The beautiful coincidences of Steve Laplante

featured in viking, a new film by Stéphane Lafleur, Steve Laplante is one of the most sought-after actors of the moment. Meeting with a versatile actor, whose career could not be more effervescent this year.

Marc-Andre Lussier
The Press

In less than four months, we could see it at the cinema in Baby sitter (Monia Chokri) The cheaters (Louis Godbout) and, as of this Friday, viking (Stephane Lafleur). On TV, his talent is currently highlighted in the series After (which earned him a citation at the most recent Gemini gala), That’s how I love you 2 and Pet. Steve Laplante is one of those versatile actors, surveying all registers, on whom the authors can project everything knowing that they will always hit the right note.

“Yes, there is a kind of big wave, which I feel, but all these projects nevertheless came from different paths and they are not interrelated, explains the actor during an interview granted to The Press. This synchronicity also comes from having toured a lot during the pandemic. It’s like a string of beautiful coincidences. For example, Stéphane Lafleur came completely into my blind spot with viking, a film that I never came to come. It gives a kind of bubbly year ! »

An unexpected proposal

In the new film from the director of You sleep Nicole, Steve Laplante dons the costume of an astronaut who, well camped in an American desert place, serves as a terrestrial lining for an astronaut truly sent to Mars. For Stéphane Lafleur, the choice to assign the role to the actor came very quickly during the writing stage, which is not always the case in the filmmaker’s creative process.

“Steve and I did not know each other, but I have seen him for 25 years in the theater”, indicates the one whose new feature film obtained a special mention at the Toronto festival. “He carries a humanity within him that makes you immediately feel empathy. But I waited until all the threads were really attached before sending him the script. »

This proposal took the actor completely off guard.

“It really came from left field,” recalls Steve Laplante.

First, the theater

It is true that until more recently, Steve Laplante’s career was essentially achieved in the theater and on television. Graduated from the National Theater School of Canada in 1996, he claims to owe his vocation to his fascination with the matches of the National Improvisation League (LNI), which he watched diligently in his youth on Télé-Québec.

“I watched it over and over,” he says. I even learned some parts by heart. I don’t know why, but there was something about this game that fascinated me. It led me to read plays in my teens, especially by Michel Tremblay. The real world gave me quite a shock. I felt like I was in the book. After CEGEP, I wasn’t sure where to go to college and a friend told me about theater school auditions. I decided to give it a try and it sucked! »

Not coming from a family of artists at all, the young actor, blessed with raw talent, had to build up his confidence during his student years.

“I found myself with several teachers that I had seen play at the LNI and who were teaching me there. I felt like a big disconnect. I wondered if I was in the right place and often thought they were going to kick me out. André Brassard, who headed the National School at the time, gave a lot of inspiration in sailing and gave me confidence. He could see that I was a bit in a daze sometimes. »

Despite this inevitable impostor syndrome, Steve Laplante quickly found himself on stage. He was also one of the interpreters of a few plays by Wajdi Mouawad, notably landing a leading role in Littoral.

Popular recognition

His presence in successful series and in renowned films gives him increased visibility this year, with which comes new popular recognition. This notoriety comes as the actor has just passed his fifth decade of existence.

“Honestly, I’m not sure how I live with it. Since this summer, I definitely feel a difference. It’s weird to discover that, at my age. At the same time, I am very aware that all of this is quite ephemeral and I look at it with a certain distance. This job is a rollercoaster and I just wonder how long it will last. I am naturally wary of too big climbs and there is one at the moment. It is sure that at my age, I tell myself that it is perhaps a good deal that it happens today and not sooner. »

Proud to have been part of the adventure of Stéphane Lafleur’s new film (“There are projects that are more striking than others and viking is certainly one of those,” he says), Steve Laplante does not want to rest on his laurels.

“The few times I put both feet on the beanbag and felt more comfortable, it started to go less well. There, I live a beautiful moment, intoxicating. I was lucky enough to look good because I was offered roles in quality shows.

“It’s important, he continues, because when it’s not the case, it’s very hard to be good at quarter past seven in the morning in a studio with texts written too quickly, where you are give 20 minutes to act out a super dramatic scene in which you learn that your children have just died and the lights have just burned out. There are great interpretations that get lost in those places. While on productions like That’s how I love you Where viking, you just have to place yourself on your mark and not overdo it. You know that the light and the frames will be beautiful. Afterwards people come to say that you are good, but, in fact, it is luck. And I realize that I have a lot! »

viking is currently showing.