Catherine-Anne Toupin watched Disobey: Chantale Daigle’s choice, the series for which Éléonore Loiselle could win the Gémeaux for best dramatic lead role. She envies the young actress for having landed this contract. “First, because you were perfect, but also, because we have always told the story of men. It’s time we made room for important women. »
Sitting alongside Catherine-Anne Toupin, Éléonore Loiselle agrees. “And sometimes, these are women who have been completely forgotten. »
Propped up in her chair, the 22-year-old actress speaks with knowledge of the facts. Before auditioning for Disobeyshe was unaware of the existence of Chantale Daigle, this Quebecer who fought all the way to the Supreme Court to claim her right to abort in 1989.
“It shocked me,” she says. I wish we had learned it at school. I would have liked to discuss her. My friends had the same reaction when they saw the series. Guys or girls, they were like: “I wish someone had told me about this before.” Especially because it is about abortion, such a taboo subject, even today. »
“I thought I was equal to men”
Discuss Chantale Daigle with the actress who plays her and Catherine-Anne Toupin, an actress, playwright and screenwriter who thrives on social issues, gives an interview which obviously goes beyond the framework we initially set. And that’s good.
The Gémeaux finalist for best leading role (comedy) for Me neither !a series which deals with the left-right divide against the backdrop of a romance between two radio hosts, has a lot to say about the work written by Isabelle Pelletier and Daniel Thibault, and above all, about the history it unearths.
“I was 14-15 years old when it happened,” recalls Catherine-Anne Toupin. I was too young to take a critical look. I thought I was equal to men, because that was the time the world sold us that we could have a similar life: go to college, get married, have a career… You can have it’s all! But when you get a little older, you realize that’s not entirely true. »
“The violence of which [Chantale Daigle] was a victim hit me, continues the actress, looking at Éléonore Loiselle. I was like, “Scream! We haven’t made much progress!” »
PHOTO MARCO CAMPANOZZI, THE PRESS
Catherine-Anne Toupin
Today, violence against women is different. She has transformed. Because when faced with asserted misogyny, we are all going to say: “Shut up!” It is therefore made more subtle, more insidious and less frontal.
Catherine-Anne Toupin, actress, playwright and screenwriter
For Éléonore Loiselle, the series Disobey is a bringer of hope… although it revisits an inglorious period in Quebec in relation to women’s rights. “Chantale was 21, but she changed things. She made herself heard. »
“That means that we can intervene, that we can do something… as long as we are not in the United States,” adds Catherine-Anne Toupin, with a bitter smile, in reference to the cancellation of the stop Roe v. Wadewhich protected the right to abortion among our neighbors to the South.
Notable chapters
Disobey: Chantale Daigle’s choice And Me neither ! have a special meaning for Éléonore Loiselle and Catherine-Anne Toupin. The first, which we discovered in 2019 in The escapehad never landed a leading role on the small screen before being selected to play the antiheroine of the pro-choice movement.
Éléonore Loiselle fought hard to appear at the top of the credits of the drama. After failing at her first audition (“I wore a little shirt… I looked like an elf!”), the actress wrote a letter to the director, Alexis Durand-Brault, asking for a second chance.
“I thought this woman was fabulous! she exclaims. There was something about her that I wanted to interpret. And I had often played similar roles. I wanted to go somewhere else, to try something else. »
PHOTO MARCO CAMPANOZZI, THE PRESS
Éléonore Loiselle
For Catherine-Anne Toupin, the series Me neither ! came to “crystallize” his first 25 years of experience. “I wore many hats: I came up with the idea, I wrote it [avec Karina Goma]it was me who played it, it was me who produced it [comme productrice associée]… It was quite a learning experience. »
“It’s a new low that I’m reaching, at 48 years old. A floor where I want to be. In my next projects, I will arrive much more armed… and much more zen,” she adds, emitting a laugh in passing which suggests that she herself is questioning her potential for zenitude.
Writing desires
Catherine-Anne Toupin’s journey is certainly a source of inspiration for Éléonore Loiselle, who has a desire to write, but lacks direction.
“I’m like, ‘How does that work? Where do I start?” It’s a blockage. »
“You have to start by yourself at home, with your computer. This is the best way, answers Catherine-Anne Toupin. Try to bring something to life. It doesn’t have to be something complete. Just an idea. It could be three pages. »
“I started by doing short pieces, things of 10 minutes, 15 minutes,” continues the actress and author. Then I wrote for TV. I started with children’s shows, half-hours. I learned my trade. I learned to become better. »
Catherine-Anne Toupin always knew she wanted to write. At the Montreal Conservatory of Dramatic Art, she was impatient to put her ideas down on paper.
I arrived very naively as an actress in 1999, a time when you were either “the blonde of”, or a whore, or a dancer. Quickly, I wanted to impose my vision of things, to have a voice. I love being a performer and embodying someone else’s world, but I also love recreating my world. And I always loved breaking down doors.
Catherine-Anne Toupin, actress, playwright and screenwriter
And now…
Me neither ! having ended last fall after two seasons on Noovo, Catherine-Anne Toupin is now hoping for “a big, juicy role” that she could sink her teeth into. The type that wouldn’t emanate from her, though.
“I would go for something dramatic. I was often told that I was intimidating, that there was something rough about me. I could use it to play a businesswoman, someone extremely strict and unpleasant. A mature woman who is fearless… and unpleasant, preferably. Because it’s always more fun to play unpleasant characters! »
While waiting for this dream mandate, she will star in the feature film The pack, directed by Anne Émond. This is the film adaptation of a play she wrote, expected in theaters on February 14.
As for Éléonore Loiselle, The escape And Disobey curly, she would dream of a physical role. She cites as examples the actors Denis Lavant and Marc Béland, whose work she admires. “As an actor, speech is interesting, but sometimes we forget the body. For Chantale Daigle, I had never walked in high heels. I had to take walking lessons because I couldn’t do it. I have always worn flat shoes! It made me want to explore the physical aspect of the roles more. »
The series Disobey: Chantale Daigle’s choice And Me neither ! are available on Crave. Noovo will broadcast Disobey: Chantale Daigle’s choice Wednesdays at 8 p.m., starting October 25.