1994 Articles

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0 height="100%"><tr> <td valign="top" width=120 BGCOLOR="#000000" TEXT="#F7F7FF"> <div> <IMG SRC="48576cc0.gif" border=0 width="118" height="204" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> </td> <td valign="top" BGCOLOR="#000000" TEXT="#F7F7FF"> <div> 1994 Articles</div> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <B><IMG SRC="4872fe30.jpg" border=0 width="303" height="227" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"><IMG SRC="4882ce10.jpg" border=0 width="300" height="225" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B>7 JOURS INTERVIEW ** CHILLI'S BLUES **</B></div> <div> <B>SEPTEMBER 3, 1994</B></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> <B>"Falling in love is a gift" </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>A 7 Jours exclusive - pictures from the new Charles Binamé film and an interview with Roy Dupuis who plays the leading role. </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>A railway station - trains delayed by a snow storm - cancellations -people, waiting - a chance meeting - a slice of life. It’s 1963. That is the setting for It was the 12th of the 12th and Chili had the Blues,  the new film by director Charles Binamé. Chili, played with delicacy and feeling by Lucie Laurier, is a pretty young schoolgirl with a rebellious nature provoked by a huge need for love. Pierre-Paul is a vacuum-cleaner salesman, a philosopher and poet with a heart filled with naïve generosity. A true conformist, whom Roy Dupuis </B></div> <div> <B>plays with great simplicity and subtlety. </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Roy, why did you agree to work with Binamé? </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Because the script was really powerful and Binamé has his own personal vision of the cinema. He’s a bold and original director.   The filming was terrific. </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Hadn’t you already worked with him on the TV series Blanche? </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Yes, but that was very short. We never really met. </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>What was your first reaction on reading José Ferchette’s screenplay? </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>I completely adored it. It reminded me a lot of Réjean Ducharme because of the lightness of the dialogue, a dialogue which is like the inside of a volcano, a very poetical, musical and original language.  I love this sort of writing. Even though it’s a period film in that it takes us back to the early sixties, it remains very modern. It’s a sort of cinema that I’ve never seen before. It’s very contemporary, very powerful. It’s a film of our age. It doesn’t take itself seriously. The characters don’t take themselves seriously, except perhaps for Chili. I think most of us today prefer people who don’t take themselves seriously. </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Roy Dupuis maintains that Chili doesn’t live a simple existence because she is deeply troubled. Pierre-Paul first comes across her in a weird,  absurd way. He is trying to identify a young girl whom he has surprised  in the act of trying to commit suicide - an image so disturbing and fleeting that a precise identification cannot be</B></div> <div> <B>made. Pierre-Paul, an upright citizen, follows his conscience and tries to identify the potential suicide victim. After several fruitless attempts he thinks he has finally discovered her and tries to calm her down in order to save her, or so he thinks.   Chili takes full advantage of the tragic situation. </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>In your opinion, does Pierre-Paul have more depth than is apparent at first sight? </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>He is more notable for his feelings than his reasoning. Being confronted by a character like Chili disturbs him and makes demands on his sensitivity and intelligence. He’s a character who represents his age, when people were more confined,  where good and evil were defined by religion and politics. Politics were clear. The Americans were the good guys, the Russians the bad guys. Kennedy had just died. While the great questions of life then were the same as those today,  I think that people were more limited than they are now. </B></div> <div> <B>This is what Pierre-Paul is like. At the beginning he’s blinkered, but eventually he opens up a little. At the end of the film he has become a different person. </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Do you think that a rigid society interferes with the development of an individual’s personality? </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>People are evermore restricted by laws, and there are more and more laws. Even the parks are regulated. If you look at Saint-Louis Square today, it’s completely changed. You need a licence to sell anything in the street. These days you even need a licence to sing in the metro. I think this is a great pity in a large city. </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Who could have answered Chili’s cry for help, fulfilled her need for love? </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>She certainly was ultra-sensitive. No-one else in the same situation would have perhaps reacted in the same way as</B><B> </B><B>she did. Basically, I don’t know. I’m not a therapist or a psychiatrist.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>In your own life, how do you fulfil emotional needs? </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>By love. Falling in love does it. At least in the beginning (laughs).    It’s a wonderful gift even if it’s not always rosy. </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>As an actor, what was the most difficult aspect of Pierre-Paul’s character? </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>The blinkers. That was what got me into the part eventually, limiting my wider knowledge of society, everything that has happened between then and the present day. Restricting my consciousness while keeping my sensitivity, for Pierre-Paul is a very caring, honest person. In essence, I had to exercise restraint. </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Exercise restraint to act - isn’t that paradoxical? </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Yes, because restraint is the opposite of what one normally has to do in acting. Usually you have to put something in to make a character interesting, but with him it was the opposite. You had to do as little as possible. In fact, I had to be as ordinary as possible. Playing someone ordinary can be hard on the ego in the long run. </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Why? </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Because it’s difficult to be ordinary. Acknowledging that you are ordinary is never easy (laughs). Nobody wants to be ordinary.   No-one accepts that they are ordinary. I don’t want to be. </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>For a lover of freedom like yourself, is it difficult to play someone so limited? </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Not so much difficult as interesting. It’s a challenge. It’s what make the role interesting and fun to play. It’s also what gives the character his charm, this salesman with a passion for his job. He’s a very good salesman. He knows his field very well. He knows how to talk about it; he knows the technical jargon. He’s a person of that time, those crazy years filled with gadgets. If he’d had the money he would certainly have bought all the latest appliances. He’s very materialistic. </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Would I be mistaken in thinking this characteristic is very different from yourself? </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>More or less, because I’m also into gadgets. But let us say that that I’m not only that (laughs). I like them a lot, but I also like quality. I’m the type to be interested in the latest equipment in music and sound systems, or which is related to things I like to do. For example I’ve just begun to play golf, and I know there are some superb clubs. I couldn’t buy the lesser quality ones. I’d rather go for the best. In fact, I like things which are done well, be it in painting, music or any other sphere. When I like something I try to get it if it will be useful to me, or amuse me, or make me happy. I like the beauty in things because there are creators in every sphere, material, spiritual, philosophical or scientific. I appreciate quality, the beauty of simplicity, originality. </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Do you consider yourself to be an innovator? </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>I don’t know if I am an innovator, but at the moment I’ve had a degree of success in what I’ve done; I suppose that I’ve had good vision, good judgement, an interesting presence, good "feelings" (laughs) </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>And how do you cope with your success? </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>In the beginning it made me giddy, but in the long term you get used to it. In town it’s not so terrible. It simply means that you can’t go about too much in crowds. Where there are a lot of people you can sometimes get cornered. </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Do you feel you have lost your privacy? </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Sometimes, but I am what I do. Therefore being well known is part of what I am now. When I don’t want people to see me I happily stay at home. You need to be on form when you are being watched.   You can’t let this get to you. You must keep your balance, be yourself, and do what pleases you. </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Do you think that the public has a distorted picture of you? </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Sometimes yes, sometimes no. Certainly in the beginning the public identify you with your characters. And as I always put a little of me in each of my characters they are not completely wrong in thinking what they think. And because it’s rare for me to have a gossip with someone who only knows me through television I can’t really guess what people are thinking. However, people have said to me, "Ah, I didn’t think that you were like that, that you would like such a thing,  that you listened to that sort of music, that you were interested </B></div> <div> <B>in painting …." </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Ideally, what would you wish for? </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>To be happy in what I do and that what I did made me happy. </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>And has that come about? </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Often. More and more. I have periods of great happiness, and as time goes on they are more frequent. In fact, the greater the challenge,  the greater the pleasure. </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Are you hard on yourself? </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>The more I take to heart what I am doing, the harder I am on myself.    But you must learn not to be too exacting. You must find a balance,  and that’s something you learn with time and experience. You need </B></div> <div> <B>to be demanding, while allowing enough time to do things. In any situation it doesn’t pay to rush things. </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Do you think that experience has given you more maturity? </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Yes, certainly. In any case I would be pretty dumb to say no (laughs). I’m discovering new pleasures. </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>What is the most surprising discovery you have made? </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>The people I have met. My discoveries are often people. That aside, on a scientific level, I don’t have the results yet, but I’m still working on it (laughs). </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Are you happy? </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Yes. I have highs and lows but over time these level out more and more. I know myself a little better. </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>What are your ambitions? </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>On the professional front, I don’t have any; I don’t have time to think about it. In a way I let myself be carried along by a wave when making choices. As soon as I accept a proposal, that carries me. I am trying </B></div> <div> <B>more and more to do what I want to do. I hope to die with a smile on my lips (laughs). </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>With no regrets? </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>No, with regrets. </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>With regrets? </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Yes, for dying (laughs). </B></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <B>               <IMG SRC="16f01160.gif" border=0 width="257" height="22" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"><IMG SRC="16f01160.gif" border=0 width="257" height="22" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#9900FF" FACE="times" ><B>LA PRESSE AND LE DEVOIR SEPT. 1994         </B></FONT><B>                         </B><A HREF="id19.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="_"><U><B><IMG SRC="1705f310.jpg" border=0 width="95" height="49" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A><B>  </B></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>