Gérald Gallant committed 28 murders and 15 attacks. He is one of Canada’s biggest contract killers, but does not hesitate to denounce his peers to save his own skin. “Gallant killed two people in the restaurant of someone I knew, and that’s when I started to get interested in it,” recalls Luc Picard, director and lead role in the feature film adapted from book gallant. Confessions of a Hitman by Felix Séguin and Eric Thibault.
A few decades later, the scenario writer immediately accepted when one asked him to carry out the project written by the scenario writer accustomed to the universe of the organized crime, Sylvain Guy. ” After Mafia Inc., I wanted a more intimate film. I really found myself in Gérald Gallant’s head, during a very instinctive creative process, he says. I thought of the film as someone who remembers his life. The character confides a lot, and tries to justify his actions. You never really know when he’s lying. »
In order to best transcribe the very complex personality of Gallant, Luc Picard and Sylvain Guy have also plunged headfirst into organized crime. “I met someone in the criminal world, who was very useful to me in understanding what is going on in the head of someone who is going to commit a crime”, explains the screenwriter, who also remembers these atypical discussions have some more technical sides. Like how to hold a weapon, how to prepare or how not to leave a trace. And to continue: “Despite everything, Gérald Gallant operated in a very different way. His gift was his invisibility which quickly became his problem in life, as he was never able to have real relationships. As soon as he got too attached, it didn’t work. He becomes absolutely alone as the story progresses. »
Gérald Gallant has a charming side, he continues, “he has no charisma, but he seems like a good guy. This is what attracted me to the project”.
Among the few relationships that have punctuated the life of Gérald Gallant, there is in particular his mistress, interpreted by Sandrine Bisson in confessions. “It’s difficult to play someone who falls in love with a killer, admits the actress. To prepare for my role, I learned about people who are attracted to those who have excessive behavior, such as rockers. »
Sandrine Bisson also believes that secrecy can sometimes preserve love. “There is an intriguing side in the couple formed by Jocelyne and Gérald, something bigger than them, with a taste for freedom. And I had fun in there, ”she says. For her, you can’t love Gérald Gallant, who seems to have no emotion and be completely broken, but you can love Luc Picard.
An elusive personality
Exactly, by embarking on the adventure of confessions, Luc Picard had only one request: to play the main role, a composition role. “Long before the film was financed, I started watching Gérald Gallant’s interrogations with the police, then I tried to find the breath of his stutter, his voice, his good nature too, and to practice in front of a mirror. And then your guy ends up catching you, ”he says. Luc Picard was also amazed to see how Gérald Gallant never lets his emotions show and that he firmly believes in his own lies. “It looks like there is nothing below the surface. His friendliness is no match for the killer he is, capable of taking someone down in cold blood. He was even able to eat out after an assassination. »
“There is really something missing in Gérald Gallant,” adds Luc Picard. According to him, the biggest challenge of confessions was undoubtedly the game of balance between the quasi-benevolence that emerges from the main character and the abjection that he shows. “He ends up being almost pitiful. Gérald Gallant has been rejected all his life and he suddenly becomes important to people, those of organized crime”. It is therefore with this aspect that Picard tries to interest the public, while the criminal has neither interest nor superb. “At the end, everyone realizes that Gérald Gallant is nothing but a killer. I think that we condemn the character well, ”he finally considers.
confessions hits theaters July 20.