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WITH NIKITA, THE EARTH MOVED He'd had hits in Quebec, but now Roy Dupuis's role in TV series draws fans from all over BRENDAN KELLY The Gazette The guy who might well be Quebec's best-known actor internationally is decked out like any other would-be Plateau hipster. Roy Dupuis is sporting tight-fitting plaid pants with frayed ends that look like they come straight off the rack from one of those boutiques in Mont Royal Ave. E., a lumberjack shirt with several buttons strategically undone, his trademark cross hanging from his neck and scruffy mountain boots. Though the outfit doesn't really work, it practically defines the off-kilter fashion sense of the neighbourhood's bistro culture. But there is one small detail that sets Dupuis apart -- something not unlike old-fashioned charisma. With his striking greenish-blue eyes, carefully unkempt hair and brooding presence, it's not hard to understand why he is the quintessential thinking person's sex symbol in Quebec. In other words, a good-looking actor fans can secretly salivate over while watching his hit TV series Nikita and still feel good about themselves the morning after. Dupuis's agent regularly receives letters from all over -- everywhere from Latin America to Russia -- with Nikita devotees extolling Dupuis's qualities both as a thespian and a serious hunk. Janet Layne from Vidalia, Ga., recently E-mailed The Gazette to sing his praises. "Yes, I'll admit he's a hunk - grin," she wrote, "but I also have to say I don't believe I've ever run across another actor -- anywhere -- who has been blessed with such a natural, God-given talent." In a lengthy chat at his agent's office this week, Dupuis said he's still impressed by the volume of mail he receives, and he enjoys the fact that many of the fans write about what life's like in their own countries. Nikita, an edgy action series co-starring Dupuis and Australian pinup Peta Wilson, is produced in Toronto by Canadian company Fireworks Entertainment and it airs in more than 50 countries around the world. In Canada, it's on CTV, airing locally on CFCF-12 Saturdays at 10 p.m. The series has turned both Wilson and Dupuis into cult figures south of the border, thanks to its successful run on the cable USA Networks, where it goes under the title La Femme Nikita. (The series is based on director Luc Besson's stylish French film La Femme Nikita, released in 1990.) Wilson and Dupuis play agents in the employ of Section One, an elite, ultra-violent anti-terrorist group. Nikita, played by Wilson, was wrongly accused of murder and is forced to become a secret operative. Her mentor is the mysterious agent Michael (Dupuis). It's a clandestine universe with virtually no ethical rules, and it's that less-than-mainstream edge that attracted Dupuis to the project in the first place. The series doesn't shy away from playing up the sex appeal of its two stars, and steamy footage of their mostly naked bodies was showcased on entertainment-news shows across the continent last season when Nikita and Michael finally consummated their relationship. Dupuis rather improbably insists he had no idea the sex scene generated so much interest. Being a sex symbol is not exactly anything new for him anyway. He was transformed overnight into one of Quebec's hottest celebrities with the success in 1989 of the Radio-Canada series Les Filles de Caleb. "For me, I went through that shock with Les Filles de Caleb 10 years ago," Dupuis said. "There were something like 4 million people in Quebec watching that show and, from one day to the next, I walked out of my house on Carre St. Louis and everyone was pointing at me. It was really tough. You feel a bit like you're on stage at all times. "For my work, I like to sit there and watch people. It helps inspire me and give me ideas. But I'd be sitting there and everyone would be looking at me. It was the opposite of what I used to do. It was like losing a key tool that I needed for my work." Dupuis actually has a lower profile in Montreal now that he has become a familiar face to TV fans from Moscow to Mexico City. Since 1996, he has spent nearly nine months a year shooting Nikita in Toronto. It's grueling work, with the cast often clocking in 12-to-18-hour days. By the time he heads home to his 1840s farmhouse just outside Montreal for his summer break, he's usually too exhausted to contemplate moonlighting in Quebec features or TV productions. The last time he as seen in a Quebec TV show was in 1995, in the medical drama Urgence. It's a far cry from the first half of the decade, when Dupuis was one of French Canada's top TV stars. He first won over Quebec audiences with his lead role in Les Filles de Caleb and its sequel, Blanche, then proved to be just as hot in the long-running newsroom drama Scoop. At the same time, he maintained a big-screen career en franais, appearing in Qubcois films like the acclaimed Being at Home With Claude, considered by many to be his finest role to date. He is one of a handful of prominent francophone actors here to regularly work both sides of the linguistic fence, beginning with the Montreal-shot sci-fi film Screamers and continuing with the made-for-CBS mniseries Million Dollar Babies. It helped that the Abitibi-born Dupuis spent a few years as a kid in Kapuskasing, Ont., giving him a head start in the language game. He says working in English was not part of some grand master plan. It was more about looking for new opportunities. "They don't make tons of films in French here, and there are tons of actors in Quebec," he said. "I wanted to open the door to the rest of the world." Dupuis claims he's never had a career plan. He even fell into acting by chance. He was studying science when a friend of his decided not to audition for the National Theatre School. As a lark, Dupuis replaced his pal at the audition and immediately jumped the waiting list and made it into the prestigious Montreal school. He describes the decision to drop his Quebec projects and devote himself to Nikita as a similar sort of split-second judgement call. But now he's beginning to miss his Quebec film and TV roots. He played hockey legend Maurice (Rocket) Richard in a docudrama to air next season on Radio-Canada and he wants to do more French-language material. Though he's constantly fielding offers from Hollywood studios -- including proposed movie projects with writer-director Cameron Crowe (Jerry Maguire)and Mel Gibson -- what he'd really love to do is star in an indie, home-grown Quebec flick. And spend more time at home. "I'd like to an auteur film. I want to prove that auteur film-making still exists. But what's really difficult is being away from home for eight months a year. That's tough. It makes all your relationships with people you love more complicated." -- Nikita is on tonight and every Saturday at 10 p.m. on CFCF-12. |