Documentary on addiction features Canadian actor Jeff Wincott

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A new documentary about addiction called Fall Fight Shine could not be more timely.

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About 21% of the adult population in Canada meets the criteria for addiction to drugs or alcohol and  substance abuse costs us more than $46 billion every year.

Fall Fight Shine puts a human face on addiction even as it investigates the brain chemistry that compels an addict to consume potentially deadly substances.

The film focuses on the recovery story of Canadian actor Jeff Wincott, who in the space of about a year used enough cocaine and alcohol to derail a highly successful Hollywood career.

The film is directed by Dr. Charlotte Wincott, Jeff Wincott’s wife, and they produced it together.

Thirty years ago, Wincott became well known through a starring role on TV’s Night Heat and then went on to star in a string of action and martial arts movies — The Killing Machine, Street Law, The Donor, Pressure Point.

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As he says in Fall Fight Shine, “I didn’t have to audition anymore. I started to make a lot of money.

“Life was fabulous.”

At 41, Wincott was in peak physical health. Action roles required constant training, twice-daily gym workouts, a strict diet and even the odd marathon run, and he was highly disciplined about it all.

He drank alcohol, but kept all that separate from work. Then someone offered him cocaine.

After that, it didn’t take long to blow up his whole life.

After nearly dying of an overdose in L.A.  he entered his first rehab.

Fall Fight Shine explains what happens in addiction and how recovery is possible. Addiction is a strange thing — why use a substance when it has such terrible consequences? — but it’s all about brain chemistry and homeostasis and the need to maintain equilibrium.

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Certain things contribute to your chances of experiencing addiction, such as a genetic predisposition, trauma or chronic stress.

In an interview for Fall Fight Shine, Wincott said there was alcoholism in his family. He’s made it clear to his adolescent son, Wolfgang, “that he has two parents who have that gene.

“He gets to grow up with two sober parents, something neither Charlotte nor I grew up with,” he said.

Wincott and his wife Charlotte, who has a PhD in neuroscience, met in rehab more than 20 years ago. This year they both celebrate 20 years of sobriety.

“That’s part of the story. That’s part of why the documentary got made. We’re trying to pay it forward. This film is about helping people, to show someone who’s struggling that there’s hope,” he said.

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As he says in the movie, addiction is a disease, not a moral failure.

Wincott believes there is more than one path to recovery. A 12-step program worked for him, “but whatever helps someone get on that path. You don’t need to be perfect.

“You just have to keep on trying, one day at a time.”

Part of any 12-step recovery is making amends. Wincott tells a story about going to visit a director he’d worked with in Vancouver to do just that.

The director greeted him fondly and asked if Wincott remembered how he and the producer had made a point of saying goodbye to him when the shoot ended.

“He said to me, ‘We said goodbye to you because we knew you were going to die and we’d never see you again! In between takes you were lying on the concrete floor, out. We’d  have to wake you for the next take.’”

Fast-forward 20 years: Wincott is back to perfect health and his revived career covers a slew of TV series (The Wire; Sons of Anarchy) and a leading role in the award-winning drama, The Issue With Elvis.

It is a wonderful thing to wake up every day free of the massive weight of addiction, Wincott stated.

“Part of my responsibility today is to try to help someone else get sober, help someone else stay  sober. And let them know there’s hope,” he said.

The award-winning Fall, Fight, Shine can be seen in 65 countries on Aug. 1, via Apple TV, iTunes, Google Play and YouTube.