Marc Messier chose to tackle a high-flying theatrical score by playing the title role of the play The fatherpresented at the Théâtre du Nouveau Monde.
However, he had sworn never to go on stage again. After traveling across Quebec with his solo show, Marc Messier found that the stages were very tiring. Theater ? Very physically and mentally demanding. And then, after 3322 performances of Broue spread over 38 long years, he undoubtedly considered that a little rest was deserved.
This is why when Emmanuel Reichenbach, from Encore Spectacle, offered him on a silver platter the role of André, this aging man whose memory is beginning to fail, Marc Messier flatly refused.
“He told me to read Florian Zeller’s text before forming an idea. I read it twice and each time I was moved. It was too good. I took that as a sign! André is a helpless person, like all those who have this disease [l’alzheimer]. It’s a role that I couldn’t pass up. And I don’t regret my decision. »
This perfectionist, obsessed with preparation, however, had a non-negotiable requirement in the contract: he had to have the text in hand a year before the premiere in order to make it his own.
PHOTO JF HAMELIN, PROVIDED BY LE RIDEAU VERT
Marc Messier (seated) and Éric Bruneau in The death of a traveling salesmanon the Rideau Vert stage
Since June, I have been working on this text with a tutor. It’s the best decision of my life. When I played The death of a traveling salesman at the Rideau Vert, I arrived first on the buttock, if I may say so. I was really on edge and I swore it wouldn’t happen twice!
Marc Messier
In fact, he was so prepared for The father that during the first group reading, he pretended to read his text so as not to intimidate anyone. “But Marc told me that he already knew his lines by heart! », says Éric Bruneau.
A feat when we know how very, very complicated this text is to master. Director Édith Patenaude explains: “It’s a text full of microreplicas. Additionally, because the character is confused, there are a lot of breaks in tone. It’s an acrobatic text where the brain needs all its plasticity… It would be a challenge even for a 24-year-old actor! »
The strength of the text (and the talent he put into interpreting it) undoubtedly explains why Anthony Hopkins received the Oscar for best actor in 2021 for his interpretation of the role on the big screen. Florian Zeller, who wrote the text of the original play, also directed the feature film.
Is Marc Messier afraid of suffering from the comparison among those who have seen the film and who will come to see the play at the TNM? Not a crumb. “Theatre and cinema are two different mediums. The approach is not the same. A role is always more difficult to perform in the theater, I find, because we are not allowed to repeat ourselves! But as Edith says so well [Patenaude], the play is not a remake of the film. »
He adds: “This project allowed me to discover very pleasant people, who are very kind and generous with old people like me! Édith Patenaude is a charming woman who gets everything she wants gently. I trust him completely. I’m a team guy. And it’s the pleasure of working in a team that keeps me in this job. ” For The fatherhe is surrounded on stage by Adrien Bletton, Sofia Blondin, Fayolle Jean Jr, Noémie O’Farrell and Catherine Trudeau.
An insatiable appetite to play
With his successes on TV (just think of Throw and count Or The little life), in the cinema (he has played for André Forcier, Patrice Sauvé and, more recently, Anik Jean) and in the theater (with the sketch comedy Broue in mind), Marc Messier’s CV was already dizzying. But this always curious actor seems to have an appetite for the profession that is difficult to satisfy.
Even before the final performance of Broue, on April 22, 2017 in Sherbrooke, Marc Messier already had new plans in mind that would give him wings. “I had two dreams at that time. I wanted to perform in the theater in a dramatic role and write a one-woman show. I played in The death of a traveling salesman at the Rideau Vert and I wrote my first solo during the pandemic. »
PHOTO SARAH MONGEAU-BIRKETT, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Marc Messier presented a solo show entitled Alone… on stage.
Today, the solo adventure Alone… on stagee is finished. And there is this theatrical project of Father which has occupied it for several months. This is quite enough for Marc Messier. “Waking up in the morning and having nothing to do, I love it. I like cycling, playing tennis, listening to music, reading…”
It must be said that this father is not yet entirely free with his time. He has shared custody of his 20-year-old son and 16-year-old daughter. He is also the father of a daughter born from a first union, who is today a professor of biology at the university.
If he speaks little about his children, it is not so much out of modesty, but to protect them from a star system that they did not choose. “They don’t like to be put in the forefront. It’s not their job, it’s mine. »
He also admits that stardom brings some sources of irritation. “When you break up after 20 years and everyone knows, it adds extra pressure, let’s say…”
But he is warm and smiling when strangers greet him during a photo shoot in the restaurant La Croissanterie Figaro, crowded at lunchtime. Obviously, this man does not have the inordinate ego that his impressive career could explain.
Catherine Trudeau, who plays her daughter in the play The fathercan attest to this.
I am from the generation of Throw and count and I admit that at first, I was impressed to know that I was going to play with Marc [Messier]. But I quickly discovered that he is a charming man, very generous. And very open.
Catherine Trudeau
In fact, everyone who spoke to us about Marc Messier praised the audacity of this chameleon actor capable of excelling in both drama and comedy. The main person explains: “One makes you cry, the other makes you laugh, but deep down, it’s the same thing. It’s all about rhythm. You have to find the rhythm of life for it to be credible. »
Has he ever experienced a setback in his career? “I have long wanted to play a detective in the cinema. Several years ago, I even bought the rights to a book, Chicken excellence, by Patrice Lessard. But in the cinema, everything is too long. The project was not followed up. And today, we only see that, detectives, on the screen! »
A passion born at classical college
From project to project, from major role to even greater role, Marc Messier has become an essential figure on the Quebec cultural scene.
However, nothing destined Marc Messier for an artistic career. Growing up on a street corner from an ice rink in Granby, this son of a barber spent a rather sporty childhood: hockey and swimming occupied his days. And he was far from bad: he already received an invitation from the Canadiens’ junior club for a training camp! It was an English teacher at the Collège de Granby who served as a spark by asking the 15-year-old student to present the father’s monologue in front of the class in Hamletby Shakespeare.
“I really got something!” From then on, theater became an obsession. »
Eager to leave Granby for Montreal, he enrolled in literature at the University of Montreal, but his love of theater forced a return to the South Shore. For two years. In fact, he was one of the first students to study at the Theater Option at Cégep de Saint-Hyacinthe at the end of the 1960s.
If he met his first mentors – Jacques Zouvi, Jacques Létourneau – within the walls of CEGEP, it was within the walls of a bar that he would have the most decisive meeting of his career: that of two guys from Alma named Michel Côté and Marcel Gauthier.
PHOTO ARCHIVES THE PRESS
The play Brouein the 1980s. From left to right: Marc Messier, Marcel Gauthier and Michel Côté
Chemistry went straight away with Michel [Côté]. We were two ambitious people who didn’t take no for an answer. We wanted things to happen.
Marc Messier
And they arrived in the form of a sketch play presented at its beginnings in a 60-seat room on Boulevard Saint-Laurent, the Théâtre des Voyagements… “Do Broue was a magical experience. We could do the job we loved in front of full rooms. When the play became a commercial success, there was a bit of snobbery from the community, but we had no problem with that, Michel, Marcel and me. We wanted to become popular actors, in the noble sense of the term. And we were able to earn our living! But we never took anything for granted. We always had a little doubt. Comedy is a fragile thing. You skip a comma and it’s less funny! »
Today, he admits that the death of Michel Côté left a big void in his life. “I still have trouble realizing it. He left too quickly. We were really very close. I have many memories of complicity on stage with him…”
Thanks to Broue, Marc Messier quickly had the luxury of saying no to projects that didn’t excite him. And it’s even more true today. “I only say yes to what interests me. I don’t want to repeat myself! I also want to age healthy, elegantly and pleasantly. I want to travel, have a good time… » And retirement? “It’s difficult to make a definitive decision in this profession. But if I retire, I won’t make a big statement in the newspapers. No one would care! »
And to those who would like to see him one day publish his autobiography, full of anecdotes from filming, he says this: “I prefer acting my bio much better than writing it. I feel like it’s more interesting for everyone…”
Visit the show page
The father
Play by Florian Zeller directed by Édith Patenaude. With Marc Messier, Adrien Bletton, Sofia Blondin, Fayolle Jean Jr, Noémie O’Farrell and Catherine Trudeau.
New World TheaterFrom March 19 to April 13