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After reading this interview with Roy Dupuis, you’ll
want to drop everything. You’ll want to send your daily chores packing in
order to hanker after another world or to try it out. A few years from
now, Roy Dupuis will leave to go round the world on board his brand new
and majestic sailing boat.
Without wishing to make a bad
pun, cinema-wise, Roy seems to have the wind in his sails. In quick
succession we’ll be able to see him from 29 October in Mémoires
affectives, Francis Leclerc’s second feature film; in December in
C’est pas moi … c’est l’autre, a comedy by Alain Zaloum which he
filmed this summer alongside Anémone and Luck Mervil; in Manners of
Dying; and finally, in Les États-Unis d’Albert, the brand new
and eagerly awaited film by André Forcier.
However, away from the film
set, the actor is preparing for quite an experience; a voyage which will
take him away from us a few years from now. We met Roy Dupuis at the
cocktail ceremony for the opening of the 33rd Festival of New
Cinema in Montreal. Mémoires affectives will be shown there as the
closing film on the 24 October.
Roy, where have you got to with all your renovations?
I’m referring to your land and your house which you’ve been putting the
finishing touches to for a few years now.
Right now it’s the sailing boat that matters more. I’m
busy “setting up” a boat to go round the world in, three or four years
from now.
“Setting up” a boat?
I’m modifying it. The boat that I bought needs to be
repaired; and on top of that I want to make some alterations to the
interior so that it’ll be the way I want it.
How big is it?
It’s a 44’ aluminium yacht (13.4m); her mast is 62’
(19m).
Are you modifying it on your own or with friends?
With cabinet-makers and electricians. (silence)
It’s the first time in my life I’ve had a long-term plan. I’m giving
myself three or four years to fit out the boat, and to get to know it.
How do you explain the fact that you have become
hooked on sailing?
I tried it and … (silence).
For me it’s the most wonderful way to travel. Sailing gives you an
absolutely different view of the world; your values change completely when
you’re gone for a time. I’ve already sailed on a boat owned by someone
else, but it’s not the same. When it’s YOUR boat, when you are captain,
you are in charge, it takes on a whole new dimension. The first time I
went off for a 2-week trip on my first boat, without a lie, when the time
came to turn back, I couldn’t understand why I had to turn around. Two
weeks was enough for me to fail to see why I should return to dry land or
to society.
Did you go on your own?
No. I went with ….
… the woman who shares your life?
Yes (a smile)
Going as a couple is different from travelling alone.
It’s amazing. What’s more, on a boat,
relationships change completely. There’s no place for lies. You can try to
cover up some things but, all of a sudden, it’s going to come out. So, in
these conditions, you progress very quickly on the relationship level. In
fact, you either progress or it falls to pieces.
The captain-sailor
relationship is also special
That too is a learning exercise. To know
how to be a captain, to know how to be in charge …. (silence) To
know how to be accepted as captain … That’s what you’ve got to achieve.
Is this sort of experience an
intensive lesson in life?
Maybe not intensive, but it’s terribly
vitalising. I think that’s the best word to describe what it is. And then,
on the water, you’re driven by the wind; you negotiate with something
that’s much bigger than you. You must always be listening. That’s a lesson
for life. On top of that, everything is within reach. You can go wherever
you want.
How long do you want to go
away for?
I don’t know. This type of trip is very … because it gives you a
different view of the world.
Has this sort of voyage
changed your day-to-day values?
You begin to view the world in a different
way; the stupidities that ordinarily are incredibly important suddenly
seem ridiculous.
Do you still intend to take a camera and filming
equipment with you in order to make a documentary?
Yes. I’m not ruling anything out. Certainly
I’ve always wanted to work on a documentary, and certainly I’ll kit myself
out with a camera and a good computer to do the editing. That something
along those lines will happen almost goes without saying.
After an experience of this sort, won’t it be difficult
to find a film role that excites you as much as a trip around the world in
a sailing boat?
I don’t know, we’ll see. I don’t know what’s going to happen. (a smile)
That’s quite a thought …
<<
Note: the sailing boat illustrated is NOT Roy’s, and this
picture was not published in the article. But it is a 41’ sailboat, and is
included here to give you an idea of scale >> |
