldie Hawn<\/a>, Kurt Russell<\/a>, Steven Spielberg<\/a>,\u00a0and Kate Capshaw<\/a>, and their kids. <\/p>\n Spielberg would shoot video skits, including a riff on\u00a0Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid\u00a0as\u00a0played by Ed Grimley and Forrest Gump. He said of Short, \u201cI think the real tell about Marty\u2019s heart is how much my kids love Marty.\u201d<\/p>\n From his break in Godspell, Short\u2019s career moved fitfully forward. It\u2019s interesting to hear him talk about the advantages of being a young actor in Toronto in the early \u201870s, which is interesting, given that, at the time, the city was far from the center of the universe in the entertainment industry.\u00a0<\/p>\n Short talks about chances he took, mistakes he made, movies that failed. When Second City opened its Toronto operation in 1973, he decided not to audition, thinking it would limit him.\u00a0He ultimately felt it was a mistake,\u00a0and joined Second City friends on SCTV, where he created characters, including, I must say,\u00a0Ed Grimley.<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n When SCTV was cancelled, he took Ed along to Saturday Night Live. But he left after a year because the show demanded too much time and kept him from his family. <\/p>\n Through the film, he talks about motivates him.\u00a0There\u2019s a strength of purpose to him, and a sincere confidence.<\/p>\n \u00a0\u201cMy career has been 80 percent failure and I think those are pretty good odds,\u201d he says. You can have talent,\u00a0you can have tenancy\u00a0and take the hits. But if you don\u2019t have the confidence to get up there and fail, then you can\u2019t do it.\u201c<\/p>\n
Levy and Short were cast in the Toronto production of Godspell, a fortunate turn of events,\u00a0not least of which because he met the woman he\u2019d ultimately marry, Nancy Dolman<\/a>, who was understudying Gilda Radner<\/a> in the production.\u00a0<\/p>\n