The appetizer
Michael G. Viens, 37, fell under the spell of Élyse Marquis at the time of Tele-Pirate. What acted as hook? “The same as now and as for everyone: kindness,” he said, turning to his idol, sitting next to him at the Leméac restaurant. I felt he was a person who was real, close to his audience. It impressed me a lot. ”
PHOTO PHILIPPE BOIVIN, SPECIAL COLLABORATION
Katryne Raymond O’brzygailo and Michael G. Viens had dinner with their idol, Élyse Marquis, at Leméac.
In front of them: Katryne Raymond O’brzygailo, 34 years old. She really discovered Élyse Marquis at the helm of the youth show 0340. “Every time she spoke, she reacted, I was like, ‘Well let’s see, it looks like I would say the same thing, that I would react the same way.’ The teenager later learned that her idol was celebrating her birthday at the same time as her on June 26, among other occurrences.
The entrance
Michael, who lived as a child in Sainte-Angèle-de-Monnoir, wanted to correspond with Élyse Marquis in the mid-1990s, when he came across a section of the magazine. 7 days such as “Write to your idols”, with postal contact details. A few weeks later, he received a very simple response: “Thank you for your beautiful letter. It is a pleasure to meet you. He had no idea that this meeting would finally take place … 27 years later.
PHOTO PROVIDED BY MICHAEL G. VIENS
Postcard from Elyse received by Michael in 1994
It was in 2000 that Katryne received a first postcard from the actress, who congratulated her on her “magnificent site”. “At 12-13 years old, the star system in Quebec, that impressed me,” she recalls. My reward was being taken to a video store to rent VHS and buy gossip newspapers. At one point, I said to myself: “I’m going to start a website on Élyse”. I found a book on HTML. I listed news, his appearances, his photos, there was a guest book. I even contacted his friends. Today, I would never imagine myself doing that: come on, Katryne! ”
PHOTO PROVIDED BY KATRYNE RAYMOND O’BRZYGAILO
Katryne treasured all the appearances of Élyse Marquis in newspapers and magazines.
The main course
From 2001, correspondence between Élyse and Katryne migrated to the Internet. “I printed all the emails we sent each other. Looking back, I say to myself: “My God, I didn’t scare him!” She was a confidante. I was a very lonely and shy teenager. Writing my email, I remember it made me feel good, but getting an answer made my day. Élyse later invited her correspondent on numerous film sets, the last time in 2003: 0340, Brain Direction, Fury, Hope.
PHOTO KATRYNE RAYMOND O’BRZYGAILO
A meeting between Katryne and Élyse on a film set
Michael took his relationship with his idol a step further in 3e secondary, when he had to do a job on a person he admired. He got his hands on the UDA directory of his great-uncle, the actor Marcel Giguère. “I took the chance to look up Elyse’s number and called her. I left her a message saying, “Look, I have questions, if ever…” It didn’t take five minutes for her to call me back. ”
“When I was younger, I wrote to stars,” says the host. I understand what it is, the importance of being read, understood and heard. Some answered me, others no. I had told Denis Bouchard that I was doing work on him for school. It was wrong. He had met me in a cafe, I still remember. At the end, he said to me: “I would like to see your work.” I had to invent one. ”
PHOTO PHILIPPE BOIVIN, SPECIAL COLLABORATION
Elyse Marquis
Thanks to Denis Bouchard, the lonely girl from the South Shore had access to behind the scenes of the theater and to a set of Radio-Canada, she says.
“I get chills to think how much it has changed my life. ”
During dinner, Élyse and his admirers find points in common, interact, take an interest in each other. “Today, it’s equal to equal,” she notes. We’re really like friends. The host shares a “blue fear of flying” with Michael. The latter, who works for the carrier Air Transat, advises him a hypnologist. “I was sure it wasn’t going to work, but it changed my life. If I had a flight in a month, I wouldn’t sleep for a month. ”
PHOTO PHILIPPE BOIVIN, SPECIAL COLLABORATION
Katryne Raymond O’brzygailo
The host, with a master’s degree in drama education, also has an obvious connivance with Katryne, herself a French teacher in 3.e secondary school, at Laval College. For a long time, they lost sight of each other, caught in a space-time between postal correspondence, emails and social networks. “It’s been a very long time since we last spoke, because we couldn’t find the right communication channel. With Instagram, we were able to recreate contact. ”
“We celebrate our birthdays, react to our stories, share restaurant suggestions, etc. We come out of idolatry, ”adds Michael, who hosts the Completely Buzzant podcast.
PHOTO PHILIPPE BOIVIN, SPECIAL COLLABORATION
Michael G. Come on
Dessert
It’s already goodbye time. ” Yes Fury come back, I’m going to invite you, ”Elyse slipped to Michael. He and Katryne will continue to check in with their “friend” on Instagram. “When we’re going to talk to each other, it’s going to be different, since we will have had this dinner together,” notes the actress, delighted with her meeting with her fans who have become friends.
“It’s something that touches me. It seems like it goes beyond the image, of what you project; when we meet, it is the human being that takes precedence. ”