CRITICAL CASTING

Toronto Globe and Mail film critic Jay Scott has always heard that he resembles Vincent Van Gogh--albeit with both ears. Now the likeness has paid off.

Australian director Paul Cox (“Man of Flowers”), while visiting the Montreal and Toronto film festivals to show his new picture, “Cactus,” cast him in the lead in a fictionalized version of the artist’s life. “He saw me in a corridor at Montreal,” Scott explained, “and said, ‘My God, there are self portraits of Van Gogh that look just like you!’ ”

Scott’s lack of thespian experience shouldn’t be a problem: The film is from the painter’s viewpoint and he’s seen only once--lying dead in a coffin, surrounded by his paintings. He’ll shoot the scene in Melbourne in December, when the picture is “fundamentally completed.” But, to be safe, Scott won’t give up his day job as critic.