Director Vallee gets first feature

outing with ‘thrilling’ whodunit

Montreal: Director Jean-Marc Vallee makes a promising feature film debut this month with Liste noire, a $1.2 million suspense thriller from screenwriter and former lawyer Sylvain Guy and GPA Films producer Marcel Giroux.

Initially based on a Florida newspaper account of a hooker who blackmailed her clients, this story opens when a prostitute, played by Genevieve Brouillette, lands in jail for a couple of weeks. The bitter experience leads her to revenge and the naming of names of her well-connected clients – lawyers, judges and government officials.

Some of the fat cats are suitably contrite, but when murder is added to the agenda, the story becomes a thrilling whodunit.

The all-star Quebec cast includes Michel Cote (Le Vent du Wyoming), busy actor Serge Houde (Love and Human Remains, Esperenza, the murdered cabinet minister in the controversial Pierre Falardeau film Octobre), Lucie Laurier (C’etait le 12 du 12 et Chili avait les blues), Sylvie Bourque, Aubert Pallascio, Robert Gravel, Raymond Cloutier in the role of a cop, and veteran actor and newly named Canadian senator, Jean-Louis Roux.

Craft credits go to dop Pierre Gill, art director Sylvain Gingras, pm Gilles Legare and gpa casting co-ordinator Jo-Ann Gregory.

Investors include sogic, Astral Distribution, Super Ecran and gpa. The 35mm shoot goes from Sept. 18 to Oct. 19.

Voices from the past

Voices From a Locked Room is the latest u.s. feature to land in Montreal. The us$7 million period piece, set in London, Eng. circa 1930, is being produced by Avenue Pictures and Sony Classics for distribution by Columbia Pictures.

Based on the true story of London composer and music critic Peter Warlock, Voices re-enacts the tragic fate of the schizophrenic artist/critic and the American jazz singer who falls in love with both his personalities.

The film is directed by Malcolm Clarke and stars Tushka Bergen (Barcelona) and Jeremy Northam, one of London’s leading Shakespearean actors.

Top craft support on Voices comes from line producer/pm Irene Litinsky (Million Dollar Babies, Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle), cinematographer Guy Dufaux, costume designer Renee April and production designer Francois Seguin. Shooting begins in London Oct. 15 then moves to Montreal for an Oct. 27 startup. It wraps Dec. 17.

Yanking up the volume

Two other American shoots are being prepped, Warf Rat and Teacher, and two u.s. tv movies will head to Quebec later this fall, reports Quebec Film Commissioner France Nadeau.

Warf Rat, directed by Jimmy Huston, is a contemporary waterfront tale of crime and contraband cargo and is the first in an mow series from producer Paul Kimatian and Showtime Networks.

Teacher examines the devotion of the unshakable Annie Sullivan, the woman who worked with Helen Keller, and is an early entry in a major, extended short film series of humanitarian portraits from producer Jim Rutherford and Covey Productions of Salt Lake City, Utah. The series has been presold to pbs.

Nadeau says the success of the Quebec Film & TV Office (sogic) in attracting American shoots in the past two years is having a beneficial effect on local coventuring efforts. She says the office has been asked to scout locations for potential coventures for Justine Heroux’s Cinevideo Plus, Robin Spry’s Telescene and Nicolas Clermont’s Filmline International.

‘It’s the second consecutive year where the momentum is up,’ says Nadeau. ‘The volume of projects we’re treating is rising. What’s really exciting is that the projects are more serious.’

Feature attractions

Upcoming feature film shoots from the stcvq, Quebec’s freelance film technicians union, include Jean-Pierre Prevost’s Le Billet de loterie, the Pierre Plante comedy Angelo, Fredo, Romeo and Robert Menard’s L’Enfant d’eau.

From an institutional perspective, Angelo et al is a commercial sequel to Michel Poulette’s highly successful comedy Louis 19, le roi des ondes, which has now reached the $1.8 million mark at the local box office. Angelo stars Louis 19 lead Martin Drainville and is a spoof on the film business as practiced by various nationalities.

Jean-Roch Marcotte of Productions du Regard is the producer.

Shooting started mid-month and goes to mid-October.

L’Enfant d’eau is in preproduction and will be shot in two parts – Oct. 15-30 in the Montreal region and mid-November to mid-December in Cuba.

Roger Frappier is producing on behalf of Menard’s Productions Videofilm.

As for the France/Canada coproduction Le Billet de loterie, it began production in Montreal Sept. 23 and goes through to Oct. 23. The story, from writer Pierre Billon, is being coproduced by Louise Gendron of Productions du Cerf and is about an anthropology student who works at a jewelry store and wins the big lottery prize.

Cast includes Monique Spaziani (La Beaute des femmes), Genevieve Morin, Alexandre van der Noot, Gilles Latulippe, French actor Jacques Perrin (Cinema Paradiso), Pascale Montpetit and Andre Melancon.

Gemeaux watch

In this year’s Prix Gemeaux Awards lobbying department, a word from busy cinematographer Serge Ladouceur, who tells us he has two nominations in the best dop film category, both from the Sovimage/Sagittaire courtroom drama Les Grands proces. Ladouceur points out each episode has a unique film look as opposed to a series look.

‘Of the four (episodes) that we shot last year, there are two which I like best, ‘La femme Pitre’ and ‘Fred Rose,’ says Ladouceur. ‘For `La femme Pitre,’ the approach can be described as black and white in color, and for `Fred Rose,’ it’s inspired by the sensibilities of film noir.’

For ‘La femme Pitre,’ Ladouceur made extensive use of filters and smoke on the set, combined with a high-contrast setting. The film was ‘desaturated’ in the transfer process using a Da Vinci color corrector at Centre de montage electronique, which added to the period feel.

For the dramatization of the Fred Rose trial, set in 1946 as the Cold War was moving into high gear, Ladouceur dropped the technical high jinks to create a ‘shadowy’ lighting environment. Direct lighting and the right makeup were employed to give the actors and extras an appropriate ‘blanched-out, paranoid’ appearance.

Ladouceur’s biggest assignment to date is the eight-hour Maria Schell miniseries Maria des Eaux Vives, coproduced by Communications Claude Heroux International with European partners. It airs this month on the TVA Television Network.

Fellow Gemeaux nominees in the dop film category this year are: Thomas Vamos for Blanche, produced by Cite-Amerique; John Berrie for Scoop III, produced by Productions SDA; and Pierre Mignot for Trois femmes, un amour, produced by Verseau International.

The ninth annual Prix Gemeaux Awards for excellence in French-language television take place Sunday, Oct. 2 and will be broadcast live on Radio-Canada at 7 p.m. The Industry Gala portion of the program is being held on Sunday, Oct. 2 at 2:30 p.m. at the Imperial Cinema. This year some 500 finalists are vying for 62 Gemeaux.