<click for Roy close-ups>

It's a lovely day for playing ball. The sun beats down, a light breeze sweeps across the main baseball pitch in Gilles-Forest de Masouche Park.  There a crew is busy completing the shooting of Francis Leclerc’s new film Un été sans point ni coup sûr (A No-hit No-run Summer).

Patrice Robitaille, who plays the father of young Pier-Luc Funk and a B team coach, is giving a motivational talk to his young players who are wearing apologetic expressions for the occasion.  

And behind the camera the production team also have long faces, albeit for completely different reasons.  It should be raining!  The ending of the story requires it, the weather station has forecast it, but the sky is blue … If the expected storm doesn’t come, filming will have to be postponed.

Roy Dupuis, too, has been hanging around since this morning.  Theoretically it's his last day here, as he has to leave for the woods of the Côte-Nord for the rest of the summer, to make Timekeeper with Louis Bélanger.  Then he'll meet up with his pal Vincent Cassel in Paris for Mesrine.  For the time being, the actor is philosophical about waiting for the rain, and takes advantage of the lull in proceedings to take stock.

No Hit No Run is the second collaboration between Roy and director Francis Leclerc.   They made the drama Mémoires affectives together in 2004.  The chemistry between them was so good that Roy was delighted with this new proposition, even if it was only a supporting role.

"Francis has a great talent and knows how to use it.  He is sensitive and enquiring, and isn't scared to take chances."

And when Francis told Roy his baseball story, helped by documentaries about the moon landing and the Expos** (the story takes place in 1969) the actor was won over. 

"It's a period piece, a symbolic story from a time when we were all a lot more naive.  I personally remember the innocence, the big cars, my father dressed a bit like I am now, with his baseball cap and his Dow << a local bottled beer - viv>>

Roy is coach of the Aristocrats, the "big" team in the film. 

"Strange to say, it's the most boring character I've ever played!  He's ultra straight and strict, holds himself upright, and always talks to the kids in a clear, controlled way. He's a full-time coach who thinks only about baseball.  It would be great fun to go out with this guy!"

"But for an actor it's an interesting role, because it requires restraint and subtle nuances.  Certainly my onscreen time doesn't compare with Francis' other film that was all on my shoulders, but that's OK.  I'd rather have a smaller role in a film that I consider to be relevant, than the other way round.  I like to nurture something, not just my bank account or my ego.  And that way, in the end, I become richer.

<< ** for the uninitiated, the Expos were Montreal's major league baseball team between 1969 and 2004. - viv >>