Why the director of Hot Docs film 'Off the Rails' was 'not trying to make a balanced film'

Darius McCollum dressed as a New York City transit worker.

Adam Irving can credit a chance encounter on Wikipedia in 2012 with leading him home this week to the Hot Docs Film Festival where his first feature length documentary "Off the Rails" is having its international debut.

"I was just blown away by the first line," the Toronto-native Irving said. "It read something like ‘Darius McCollum has spent half his adult life in prison for his crimes’ but he’d never actually hurt anyone."

The film follows the ongoing saga of McCollum who has been incarcerated 32 times for posing as a New York City transit worker and commandeering MTA subway trains and buses. His train-obsession is fuelled by his Asperger’s Syndrome – a form of autism punctuated by difficulty in emotional and social interactions.

Irving, 34, began the journey towards making the film by first contacting Jude Domski – a playwright whose stage production "Boy Steals Train" led her into a friendship with McCollum.

"She was pretty protective of him," Irving recalled. "She told me I was the 28th filmmaker to approach Darius, but I knew there would not be a 29th because I was going to do this film."

After earning Domski’s trust, Irving entered into a relationship of his own with McCollum, who at the time was imprisoned at Rikers Island for his most recent impersonation attempt. The pair would exchange more than 100 letters and phone calls over six months before Irving travelled to New York to finally meet him in person and seal the deal.

Train-obsessed

Much of the film sees McCollum narrating his life story to camera – a process Irving said took a mere three days once Darius was freed from prison at the end of 2013. In addition to that, Irving spent time with Darius wandering around the city, visiting some of his old transit haunts including MTA yards and infrastructure he’s come to know like the back of his hand.

We learn in the film that McCollum’s train fascination began at an early age and was rewarded by MTA staff who allowed him to hang out and do odd jobs for them. The first time he drove a train by himself he was 15.

Telling these kinds of stories from the past can be difficult for a director to do without the video or photos to support the narrative, so Irving turned to re-enactments in order to do Darius’ history justice. Not surprisingly, he also turned to his old hometown, and the now-famous Lower Bay station on the TTC line.

"There are some purists who say you can’t tell a backstory this way but I think that’s bull," Irving said. "I thought how great would it be to shoot here and have that pass for New York?"

Irving even used a film-aging technique to give these scenes the appearance of looking older.

"My editor was most insecure about these," Irving said. "He thought they’d look tacky and cheesy but we’ve had a lot of compliments on how they turned out so I’m glad I decided to go for it."

Understanding Asperger's

Irving also utilizes Asperger’s experts, various counsellors who had worked with Darius, and even his own, now-ailing mother in the film in order to gain a more intimate knowledge of the man and his seemingly never-ending battle with his obsession. For anyone who knows very little about the disorder it can be hard to understand why McCollum just doesn’t stop what he’s doing. Irving said he hopes his film can shed some light on that.

"(Darius) thinks he is doing something good, like a helpful volunteer. He doesn’t see the harm," said Irving.

And without a single day of therapy in prison it’s hard to conclude why McCollum would ever be made to feel otherwise. Many perceive McCollum’s crimes as victimless while others argue he’s put many lives at risk. Perhaps the one thing both sides can agree on is that repeatedly jailing the now 52-year-old has not had the desired effect.

What "Off the Rails" does best is advocate for McCollum and for other people on the Autism spectrum who have committed crimes – something Irving said some critics have knocked him for, but he’s unapologetic.

"I’m not trying to make a balanced film. It’s a film that portrays Darius in a sympathetic light… that exposes an injustice in the criminal justice system," Irving said.

"There needs to be legislation that recognizes that not all criminals are foaming at the mouth, but because they’re on the spectrum they’re truly addicted and truly cannot control themselves and don’t really realize the consequences of their actions."

"Off the Rails" has three more screenings at Hot Docs.