RD: Hello M. Bureau

SB: Are you well, apart from your cold?

RD: Yes, apart from the cold I’m fine.

SB: You are virtually on holiday?

RD: You could say that…. That’s to say I’m not actually filming just now, there’s still two days to shoot on Un Homme et son Péché. We’re waiting for the snow. <he looks behind him, out the window, where it’s snowing>. That will happen in January. And then … well actually that’s when I’ll read screenplays, theatre scripts. It’s not really a holiday because it’s one of the most important times of the year, if you like, it’s when I have to make decisions.

SB: Make the right choices …

RD: That’s right.

SB: I should imagine that in your line of business the further you progress, the more successful you are, the more difficult the choices are. They’re significant at any rate.

RD: That’s right. < thinks> I would say that’s correct. It’s a bit like that.

SB: So it’s part of the job to take the time – I’m not saying not to make any mistakes, because sometimes you have to make mistakes, but to make the right choices.

RD: The way I do it is that I read a screenplay and … either I like it or I don’t. I like the character or I don’t. If I have two to read, well, I might like both of them. That’s how it goes.

SB: Like in relationships – that’s a problem

RD: That’s never happened to me in a relationship. That’s always been quite specific <smiles>

SB: So have you ever had to make a really painful choice?

RD: No, not to that extent <still smiling>

SB: When you’re faced with two good projects …. what happens then? Presumably you don’t just toss a coin?

RD: Well, if you want to do both of them, you try if you can to do both. That’s pretty much what happened this year with Un Homme et son Péché and The Last Chapter. I eventually managed to juggle my schedule for this to happen. I ended up with two weeks of non-stop filming at one point because they overlapped, but apart from that I managed to do both of them. But when you find you can’t do both, well then yes, you have to choose, hoping you make the right choice.

SB: Two projects which I may add bring you right back to Quebec where you’ve hardly been for several years due to work commitments. Is this just a business requirement, or a conscious decision to return and practice your craft at home?

RD: As far as I’m concerned I never really left. I accepted and signed a contract for an American TV series filmed in Toronto … but…. yes, it was a 5 year contract but it could have lasted 2 months. Actually the ratings were so good that it was renewed every year. I came home every weekend. OK, so it didn’t allow me to do anything else apart from that little series about Maurice Richard. But as far as I’m concerned, I never really left.

SB: Because your home is still in Quebec?

RD: This is where I live and I’m quite clear about that. I have travelled enough to know that I belong in Quebec.

SB: < SB asks a very convoluted question which boils down to "having had a success in the US, isn’t it every actor’s dream to go and live there and make a name there?">

RD: I went to the National Theatre School. The fact is that the National Theatre School opened my horizons, developed me, nurtured me. I think I learned there the reason behind acting, the theatre, to say things, to try to say important, fine things. The fact is that on leaving the school, I didn’t necessarily want to launch myself into an international career. It wasn’t my goal. To work, yes. And to do stuff that seemed to be most significant if you like, but, sure, from time to time you need to butter your bread.

SB: And do some things buy more butter than others?

RD: Such as? <he blushes slightly, his eyes light up, he laughs>

SB: Such as for example, a 5 year American series.

RD: Well, yes.

SB: It pays better than the stage, without a doubt.

RD: Yes, in Quebec I don’t think it’s possible to make a living in the theatre … I’m sure it’s not.

SB: As opposed to Nikita, which was broadcast practically throughout the world. Was that a good choice, despite the fact that it paid well which has its advantages? From the point of view of an actor, was it a good thing to do?

RD: <big sigh, long silence> Yes …. and no.

SB: Why yes, why no?

RD: "Yes" because I think I allowed myself to create a character which perhaps was the opposite to what you’re used to seeing on American TV, in the sense that it was a bit of an anti-performance. I didn’t do it for that reason, but that’s the way it turned out. Then that actually became quite an interesting exercise for me in throwing away the crutches. Everything that an actor uses to make a character authentic. Little movements … natural… I purged the character completely.

SB: Removing things rather than adding them?

RD: Removing everything …almost. Leaving only the eyes … and a bit of body language. <silence> And then "No" because it went on too long.

SB: Five years?

RD: Precisely. Because this is home. So it was difficult to do.

SB: It’s become a big hit in the States. Everywhere, really, because there’s a sort of cult following, and the real fans, the fan clubs, are practically world wide. Has this changed things for you personally? This popularity?

RD: Uh…

SB: You experienced that a lot in Quebec.

RD: It’s a bit like that. I have to say … what I experienced in Quebec after Filles de Caleb – that’s quite difficult to beat.

SB: But this is on a different scale?

RD: Yes, I’m much less aware of it. Because it was filmed in Toronto, because it wasn’t …I mean … not a huge proportion of the population of Canada watched La Femme Nikita, whereas with Filles de Caleb I think we had 80% <he’s talking about Quebec of course>. That’s to say overnight I had become … people were pointing at me in the street.

SB: And you became, both the character and you as an actor, famous, very famous. That changed your life a bit, eh?

RD: Enormously. Especially living in St Louis Square.

SB: Not ideal for a quiet walk down the street. For anonymity, St Louis Square isn’t great.

RD: No. When I had to go out to buy food, it was a bit complicated. It was pretty awful. Being shy, if you like, or even if I hadn’t been, I think that suddenly you lose your freedom. A freedom that … when I came to the city … coming from a small town …

SB: How old were you?

RD: 13 …14. In a … in the regions, in the little villages, after a while you know everyone and everyone knows you. When I came to the city that’s what completely fascinated me, the freedom that anonymity brings. I mean you can meet someone, say whatever you like to him, whatever you are thinking, and you can practically be sure that you will never see him again in your life. I find that amazing. That freedom actually … has sort of disappeared.

SB: Ruined by Filles de Caleb?

RD: Yes, ruined. It has its good and bad sides too, all the same. I’m proud to have been involved in that project.

SB: And the American success, has it …. notwithstanding your origins, notwithstanding where you’re going to live, has it opened any tempting doors, are there any prospects shaping up?

RD: <takes a deep breath>

SB: Was it in fact a booster, something that could pay off in the future? …. in the sense of opening things up for you, not just in terms of cash?

RD: Yeah … yes, sure. Sure it’s broadened my horizons. It’s given me an international exposure. I get screenplays from practically all over the world now. Yes, but the first thing I wanted to do after Filles de Caleb was to come back home.

SB: Filles de Caleb or La Femme Nikita?

RD: Uh … La Femme Nikita.

SB: That’s some slip! If I was a Freudian we could spend half an hour on that … <big smile from Roy> but since we’re not in that situation ….. so you wanted to go back home and do something here?

RD: To begin with I just wanted to go back home. I … the last thing I wanted to do was put myself in front of a camera. So that’s just about all I did. That lasted the winter. I spent the months of December, January and February under the blankets.

SB: Last year?

RD: Yeah.

SB: That’s understandable after the Nikita marathon. Five years. A TV series isn’t a day-to-day affair

RD: Yes. It was necessary.

SB: A question of survival? So that you could carry on?

RD: Hmmm…. Perhaps I wouldn’t have died <big smile again> if I’d gone back to work straight away … it was … I was just not able to face the camera. I needed to forget work. Completely. To spend time with my family and friends, and myself too. So I buried myself in that. And last summer The Last Chapter brought me back.

SB: … to the professional life.

RD: Yeah

SB: That’s about bikers, The Last Chapter? A tough guy role?

RD: <thinks> Not so much … eventually he becomes one I suppose.

SB: Because you usually play strongman roles. Either charmers or strongmen. Parts that people often call very physical. Is that true in The Last Chapter?

RD: I think so. The character is a fine dramatic figure. That’s really why I took it. I said no to begin with. I was routinely turning down everything … then I dwelt on the character for a week, then at the end of a week I said, well, I called. If it was still available I was happy to do it.

SB: That’s what happens with you … you live with the character and then suddenly you feel it will work?

RD: If I can, what I like to do is read a screenplay then lay it aside, then dwell on the character for a week or two, before calling to say yes, this interests me. To see if it appeals to me … if I’m allowed to, obviously.

SB: You say that with staggering modesty. As if sometimes people won’t wait for you.

RD: <little laugh> Yes, sometimes.

SB: You must be given the chance to take a week or two?

RD: Sometimes.

SB: Yes?

RD: Yeah. Not always though … well … in the end I suppose <laughs>

SB: We’ll preserve your modesty.

RD: <laughs>

SB: So, Alexis, Un Homme et son Péché, The Last Chapter, that’s all almost over. Are you going to get back under the blankets, or are you getting ready …

RD: For winter?

SB: Yes

RD: I’ve just put up a huge structure, if you like, a sort of little chapel at home.

SB: A chapel?

RD: Well, it’s like a chapel actually. It’s a building with a tenon and mortise framework constructed like at the beginning of the century, I mean, by hand, in one day, forty men putting up the framework. Like in the film Witness, the Amish.

SB: Yes, all right.

RD: That’s what I did this summer. Then I can finish it at leisure. I’ve managed to get it enclosed for the winter. That’s that. I can go inside. I’ve got the screenplays, the theatre scripts … on the table …

SB: Does the theatre appeal to you?

RD: Yes, I miss the rehearsals. I miss the sort of clan spirit …

SB: The family?

RD: Yes, the family of the theatre, the close-knit group. That scrutinises the text, explores it, tries things out, and beats itself up actually. While in the cinema or on TV it’s more … it’s "here and now", the finished product as soon as possible, then it’s in the can forever.

SB: And there’s no risk … or as little as possible.

RD: I like to take risks …. in fact I try to take as many as possible.

SB: Well, I hope we’ll be able to observe one of these risks in the theatre soon. It was a pleasure, all the more so as we so seldom see you.

RD: It was my pleasure.

SB: Happy Holidays to you.

RD: That won’t hurt.

SB: It’s not the objective.