Days ahead of the Dec. 19 DVD release of Bon Cop, Bad Cop – expected by distributor Alliance Atlantis to eclipse the recent success of kids show phenom Passe-Partout – star Colm Feore talked with Playback about building buzz, making sandwiches and ditching Denzel Washington.

Have you ever experienced this kind of media and public support for a Canadian film?

No. I’ve been in some that were successful – like The Red Violin and Thirty Two Short Films About Glenn Gould – but I don’t think they made a nickel. I’m still waiting for that lunch I was promised by Rhombus Media on the strength of Glenn Gould. Oh yes, ‘We’ll take you to lunch when the DVD sales hit 40.’ What’s fascinating about this is that we’ve succeeded within our borders, and on our terms.

What are the plans for the DVD release?

Hopefully the DVD will reach those people who couldn’t get to a theater fast enough before somebody pulled it out and replaced it with Beerfest. I said [to Alliance], ‘Who do we have to fuck to get it back in [Kitchener], because I’m telling you I can generate interest.’ They got it back for a week.

My cleaning lady knows the girl on the local radio station. So I said, ‘Can you get me on?’ I make her lunch every Monday and Thursday. And she did. Well, they all went. The demographic was from 15 to 93. That’s the kind of push you have to do. You’ve got to get the word out one ticket at a time.

Is this a sign of the coming-of-age of Canadian cinema?

I wouldn’t be so bold as to say that. I’m hoping that it’s not just a happy accident. We’re nowhere near self-sustaining. We’re using taxpayer dollars, so if we can actually refill those coffers – give money back to Alliance Atlantis, the producers, whoever else bought in – it’ll encourage [others] to make more movies.

Does its success help change perceptions?

That’s the most important thing as far as I’m concerned. If you can say to your friend, ‘Let’s go to the movies. There’s this Canadian movie on.’ So you’re not going to say, ‘Oh, the last Canadian movie I saw was so fucking depressing. Everybody died.’ If you could say, ‘The last Canadian movie I saw was funny.’

Patrick Huard didn’t try to write a Canadian, important movie. He tried to write a movie based on his observations as a stand-up comedian for 20 years.

It’s also well made.

It’s not rocket science if you’ve got a $100 million. With $8 million, you’ve got one car to blow up, and one chance to get your shot. [Canadian director] Jerry Ciccoritti once said, ‘You also have to be adult enough to know what’s possible.’ You can’t storm off the set, scream and go to your trailer – which is probably really cold, far away and small. You can’t do anything but be ready to go, ‘Okay it’s rainy and foggy instead of sunny and bright. I can shoot that.’

Were you drawn to the project from the script?

I recognized a terrific part for an actor my age. They don’t come along very often – leading parts for middle-age guys with not a lot of hair. I’ve read all kinds of action scripts from a lot of Hollywood movies – some of which I’ve been in. [Bon Cop’s] Martin Ward was a fully formed human being who found himself in extraordinary circumstances. I’m a classical actor and I treat my stuff as if it’s all Hamlet.

One of Bon Cop’s strengths is your chemistry with Patrick Huard…

I met [producer Kevin Tierney] and Patrick in Montreal. I was fairly cool, but pitched myself fairly hard at them so they wouldn’t think of getting anyone else. Because, you know, there are six Canadian movies made a year and we all need work.

But the next day I flew to New York to audition for a play with Denzel Washington. So I had this horrible career decision to make. I was going to do the play. It turns out I finished the Shakespeare in June [on Broadway] and we started shooting at the end of August.

You wouldn’t catch Mel Gibson or Danny Glover making a friggin’ endive salad. But I am. And I can do it in two languages.

Tierney said he conceived Bon Cop as a trilogy…

They didn’t conceive my contract as a trilogy, but I’m happy to accommodate them if they come up with another script. I think we can make $20 million if we do what they do in Quebec from Victoria to St. John’s. We’ll go out and do it one [ticket] at a time.