When Christian Larouche interviews a prospective employee, he looks for one thing: the flame.

‘Experience isn’t important to me, but ‘the flame’ is,’ says Larouche, founder and prexy of Christal Films, and one of the producers of this year’s top-grossing homegrown film on domestic screens, Les 3 p’tits cochons (Three Little Pigs). ‘If you’ve got the flame for the film business, you can learn anything. And it means that you care.’

Larouche has the flame, too, and it’s been burning bright since he moved to Montreal as a 19-year-old kid from Quebec’s Lac-Saint-Jean region in 1973.

The laminated movie posters lining the walls of his spacious corner office testify to his many accomplishments.

There’s the poster for the first film he produced, L’homme idéal/The Ideal Man (1996), which grossed over $1.1 million. There’s another one for the movie he views as the first meaningful one he personally selected for distribution at Cinepix, Cyrano de Bergerac (1990). And of course there’s a shot of that motley crew of garage league hockey players, Les Boys (1997), the first in a blockbuster film franchise (produced by Richard Goudreau) that Larouche distributes and which taught him that Quebecers ‘really wanted to see their own movies.’

Larouche has a warm smile and an easy manner, but he is clearly driven. And while Quebec remains his focus, he’s now carrying his torch further afield.

You were responsible for the Quebec market for Cinepix/CFP/Lions Gate from 1984 to 2001. How did you get into distribution?

The first film I bought was in 1983: Mesrine. It was about the French gangster Jacques Mesrine. I saw the title listed in a MIFED brochure. Without seeing it, I told [André Link, cofounder of Montreal’s Cinepix], we should buy this film. But they wanted $50,000 for the movie. That was a lot of money at that time – normally we would pay $10,000 or $15,000. André said ‘Go for it, it’s your movie.’ It grossed $1 million in Quebec.

My next pick was Baby Smurf (1984). It was a risk because the previous Smurf movie tanked. I bought it without seeing it. It did $1 million. That spring André sent me to Cannes. I was 34.

But the first ‘real’ film I bought was Cyrano de Bergerac (1990). In the mid-’80s, Cinepix was only buying commercial films in French. I wanted to buy some films with heart. For me, Cyrano is a masterpiece.

I bought it only knowing Gérard Depardieu starred in it. The rest of the cast had not been picked. Before the film was shot, they were asking $200,000 just for Quebec. I paid $150,000. After the premiere in Paris, the salesman offered me English Canada for $100,000. He told me, ‘If you don’t buy it, Sony will.’ So we took a gamble. The movie grossed $2.4 million in Quebec plus $1 million in the rest of Canada, for a total of $3.4 million.’

How do you pick the films you distribute?

Film distribution is my bread and butter. I spent years watching the best in the business: André Link, René Malo and Victor Loewy. Distribution is an art, but you have to be lucky, too.

Most of the movies I buy I never see. I go by instinct. It’s impossible to describe what that means. It’s a feeling you have inside your gut. Take March of the Penguins (2005). I saw a five-minute promo in Cannes, before it had been released. I bought the film for all of Canada. It made $6.5 million in Canada – [about] $5.5 million in English [Canada] and $1.1 million in Quebec.

How do you decide when to release a film?

There is no perfect time to release a film. I would say in Quebec the biggest thing that has an impact on whether a film does well or not is the weather. Or if there is a big sports event on, like the hockey playoffs. If a film is released on a Friday and there’s a snowstorm, forget it. Or if it’s spring and it’s the first hot weekend, you’re dead. We are up against so many titles, if we don’t make a splash the first weekend, it’s over.

You have a reputation for being an astute marketer. What’s your secret?

English Canada and Quebec are very different markets, but many of the same principles can apply.

I would say I developed my model of marketing films with Les Boys (1997). That film also taught me that Quebecers want to see their own films – films that are fun and entertaining. Before that, most films here grossed [no more than] $1 million.

Our goal – myself and [producer] Richard Goudreau – was to gross $2.5 million. Our dream was to beat Cruising Bar. We spent $500,000 on promotion. We released two weeks before Titanic.

We grossed $6.2 million; Titanic, $12 million.

First of all, the subject matter was easy. Hockey is like a religion in Quebec. And we had all those stars. Until that time, we mainly released films in Montreal and Quebec City. But with Boys we went to Lac-Saint-Jean, we went in the north, we toured the province. We went everywhere. We held screenings and got the local media interested. And the actors were everywhere – o¬n talk shows, on the radio and in the newspaper. We milked it all. And we built major momentum – everyone was talking about the film.

Of course, we also have a major star system here that doesn’t exist in English Canada. That helps a great deal. So does our TV industry and our star magazines. There is tons of cross-promotion all the time.

How is marketing a film in English Canada different than in Quebec?

I think English-Canadian distributors have lost their common sense.

When I first started to distribute in English Canada, I went to visit media – newspapers, radio – in Toronto and Vancouver to talk about doing promotion. They said it was the first time a Canadian distributor had visited them. Usually the media work with Americans.

But I’m not going to wait for Warner Bros. to promote March of the Penguins. I’m going to do the groundwork in Canada myself. And sometimes Americans make mistakes and kill a film. We have to make our own wave.

My philosophy of marketing is, it’s not a Canadian film or an American film, it’s a good film and you should see it. In the end, that’s what counts. I don’t care if a film is American, Chinese or German. If I like it, I like it.

Homegrown commercial films are a harder sell in English Canada. You have to spend more money marketing them, so you can lose more. In Quebec, I know I can promote commercial films. I spent $1 million releasing Les 3 p’tits cochons, but to release a film like it in English Canada would cost $1.5 million.

So in English Canada, I am testing the market with more artistic films such as The Wind That Shakes the Barley. I will get publicity from festivals and a few screenings. We count on journalists to write about the film. That will generate word of mouth. This approach is less risky.

You’ve had a banner year, coproducing two major Quebec hits. What’s your secret?

I think I learned from the best – from André Link and John Dunning. I also watched David Cronenberg and Ivan Reitman work. I sat in on their discussions. I saw the whole process.

For me, a good film starts with a script. A good story is key. Then it’s the team – the cast and the directors.

Over the years, I developed my producing skills. The first film I produced was L’Homme idéal (1996). I was a distributor first, and I try to translate that into my producing. I always think: what will people like?

A few years ago, I thought the market needed a Quebec teen movie. My wife [Caroline Héroux] was on maternity leave with our child and she told me she’d work on a script. ¿ vos marques…Party! is the result. We are working on a second version, and I think it will be more successful than the first.

Now I think this province needs a family film, so I’m working on developing that idea.

With Les 3 p’tits cochons [Zoofilms prexy and producer Pierre Gendron and I] wanted to make an intelligent comedy. [Writers Claude Lalonde and Pierre Lamothe] went to Pierre with the idea and we liked it. And Pierre suggested Patrick Huard to direct.

Wasn’t that a big risk, having a first-time director on the film?

No. Patrick is so talented. And the cast was incredible. All three actors [Claude Legault, Guillaume Lemay-Thivierge and Paul Doucet] are huge stars. The trick was in marketing the film. We had to use Patrick to sell the film, but make it clear that he wasn’t in it.

Do you have any scripts that you’re particularly hopeful about?

I’m working on making a film [based on the children’s Holocaust book Hana’s Suitcase]. And another title is Hockey Night in Moose Jaw. And with my wife I’m developing Mafia Boy.

You’ve started coproducing English-language films. What’s your ultimate goal when it comes to English Canada?

I’m waiting for the next Big Fat Greek Wedding. It should be Canadian. I want to produce it. That’s my big hope. I think one day it will happen. I believe that people want to see Canadian movies. I think [English] Canada needs to make films like Quebec does. Like La grande séduction – that could have easily been done in English Canada.

This year you have been involved with a couple of notable international copros: Mr. Nobody, made with French, German and Belgian partners, and the Canada/France copro Afterwards, starring John Malkovich and Evangeline Lily. Why now?

It was hard to attract international partners before with an office just in Montreal. But now I have an office in Toronto. Now I have a coast-to-coast presence. Since opening my Toronto office, my philosophy changed completely.

Do you have your eye on the American market?

That’s a dream, sure. First I wanted to establish myself as a producer in Quebec. It took me many films to do so, to have respect on the production side. After that, I said I want to start to produce in English. So the easiest thing to do are coproductions. Now I’m going to develop some productions in France.

Perhaps one day I would produce with an American. But first I have to prove to the world – to the industry – that I can produce movies in English. This year I produced two. Now, I’m developing three or four films in English for Canada.