‘You never know, but it was a happy surprise,’ says Montreal director of photography Allen Smith of the huge box office for the Max Films comedy La Grande Seduction. The Alliance Atlantis Vivafilm-distributed feature, produced by Roger Frappier and Luc Vandal, generated more than $3.5 million on 76 Quebec screens in its first 17 days of release.

Directed by Jean-Francois Pouliot, La Grande Seduction (English title: Seducing Doctor Lewis) tells the story of a small, solitary fishing village in dire straits since there are no more fish and subsequently no income for the villagers. Their only hope is attracting a local factory, but to do so they must dig up a resident doctor. They proceed to employ any means necessary to ‘seduce’ a doctor (played by David Boutin) into believing that Sainte-Marie-la-Mauderne is the ideal place to live.

With a budget of $5.7 million, Seduction was filmed on location in August 2002 in the tiny fishing village of Harrington Harbour, in northern Quebec near the Labrador border.

‘It is a peculiar place because it’s quite inaccessible and has no roads – only wooden sidewalks crisscrossing all over the village, connecting the houses,’ Smith explains. ‘The logistics of getting crew and equipment there were quite difficult, because we had to fly to a village called Chevre and then take a 45-minute boat ride to Harrington Harbour.’

The town proved ideal for Seduction for its unique, picturesque setting and colorful houses all clumped together. ‘Jean-Francois liked it the moment he saw it,’ the cinematographer recalls.

Since there is only one bed-and-breakfast in the village of less than 300, most of the crew had to be taken in by locals. ‘We felt a bit like orphans,’ says Smith, adding that the villagers were very friendly. ‘They didn’t quite know what hit them in the beginning but got really into it. Some were crying when we left, but I don’t know if they were tears of joy or sadness.’

Smith is a biz vet of more than 30 years, with credits consisting of a mix of docs, series, features, MOWs and shorts in both French and English. He has also served as an operator or second unit camera on films including Jacob Two-Two Meets the Hooded Fang and big-budget flicks Seven Years in Tibet and Enemy at the Gates.

He says he was initially taken aback by the job offer on Seduction: ‘I had done many commercials with Jean-Francois, but that was years ago, so I was really surprised that he remembered and that he called.’

Seduction marked Pouliot’s feature debut – previous credits include many spots and the TV series Emily of New Moon – but Smith says one could never tell by watching the film.

‘Jean-Francois really brought a lot to the table and is someone who knows what he wants yet is open to suggestions,’ says the cameraman. ‘He is a lot of fun, but sometimes we felt like we had to lock him up because he would laugh and spoil the takes.’

Preproduction involved Pouliot and Smith walking around the island to get a sense of angles and locations.

‘This was a very valuable time for me because we would discuss the important scenes and how we were going to approach them. We knew we were going to be shooting six days a week, and once you start filming there is no more time to prepare,’ says Smith.

DOP and director didn’t set out to watch any specific films as reference for Seduction, but Smith says the 1996 comedy-drama Fargo was an inspiration for the beginning of the film because of its stark style.

‘We went for a very naturalistic sort of feel and wanted the beginning of Seduction to be extremely depressing in its look, because the villagers are all on welfare,’ explains the lenser. ‘Our biggest problem was that the village looked too nice, so the art department had to work to keep it from having this postcard appearance.’

To accomplish this, the crew sprayed down houses for a dirty, messy feel.

‘We did anything we could to make it appear that these people had enormous difficulties,’ says Smith. ‘We put garbage, scrap metal, wires, telephone poles and an old boat yard in the background, in addition to hiding the villagers’ boats because they looked too good.’

Shooting through filters gave the film’s opening an especially cold look. Until the villagers undertake to clean up before the doctor arrives, Smith says Seduction is lit like a dramatic film with more contrast and a low-light feel.

Perhaps the greatest challenge for crew and actors was the changing weather on location.

‘It would be a beautiful sunny day with everyone wearing shorts, but you never kept your toque too far away,’ recalls the DOP. ‘It’s tough to plan for changing weather conditions, and we couldn’t wait for it to clear because of a tight schedule. I just decided I wasn’t going to lose sleep over it – it’s a comedy so you just have to go with the flow.’

Smith shot the film with an Arriflex 535 B, primarily because the production got a deal from rental house Locations Michel Trudel, but adds the camera performed well. Film stocks included Kodak Vision 200T 5274 for exterior shooting and the 500T 5279 for interiors. All interiors were shot on location just outside of Montreal because it would have proved too costly to do them in Harrington Harbour.

The camera remained mostly on a dolly. ‘I like the camera to move because I like being able to change the frame that way,’ Smith explains. ‘It didn’t seem necessary to utilize a Steadicam because we were a small crew.’

Smith is currently preparing for camera duties on an IMAX film on aviation for Pacific Productions, to commence filming in Las Vegas next month. As for La Grande Seduction, it continues to seduce audiences in la belle province and is slated for release nation-wide in the fall.