Montreal: Production has wrapped on a new feature about Quebec’s greatest hockey hero from two of the province’s most acclaimed producers, Denise Robert and Daniel Louis of Montreal’s Cinémaginaire, recent Oscar winners for Les Invasions barbares.

Principal photography on Maurice Richard ran May 29 to July 31 in and around Montreal and Quebec City.

Set primarily in the 1950s, the film stars 42-year-old Roy Dupuis – who played the legendary Rocket in the 1999 TV series Maurice Richard: Histoire d’un Canadien – as Richard, who began his NHL career in 1942 as a 21-year-old. He played 18 seasons with the Montreal Canadiens, scored 50 goals in 50 games, won eight Stanley Cups, and was the focus of one of Canada’s most famous riots.

Despite the strong box-office potential for the story of Richard – especially when you throw Séraphin: un homme et son péché director Charles Binamé and La Grande séduction writer Ken Scott into the mix – budgetary constraints remain an issue.

The biggest challenge of the production is ‘trying to create a period piece with the [financial] means available,’ says Robert. ‘The film itself is basically one that should cost about $12 million, and we’re trying to make it within an $8-million budget. It’s a very ambitious screenplay for the kind of money we’ve got.’

Robert explains that reproducing various hockey games from the ’50s is very expensive, not to mention trying to shoot a winter story in June and July.

‘In Quebec, many arenas don’t have air-conditioning, and we were packing them full of 10,000 people in the middle of summer,’ she says.

In addition, Robert turned to Quebec FX company MFX to create winter scenes in downtown Montreal when temperatures in the city were hovering around 35 C.

Telling a story that is so familiar to most Quebeckers is a challenge that Robert has been looking forward to.

‘We’re here to make a film on a story that’s dear to our hearts,’ she says. ‘It’s a challenge because you don’t want to deceive anybody.’

Robert says Dupuis and the hockey legend have a lot in common, which helps add authenticity to the film.

‘There are so many similarities between Dupuis and Richard,’ says Robert. ‘Both are very private men. Roy is a star in his own right, and like Richard, I don’t think it is a part he chose.’

While Robert plans to take a week or two off at the end of the summer, her next project is already in the works. She hopes to begin shooting the feature Young Triffie, a black comedy based on a play by St. John’s, NF-based Ray Guy, with Mary Walsh (This Hour Has 22 Minutes) this fall.