The play The pack will be adapted for the cinema by Anne Émond. Its author, Catherine-Anne Toupin, who signs the screenplay, resumes her role, as do Guillaume Cyr and Lise Roy. Report of our visit to the film set in the Bolton area.
Posted yesterday at 6:00 a.m.
“I’ve always wanted to make films, but when I left theater school, women didn’t have a place. I wouldn’t have been given the chance to write a screenplay. »
“All of a sudden, we want to hear each other! », Launches with her usual impetuosity Catherine-Anne Toupin, author and screenwriter of The pack.
As Baby sitter and Vanishing lines, The pack is a contemporary play written by a woman and brought to the cinema by a woman, in this case Anne Émond (Nelly, Young Juliet).
This week, filming for the psychological thriller was in full swing in the Bolton region, in the Eastern Townships. It was at the end of a winding road in the woods that the team found one of the film’s important figures, a large, somewhat dingy house (reminiscent of the one in the film Misery, rightly noted Catherine-Anne Toupin).
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PHOTO SARKA VANCUROVA, THE PRESS
The budget of The pack is about $5 million.
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PHOTO SARKA VANCUROVA, THE PRESS
The filming of The pack takes place partly this summer in the Eastern Townships.
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PHOTO SARKA VANCUROVA, THE PRESS
With The packGuillaume Cyr turns his 25e film.
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PHOTO SARKA VANCUROVA, THE PRESS
Anne Émond is directing a screenplay that she did not write for the first time.
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This house is where a man called Martin (Guillaume Cyr) lives with his aunt (Lise Roy). They are going to rent a room to Sophie (Catherine-Anne Toupin), who has just lost her job. In shock, she decided to flee far from home…
What this synopsis does not say is that The pack explores the vicious and devious circle of violence and loss of thought control. It was topical when the play was shown at La Licorne in 2018, and it is probably even more so today. “Every week, we send each other #lameute articles,” says Catherine-Anne Toupin.
The latter prefers to divulge as little as possible, but know that an astonishing complicity will develop between Martin and Sophie. “I wanted to do something other than the play,” underlines Catherine-Anne Toupin. Telling essentially the same story, but in a completely different way. »
It is not insignificant if the author quoted the Stephen King classic Misery as a reference. By adapting The pack in the cinema, she wanted to fully exploit the codes of the thriller with all the fear, the moments of high tension, the reversals and the final “slap in the face” that this entails. “For those who have seen the play, we know a lot more about the characters,” she adds.
Director Anne Émond
About three years ago, Catherine-Anne Toupin knocked on the door of the KO24 box, says Louis-Philippe Drolet, who co-produced the film with his partner Louis Morissette as well as Félize Frappier of Max Films. “We quickly saw the potential behind closed doors and the theme that is so topical. »
“We wanted the film to be worn by women,” continues Louis-Philippe Drolet.
In pre-production, Catherine-Anne Toupin met a dozen directors. “When I met Anne who had been invited to read a first version of the script, I saw after 15 minutes that she had understood all the little details and nuances […] I knew it was her. »
PHOTO SARKA VANCUROVA, THE PRESS
Director Anne Émond
I had not seen the play. When I read the script, I went full throttle for the thriller.
Anne Emond
However, the director did not expect Catherine-Anne Toupin to offer her the directing of the film outright. Anne Émond had never directed a feature film for which she did not write the screenplay.
Moreover, Catherine-Anne Toupin wanted to preserve the trio of actors she formed with Lise Roy and Guillaume Cyr, if only “for the nudity of body and soul” intense scenes to play.
Lise Roy considers herself blessed to be able to reinterpret in the cinema a role that she created in the theatre. She had done it for Xavier Dolan’s film adaptation of the play Tom at the farm by Michel-Marc Bouchard. But as in the theater, she believes that the spectators will identify with what her character of the aunt feels in relation to everything that is going on in the house.
PHOTO SARKA VANCUROVA, THE PRESS
Lise Roy resumes the role she created in the theater.
Then when we asked Guillaume Cyr – who turns nothing less than his 25e film – if he was about to shoot an intense scene, he replied: “These are all big scenes! »
All craftsmen of The pack talk about the final with a certain dread. “I go far, but the two characters are endearing and complex,” nuance Catherine-Anne Toupin.
The release date of The pack has not yet been announced.