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Roy Dupuis and the media
On 21st April Roy Dupuis will celebrate his 42nd birthday. When the actor graduated from the National Theatre School in 1986, he immediately started working in the theatre and in films. Fame came to him through television in October 1990. That was when Les Filles de Caleb started on Radio-Canada. Since then, despite a 4 year absence from Quebec (1997 – 2000) due to the intensive shooting schedule of Nikita in Toronto, Roy has never stopped attracting attention as the number of his performances has grown. Roy has had a rather stormy history with the media. In the early days he came across as reserved, seemingly mistrustful of the constant appetite for more news. He had charisma, intensity, a phenomenal talent linked to an intriguing “rock’n’roll” style, but he was secretive about all the rest. Added to this, some critics kept banging on about one thing: the fact that as Ovila in Les Filles de Caleb, his enunciation was minimal. Even though theatre-goers were well aware of his range, he got a reputation for mumbling thanks to his TV role. Even though he retorted brilliantly by performing a monologue taken from Shakespeare ** at a Gala des Masques <<the Quebec theatrical ‘Oscars’ – viv >> it was too late to come back. For years, Roy didn’t go into hiding, but greeted journalists pleasantly … and with mistrust. After Nikita, Roy has been seen more here, and so also in the media. But with experience and maturity has come ease with the media. He says what he thinks and feels, even though he remains quiet about his private life. He explains what each film means to him, and his motivation. He doesn’t hesitate to reveal personal things if he thinks it’s relevant. He seems to be very relaxed and confident. Hence he told us that he had spent 7 years in analysis in order to explain his point of view on the death penalty. So the actor has found a flexible approach to the media that allows him to protect the parts of his life that he wants to, while making some personal things public. **<< We should clarify Mme Desbiens’ confusing reference to the “Shakespeare” monologue. The speech that Roy made (in 1994) was in the character of Cyrano de Bergerac (French soldier, satirist, and dramatist, 1619 – 1655). The definitive verse drama of Cyrano was written by Edmond Rostand and first produced onstage in Paris in 1897. The Masques parody was written (in rhyming couplets) by Dominic Champagne, his pal from his theatrical days in the play Toupie Wildwood (1987). – viv >> |