Nuvo September 2001

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0 height="100%"><tr> <td valign="top" width=110 BGCOLOR="#000000" TEXT="#F7F7FF"> <div> <IMG SRC="53a60a70.gif" border=0 width="96" height="167" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> </td> <td valign="top" BGCOLOR="#000000" TEXT="#F7F7FF"> <div> Nuvo September 2001</div> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <B>The Owl, the Park and Other Things</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Autumn 2001 Vol. 04 Issue No. 03</B></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="5322c7b0.jpg" border=0 width="300" height="379" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"><IMG SRC="534157b0.jpg" border=0 width="277" height="379" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> <B><IMG SRC="536221c0.gif" border=0 width="290" height="28" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"><IMG SRC="536221c0.gif" border=0 width="290" height="28" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B>Author: Luisa Rino</B><B> </B></div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B>Consider for a moment: you have an audition at the National Theatre School in Montreal. You don’t go. Fifteen years later, the aspiring actor who impersonated you and deftly took advantage of the empty slot is one of the hottest actors in television. </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>“I should call the guy up,” Roy Dupuis responds with laughter when asked whether he knows whatever happened to that guy. Innocently stating that he “just started working,” Dupuis has gently wandered from one success to the next. He seems not to pursue fame or celebrity; they seem to be chasing him. Not many actors have it that easy. </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>There is an indescribable quality to Dupuis that explains this natural evolution towards celebrity. Mere happenstance alone cannot explain a phenomenon like Les Filles de Caleb (Emily in English Canada), watched religiously week after week by eighty percent of the Quebec viewing audience and which earned him a Best Actor award at the Cannes Audio/Video Festival; the Canadian and American success of Million Dollar Babies (the story of the Dionne quintuplets); a healthy list of film and stage roles; and most recently, the five-year cult singularity of La Femme Nikita, televised in over 50 countries around the globe. Dupuis ruefully admits, “I get the list of countries that air Nikita and try not to go there right now. I like to meet people but fame breaks that—the truth of people.” Truth is what this conversation will return to, again and again. </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>A day with Roy Dupuis is like a chess match: there are rules to be observed, restricted areas, but finally it is a rewarding, challenging, satisfying experience in which the process is paramount. During the ride to La Maison du lac Sacacomie (approximately two hours north of Montreal), truth—the search for it, ways to protect it—emerges as a crucial theme for Dupuis. An onerous ideal in an art and an industry based on illusion. </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Dupuis recognizes that dishonesty can become inextricable from success: “A certain level of mistrust bothers me about fame. I used to like to watch people. It would give me ideas and feelings. That became impossible. I still see what’s going on once in a while, but what bothers me the most is whether it’s an honest relationship—with time though, this can be verified.” At the same time, “it also allows you to see things you wouldn’t have gotten to before.” It is perhaps this sensitivity for the equivocal that gives the 38-year old Dupuis an edge. </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>The burning question for fans is what he will do now that Nikita has ended. Some have commented that Dupuis is poised on the verge of superstardom. Executive consultant Joel Surnow, who cast Dupuis in Nikita, describes him as the “best kept secret. Roy is an unusual blend of machismo and vulnerable romantic—a combination of Mel Gibson and Brad Pitt. Roy wants to stay in Quebec, but he’ll leave soon. He’ll have no choice.” </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Roy begs to differ; “I have a choice. I will stay in Quebec. I don’t need to live somewhere else to work somewhere else.” He elaborates, “When we started this American series, of course I saw the other game. I’m not very good at that or that interested in it right now.” Free from the grueling 18-hour days of shooting the series, Dupuis plans to take this time to give back to his family, his friends, and himself. “I want to do something that I feel is important. When I read [a script], it needs to say something, something about the times we live in. The rest, I’m trying not to think about right now.” </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>His view, then, of an actor’s social responsibility: “Everyone has a social responsibility [but] when a lot of people look at you, you feel it more.” This concern </B></div> <div> <B>“is always there when I’m choosing roles, Michael [his Nikita character] for example. </B></div> <div> <B>I didn’t want to portray him as a winner. Someone who kills so many people cannot easily smile. He can but not like regular people. He is someone who carries death with him all the time. </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>“The tough part was his perfection. He had to be a little off reality. Is he real or not? This is hard to carry all the time. This is why there is an economy of movement in his gestures. I decided to strip them all away to portray this weight of perfection.” Roy’s conversation moves from a professional analysis of acting to philosophical observation quickly and easily, often within the same sentence. </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Dupuis attributes his ability to decipher a character to instinct. This instinct often guides him in the creation of the character he is portraying. Nonetheless, he still gives serious thought beforehand to the qualities that will eventually define each personage. “I read the script and like to give it all the time necessary to see all the possibilities of the character. [From there] the character will find the rest.”</B></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> <B>Scanned by: Soieange</B></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <B><IMG SRC="536221c0.gif" border=0 width="290" height="28" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"><IMG SRC="536221c0.gif" border=0 width="290" height="28" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="ROY DUPUIS ARTICLES"><U><B><IMG SRC="53778320.jpg" border=0 width="120" height="50" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A><B>                                                      <IMG SRC="53878320.jpg" border=0 width="120" height="50" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>