The free man is taking off

He stopped drinking 14 years ago.  He stopped smoking 2 weeks ago.  At 45, film star Roy Dupuis is taking care of himself.  Because every minute counts, because he is even more aware today that “life is short”.

His mother died at the end of shooting of André Forcier’s film, Je me souviens.  Scarcely 2 years after the death of his father. << sorry, not remotely accurate.  Father died 26 December 2000, mother died February 2008. This has implications for later on – viv>>

“It makes you think of the time that’s left to you,” he confides.  Furthermore, he found it more difficult to give up drinking than smoking.

“When I stopped drinking 14 years ago, I had to change the way I lived; that’s not the case with cigarettes, even though I smoked too much,” he admits.

He won’t talk too much about his mother.  The grief is still there.  You can feel it.  This woman who sewed his first costume for the role of The Fox from The Little Prince, which he played in nursery school.

“Your mother is your mother.  Death is complicated, because it makes you think about life.  The last part of the shoot took place in Ireland, and I had to come back for the funeral.  It was very hard.”  So he ponders upon time which passes too quickly.

"When you lose your parents, you tell yourself that you're next.  Losing my parents in the space of 2 years <<!?!>> gives me an incredible zest for life.”  His voice is dynamic, strong.  You can really feel the liveliness.

The shooting of André Forcier’s film, Je me souviens, in which he accurately plays Liam Hennessy, an Irish revolutionary exiled in Abitibi, was a real back-to-his-roots experience for the actor.

“My grandfather even lived in one of the cabins used in the filming.  Abitibi is where it all started for me.  It’s also my home.  I love going back there.”

Roy Dupuis and filmmaker André Forcier are as one.  There is a great mutual admiration between them.

Forcier says this about Roy Dupuis:  “He is one of the greatest actors in the world.”

For his part, Roy Dupuis has only praise for a unique filmmaker: “All his screenplays are poems.  To film for and with him is a gift.  He is a remarkable storyteller.”

In Je me souviens, André Forcier takes us back to the Duplessis years, the political “Great Darkness”, trade unionism and religion.  Roy talks about the current shift to the right in Quebec which disturbs him. 

“You have to watch not to fall back into it.  You can feel a return to religion at the present, to right-wing values that paralyse a population.  For this alone, this film is important.  To remind you of the harshness of the past and to reject it.”

He could have had an international career.  He refused to settle in Los Angeles.  The reason is quite simple.  The response is clear, in the style of Roy Dupuis.  "Quite simply, because this is home.  I appreciate that even more nowadays.”

He will always opt for roles which “completely surprise him.”

He is still proud of his commitment to the Rivers Foundation.  He feels that the message can change things. A guide, which will be distributed in a few weeks’ time, will help people anxious to do something to work more effectively at preserving the environment, and will contribute towards saving rivers.

He is encouraged by the arrival of the new party, Québec Solidaire, in the government.  “I believe it’s only the beginning.  It’s good news.  It gives us the energy to continue to fight.  Because some politicians listen to our message, and others don’t.  The population needs to realise even more the power it has over its rivers and the environment.”

Roy Dupuis declares that he worked too hard last year, chalking up 6 films and one play, Blasté, which was very demanding.

For 4 years he has been preparing his boat for his round-the-world trip.  A dream which will soon be realised.

“In autumn 2010 I’m taking off.  I’ll take my camera and talk about what inspires me in each country.  Perhaps I’ll make a documentary,” he reveals, a free man.  Free to act, free to think.   That’s why the actor likes roles that surprise him, that make him think, that criticise, that expose, and that deal with the realities of life.

And it’s for all these reasons that he will never say no to filmmaker-poet André Forcier.

Roy Dupuis, the man, has never loved life more.