A first version of the script for a film devoted to Guy Lafleur should be ready next summer, announced its author, actor Luc Picard, Friday on the airwaves of Radio-Canada.
Posted at 1:12 p.m.
As part of the project, launched in 2020 by Christian Larouche of Christal Films Productions with the agreement of the Lafleur family, Luc Picard spoke with the former number 10 of the Canadian, who has just died at the age of 70 from consequences of lung cancer. “I was not able to meet him several times, but what emanated from him was first of all a physical strength, despite his illness”, launched Luc Picard on the radio show Penelope.
Pained like all Quebecers by the announcement of the death of the “Blonde Demon” on Friday, the actor-screenwriter said he was currently looking for the essence of the character. “He’s a man of few words, basically, with a kind of French-Canadian humility. The same we felt at Maurice Richard…”
My intuition is to start from the intimate… from the poetry of movement, of gesture, and to juxtapose that with all that it represented for the public.
Luc Picard, actor and screenwriter
The actor who will play the famous player on the big screen has not yet been chosen. “It obviously won’t be me,” said Luc Picard. We don’t even know when we’re going to shoot the film…”
A major impact on Quebec culture
Adored for his exploits on the ice, Guy Lafleur has already inspired a whole generation of Quebec artists who have portrayed him in their songs, writings and paintings.
For Quebecers who saw him grow up in the media from his first exploits as a pee-wee player, “he was a close friend for 60 years”, notes the professor of literary studies and cultural history Benoît Melançon, from l ‘Montreal university.
“There are not many people who can claim such a duration, continues the professor. We saw him grow up, a child at 10, with the Canadian in the 70s, then we saw him have a disrupted family life, be sick… He is a very familiar person who has always been characterized by its accessibility. »
PHOTO MARTIN CHAMBERLAND, ARCHIVES LA PRESSE
Guy Lafleur during a blood drive at the Bell Center in 2012.
Guy Lafleur was the guy who greeted you in his restaurant, who signed autographs everywhere for anyone who wanted them.
Benoît Melançon, teacher
Benoît Melançon has found around fifteen musical pieces that pay homage to the player, including a little-known piece by Robert Charlebois (and Luc Plamondon) entitled Champion. “ By knitting he made his way / To the Montreal Forum / To find himself overnight / Among the stars of the National League “, sings Charlebois about the player.
In the 1970s, the folk singer Oscar Thiffault also rewrote a song dedicated 20 years earlier to Maurice Richard to pay tribute to the talent of Guy Lafleur, notes the professor. “ It’s Maurice Richard who’s so popular/It’s Maurice Richard who scores all the time ” thus became “ It’s Ti-Guy Lafleur who’s so popular/It’s Ti-Guy Lafleur who scores all the time. »
In 1979, Guy Lafleur himself launched a rather surprising disco album, in which he gave his advice to young players. The one that many called an artist (on the ice) was also represented in poetry, especially in English Canada, where his prowess also amazed.
Visual artist Serge Lemoyne, whose series “Bleu-Blanc-Rouge” in homage to the Habs made history, also dedicated three of his paintings to Guy Lafleur. His status as “greatest of all Quebecers” is even mentioned in the feminist feature film red kitchen, signed Paule Baillargeon and Frédérique Collin and released in 1980. “It’s still quite amazing in a film like this!” laughs Mr. Melançon.
After Maurice Richard and Jean Béliveau, Guy Lafleur is the last of the great hockey players to have left a lasting mark on popular culture, says Professor Melançon, author of a biography of Richard. “His death closes a chapter in the relationship of Quebecers to sport,” he said. Everything has changed since then, the media, the relationship with money… I can hardly imagine a fourth musketeer. Since Lafleur, in any case, there has been nothing like it. »