Why Alan Thicke was drawn to playing a not so perfect father in his new film

You might not know that Alan Thicke hosted an afternoon Canadian talk show that aired for a few years. There was "a lot of winging it," says Thicke who eventually took the show down south. It became a late night show in the States, where Thicke went up against the likes of Johnny Carson. "It was a complete dog. Johnny Carson kicked my Canadian butt," admits Thicke. He says, "I wasn't very good at late night, which is the domain of stand up comedy. I was schmooze-i-er kind of guy."

But his parenting in Growing Pains did not go without notice. On playing the ideal father Thicke jokes, "it was typecasting. I'm perfect in real life of course." Even though the show was a sitcom, he notes that the writers addressed challenging issues while still maintaining a comedic balance. "I'm proud our writers tackled that stuff," says Thicke.

Thicke's new movie It's Not My Fault and I Don't Care Anyway premiered on December 2nd at the Whistler Film Festival and has him playing a deeply flawed father. Thicke describes the character as a Tony-Robbins like self-help guru who believes in selfishness. The drama unfolds when his daughter is kidnapped and he won't pay the ransom. Thicke says, "the opportunity to go to the dark side" drew him to the role and he liked the idea of playing a character with a multi-faceted personality.

Thicke was honoured with the Canadian Icon Award earlier this month at the Whistler Film Festival. "By this point you're either an icon or a punch line," he laughs. But all joking aside, Thicke is proud to be Canadian and says, "I really felt very privileged to be honoured this way."

WEB EXTRA | Watch the trailer for It's Not My Fault and I Don't Care Anyway below.