A real movie for the Diver trio

Stéphane Larue wrote a novel, inspired by his life, the release of which caused a veritable literary phenomenon. Francis Leclerc is a filmmaker who is no longer afraid of adaptations of already recognized works. Éric K. Boulianne is a successful screenwriter who has never tackled an existing work before. At the arrival, The plunger is a cinema film that keeps the spirit of the book while having its own identity. Encounter.

The adventure began the day when the lover of Francis Leclerc suggested to the latter to read the novel by Stéphane Larue, then just deposited with booksellers, telling him that he would undoubtedly arouse an interest in him. And the desire to make a film out of it.

“I fell in love with it and I immediately wanted to acquire the rights to adapt it,” explains the filmmaker to The Press. As I knew I was not alone in the ranks, I provoked things a bit by writing a message directly to Stéphane, accompanied by a two-page synopsis. It happens that Stéphane is a big fan ofA summer without points or hits, an important film for his father and for him. Like what, when you have the intuition to write to someone, you have to do it! »

“Put a bomb! »

First observation: the author did not want to get involved in anything. Even if he was an observer present during all the stages of the production of the feature film, he was the one who always encouraged the filmmaker and the co-screenwriter, Éric K. Boulianne, to move away from an identical transposition of his novel and to go elsewhere.

“The first version of the script that Stéphane was able to read was much too close to the book, recognizes Francis Leclerc. He told us: “Put a bomb! Stop respecting me! Make some Scorsese if you want!” »

“I especially wanted to let them work on their side, confides Stéphane Larue. What I like about a film adaptation is that it can give a completely autonomous work, not a copy-and-paste of the novel. »

“It was really inspiring to watch Francis and Eric go, especially when they were making up things that aren’t in the book at all. There is also a pruning, of course. Read The plunger, it is still an investment of a few tens of hours. The temporal implication is not the same. »

A screenwriter’s audition

Starring Henri Picard as the hero, as well as Charles-Aubey Houde, Joan Hart and Maxime De Cotret, the largely autobiographical story follows the journey of a 19-year-old young man, a great admirer of heavy metal. , who, in the early 2000s, tries to put some order in his life, marked by a pathological addiction to gambling. To do this, he accepts a job as a dishwasher in a trendy restaurant.

To support him in his adaptation of the novel, Francis Leclerc called on Éric K. Boulianne (Liar, viking), chosen following an audition of screenwriters organized by the filmmaker.

“The conversation we had about the cinema that we like convinced him, I think, supports the screenwriter. We then often saw each other, Francis and I, in his kitchen to go through the novel while eating pastries. We did the scene to scene together and then I went on my own to write the dialogues. For the first adaptation of my life, I couldn’t have been better off. This novel spoke to me a lot because this universe resembles me. »

Beyond the “cooking movie”…

For Francis Leclerc, the main concern was to create a credible framework – this is a challenge in itself – without The plunger becomes a “cooking film”.

“The real subject is the distress of this young man, explains the filmmaker. Addiction is a tricky subject to deal with. My challenge was to make an accessible film by tackling this theme, without falling into too much hype, too moralistic. »

In a way, I’m glad Loto-Quebec didn’t want to know about us for the casino scenes. When we approached them, we obviously told them the truth, hiding nothing of the character’s gambling problem. The door immediately closed and we had to recreate the casino from scratch at Place des Arts. It was complicated, but I had total freedom of action. »

At 51, with six feature films on the clock and several series on television (The beautiful discomforts, Walk in the shade), Francis Leclerc is no longer afraid of challenges. On the contrary, he seeks them.

“When I did The time grabber, by Fred Pellerin, that’s where I was really able to measure how I could bear the pressure of bringing to the screen a universe that people already know, while wanting to do something different. In fact, that’s not true. The real pressure was Barefoot in the dawn. Once you adapt your father [Félix Leclerc] with a film that you have had in mind since its death, that the reception is favorable and that you are proud of it, afterwards, bring challenges! »

The plunger will open the 41^are Rendez-vous Québec Cinéma on February 22. It will be shown everywhere in Quebec on February 24.

When Thom says yes

The hero of Diver being a big fan of heavy metal, the musical score of the feature film is, like that of CRAZY (Jean-Marc Vallée) 18 years ago, extremely rich in well-known titles, signed this time by Bruce Dickinson, Iron Maiden, Metallica, The Chemical Brothers, Neil Young, Radiohead, Groovy Aardvark, Jean Leloup and many others. Without giving precise figures, Francis Leclerc, also associate producer, indicates that he wanted a substantial sum of the overall budget of his film (6.2 million dollars) to be devoted to musical rights.

“I wrote to everyone summarizing the film and describing the use I intended to make of their song”, says the one who, in 2005, won the Jutra for best film and best director thanks to To Affective memories.

“For example, I sent word to Thom Yorke [Radiohead] explaining to him that I wanted us to hear Like Spinning Plates when Stéphane enters the casino one evening when everything is collapsing and the camera turns around him. Forty-eight hours later, I had his permission. Neil Young, same. He replied telling me that he really liked the idea. »

“All the heavy metal groups responded well when I told them that their music is an integral part of the universe that is described in the film, he continues. Having had a father [Félix Leclerc] who was asked for many things, I have always been sensitive to the way of asking. By really explaining what I wanted to do, it worked. Really, I couldn’t have dreamed of a musical score like that! »