C.R.A.Z.Y swept the board at Canada’s equivalent of the Oscars – the Genies – and now arrives in the UK trailing rave reviews. Stephen Collings speaks to the director, Jean-Marc Vallée, and its principal stars, Marc-André Grondin and Michel Côté.
Marc-André Grondin (Zachary Beaulieu)
Sitting in an almost empty attic room, I check the levels on my dictaphone and place it on the rickety table that separates two garden chairs. Well, this is my first one-on-one interview and I like to be prepared. Marc-André Grondin, the 22-year old star of French-Canadian film C.R.A.Z.Y, enters the room, shakes my hand and takes his seat. “Congratulations on being my first interviewee,” I offer by way of introduction. “It’s your first time?” he asks, “ah, I’ll go easy on you”. Trying in vain to regain an air of professionalism, I produce my questions and off we go…
Released in Canada last May but finally making it to these shores, you’ve been promoting C.R.A.Z.Y. for some time now. Does it feel like it’s ever going to stop?
Yeah, well, I took a break [from promotion] for two months, but I’m back travelling now. We’re going to Paris tomorrow for a week, then I’m going back to Montréal, then we’re off to Turkey and Jerusalem and after that I’m just pulling the plug! I’ve got other things to do and it’s been almost a year of travelling and promoting.
Tell us about Zac, the sexually confused teenager that you play in the film.
First of all, it’s the kind of character that, as an actor, you always hope for and I feel very lucky to have been able to get a part like this at my age. It’s the kind of character that everybody can relate to on different levels. I was born in the 80s, I come from a small family and I’m straight, but I can still relate to that character so easily. When I got the script, I fell in love with him. He’s just a kid that’s trying not to be different to anyone else, but he has many differences, like the fact that he has asthma, so every time he breathes, it reminds him that he’s different. And his sexual orientation too. All the differences make him lose his father and he cannot accept the fact that he has lost his father’s love when they were such big buddies. All his life, he’s going to try to convince those around him that he’s not who he really is. But eventually he has to accept his own differences in order to get his father back.
Even today, playing a gay character is seen as a risky choice for many actors. Did you have any hesitation in accepting the part?
No. First of all, Zac is not a provocative character. He’s more straight than a lot of gay guys I know, and he’s more straight than a lot of straight guys I know. It wasn’t like I was playing a transsexual or anything.
There is a tendency in queer cinema for gay characters to be extremes and almost caricatures, but Zac was more realistic, so you really feel for his internal struggles.
For sure. After the movie I got lots of offers to play gay characters and the gay community in Québec and outside always call for interviews. I imagine when Gael García Bernal did Bad Education he had the same reaction and the same for the actors in Brokeback Mountain, or even Tom Hanks in Philadelphia. I don’t care though, as I’ve been doing this job since I was three years old, so I’ve been raised on sets and there were always gay guys around me, so it’s always been a part of my life. I never felt that it was different; to me it was just normal. When I thought about doing this movie, I never thought that maybe I would be categorised as being gay or whatever. If I had to play a rapist, I wouldn’t expect people to run after me in the street, but it’s funny how playing a homosexual is seen as being so removed from what is ‘normal’, that people think you’re gay. People still ask me, “Are you gay?”, like you’ve gotta be gay to play a gay guy!
You mentioned Gael García Bernal, and you have been dubbed as Canada’s answer to the Mexican star. How do you take such a comparison?
One journalist in Montréal mentioned it. I went to the AFI festival in Los Angeles and there was a guy there from WireImage, taking a picture of me and he put it that I was the “Gael García Bernal of Canada” or something. It just started there, and now when I get interviewed, people Googling their research always bring it up!
The reason I mention it is that Bernal has just released his first English-speaking role (The King). Would mainstream American cinema be something you would like to move into?
Yeah, well I’m supposed to shoot in Canada - a Canadian movie, but in English – this summer and I started speaking English two years ago and I’m still learning a lot but I would love to work outside Canada. It’s always a good adventure to be in different places, but I wouldn’t move to LA, New York or London as I think it’s possible to do well acting in Québec and it’s not like my main goal to act in the States or anything. I just want to be able to get a hand on that script that I will totally love and it could be in Detroit or in British Columbia or in France.
I loved the scene of Zac singing along to Bowie in his bedroom, something which I’ve been known to do myself on occasion. When you’re on your own, who do you like to sing along to?
(Laughs) It depends, so many things. Never in front of the mirror though and I don’t dress up either! I can be at home doing my thing and sing along with Johnny Cash or Queens of the Stone Age. It’s funny, and it changes a lot, so it could even be Damien Rice. I listen to a lot of music but I try not to sing along with Maria Callas, 'cos that’s really painful!
C.R.A.Z.Y.’s soundtrack with Bowie, Pink Floyd and Jefferson Airplane is pretty awesome, though!
When I was reading the script and seeing the songs, I was like “Yeah!” There were a few songs we couldn’t get, like Joy Division and Cat Stevens. The soundtrack is amazing, but initially nobody wanted to release it because it was just too expensive. It reminded me a lot of 24-Hour Party People whose soundtrack is so incredible. It’s a masterpiece, that movie. I don’t know why everyone hasn’t seen that film ‘cos it’s just so great!
Zac is certainly the source of much anxiety for his parents, but did you cause your parents any trouble as a teenager?
Yeah, I was a pain in the ass! I was a teenager and found myself getting grumpy and making big things out of nothing for no reason. That’s pretty biological at that phase. But nothing with drugs or homoerotic orgies in the basement, or nothing spectacular at all like that. I was pretty normal. I started drinking beer when I was fifteen when most people I know were drinking since they were twelve, but I was working, so that’s my excuse.
You play drums in two bands as well (“Nitrosonique” and “The Adam Brown”), and they both seem to be doing pretty well. If you had to make the ultimate choice between acting and the music, which would it be?
I’ve been asked that question a few times but I don’t think I’ll have to choose eventually. But if I had to choose, I would continue to act, 'cos it’s easy. I need music in my life. I need both. Film is my work and music I can play on the weekends. It’s pretty difficult to have a touring band and do a movie once in a while.
What do your bands do while you’re away?
Normally they take that time to practice and to compose new songs and when I come back I just learn them all. For C.R.A.Z.Y, I had two bands and I was continuing to do pre-prog with one band on the weekend, and for the other band, they found a replacement for that whole summer. I’m quitting one of my two bands, because it’s pretty busy right now, so I’ll be able to fit things in my schedule. I hope.
Michel Côté (Gervais Beaulieu)
Like co-star Marc-André Grondin before him, Michel announces that his English is not so great, and asks that I speak slowly. I assure him that his English is much better than my GCSE French, although I can’t resist testing it out, repeating, “Could you speak more slowly” in French. “C’est parfait” is the reassuring response. Bon, commençons…
Firstly congratulations on all of the awards you’ve received for this film. Is it time to build an extra shelf in the trophy cabinet?
(Laughs) I have many others, but the last one is always the best. After 35 years of career, I have won more and more awards. I have Gemini TV awards, and Genies - not too many of those – but in theatre I have some.
I read that you convinced director Jean-Marc to film C.R.A.Z.Y. in Québec instead of the US. What did you say to persuade him?
I told him that if it’s being done in English, it will not be possible to do it back in French after. Would not be possible at all. I told him if you do it in French-Québec first and if it works really well, you might do it in English after, but nobody will see it anyway! That’s exactly what I said.
And it worked!
Yeah, you see, we did it in French Québec and now the film has sold all around the world having big success everywhere, so I’m very happy. That was a very good idea because it’s a very local film, speaking about ordinary people from Québec. People are not that different around the world. We’re all the same. We speak differently, we have different customs, but when we speak about soul and life and relationships between members of families, we all have the same problems and the same life.
The film missed out on an Oscar nomination. Do you feel that in any other year, it would have made the shortlist?
We were in the race for Best Foreign Language film and were close to being at the Oscars. We should have been there. But they already had Brokeback Mountain speaking about gay relationships and I know how the system works now. They have three groups of 150 people and they split the 52 movies from everywhere in the world between three groups. One group sees certain amounts of films, but they don’t see all. So if you’re in a good group, you don’t have any chance of making it through, but if you’re in a bad group, you’re pretty much there. Of course it would have been great for us, because it helps a lot for selling the movie, so now we have to work a little bit harder. But we will work harder and if the reviews are good, and I think they will be good, people will go anyway, even if we weren’t in the Oscar race.
As a father yourself, what connections did you make with your character?
I think the father in this movie will relate to many fathers. I felt that character so well, because I was born in 1950 and I was 15 in 1965 and I come from a family with only boys, no sisters. Now I have two boys myself. They are 27 and 23 now, so it was quite recent when they were 14/15 with teenage crises. So, for me, at a certain point I thought I was going to be a bad actor in this movie because I had the impression that I was not playing anything. I felt that I was so natural and so involved as a father that I once asked Jean-Marc, “Do you think I’m good now? Because I feel that I’m not playing anything”. But I was perfect, because I felt the character so much, because he’s not a bad guy. He loves his kids a lot and I think it shows that I love them. It’s not the fact that Zac is gay, but the fact that he doesn’t want him to be gay because he will be suffering and you don’t want your kids to suffer. Even these days, if a father is not raising his kids like a bully, almost like “Come on! You’re the man”, if he turns out gay, then it’s somehow your fault, or the mother’s fault because she was too cutesy-cutesy and gentle with him. Even today, for many people, they think that a son decides to be gay and you can change it, but now we know that it’s not possible. A kid when he is born is gay already. For me and for scientists too, it’s not a choice, because if it were a choice, a lot of gay people would choose not to be gay.
Gervais’ party piece is singing along to Charles Aznavour songs. Who do you find yourself singing along to?
I’m not allowed! My wife doesn’t allow me to sing as I’m a bad singer. I love to sing but I sing when I’m alone, but not in front of people, no.
In C.R.A.Z.Y. there is a nice distinction between the father who listens to older artists like Patsy Cline and traditional French music, while his children listen to US rock music. Did you find the same musical generation gap between you and your sons?
I like all music. I like world beat music. I have two kids, so they trained me a little bit in Green Day and Smashing Pumpkins and things like that. When you have kids, you teach them, and after a while, they teach you.
You have mainly worked in theatre, so how does film work compare for you?
I don’t want to disappoint anybody, but it’s much easier to be a movie actor than a stage actor. It’s a completely different job. You can’t take a movie star and put them on stage and expect them to be good. You have to work a lot and it takes years to be good. That’s why, many, many times, the girl who plays Juliet in Romeo & Juliet is 40 years old. A girl of 15 can’t be that good as you have to have the experience. I’m a stage actor first, but I have done a lot of movies. For the last 12 years I have decided to do only one movie a year and I enjoy it a lot as I can concentrate more and make better choices.
Compared to some of your younger co-stars, you’ve had quite a career already, but with your recent success, do you feel like you’re just beginning?
Every time. My next movie will start 1st May and I’m starting my career again, every time. I forget everything past. I think this is the best way to behave. Start your career every day.
Once more, Michel apologies for his (actually excellent) English and we part ways with a “merci beaucoup, au revoir”.
Jean-Marc Vallée (Director)
For a film that was nearly ten years from writing to release, director and co-writer Jean-Marc Vallée must be a happy man. C.R.A.Z.Y. may have been in the can for some time now, but it continues to get such a great reception wherever it goes. How does that feel?
It feels great! I feel good, I feel wonderful - just like Bill Murray says in What About Bob?. This is such a success that I feel like I’m going through a privileged moment in my life and it’s not something you can plan, success like that. I feel blessed almost, as I said. It’s rare. I’m not sure I’m gonna go through this again in my career. It’s a good thing it’s happening with this [film] as it was made with such love and passion for what we do. And not only me, but everyone from the actors to the crew, they wanted to make something special and I think it shows on the screen.
One of the most talked about scenes is in the church, where the choir breaks into The Rolling Stone’s “Sympathy For The Devil”. Where did the inspiration for that scene come from?
When I was writing that, I was allowing myself to write crazy scenes. That’s what I wanted to do and that’s why I called the film C.R.A.Z.Y. I wanted to make a film with some magic and some fantastic scenes. I wanted to put my signature on the film with the soundtrack, so while I was writing, I was listening to a lot of music trying to find the right feeling, the right lyrics that define and describe the characters and set up different tones. With Zac, it was just perfect to have this transition to his adolescence with a song that represents the rebellious age. It was a way to show him as a special character, being in that mass on Christmas Eve, stoned and allowing himself to look around, and seeing this woman in the congregation who is lip-synching this “woo woo” from the song that is going through his head, and suddenly the choir join in, and he starts to levitate and, at that moment, he becomes a god.
The film was obviously a labour of love for you, even helping to finance the music rights. Were there any songs that you couldn’t get or afford?
Yeah. I couldn’t get Joy Division’s “Love Will Tear Us Apart”, I couldn’t get Radiohead’s “Creep”, I couldn’t get “Old Man” from Neil Young, I couldn’t get “You’ll Never Find” from Lou Rawls, I couldn’t get “Dissolved Girl” from Massive Attack. There were a lot of songs that I couldn’t get. Still, we have an important soundtrack and the soundtrack in this film is like another character. While I was writing I was doing a mix tape, like I have done for my friends or when I am DJing.
Mix tapes have always been a great way to tell a story through music. You can create your own mini narratives.
Yes, yes, you can make a mix tape for a girl that you’re trying to seduce, just like in High Fidelity. We used to make mix tapes for friends and girls, using the lyrics to tell people something. C.R.A.Z.Y. was written with the music, and I wanted a two-hour, special musical moment, rich in emotions, just like with those tapes, where music is very powerful. Like when you are a teenager and want to call a girl on the telephone, I was listening to certain songs over and over again to get the courage to pick up the phone and call the girl. Music has such power. There are always so many new artists and songs to discover.
There are many parallels between religion and music in the film. Was it your personal experience that rock music almost becomes a religion, especially during teenage years?
It was, and that was why I chose those songs. Not only for me, but rock ‘n’ roll music becomes religious. I was using music to dream a life I wanted but didn’t have. Music was giving me a sense of power and happiness. Music was giving me wings. The character of Zac is using music in that manner. I chose those songs, because for him they are like prayers and all of those songs that Zac listens to have a mystical quality. When you listen to “Space Oddity” it’s almost like a prayer, particularly for Zac. “Can you hear me, Major Tom?” becomes “Can you hear me God? Do something”. For him, music is allowing himself to be what he really is. And Pink Floyd’s “The Great Gig In The Sky” is almost like a prayer again, with this beautiful female vocal. If I didn’t succeed with the clearing of the rights to “Space Oddity”, Zac would have been singing along to that instead.
You’re a man in demand, so my time is running out. One last question then; are we going to have to wait another ten years until your next film?
No, hopefully not. It’s going to take some time. 2006 to write, 2007 to find some money, 2007/2008 to finally shoot. Then we’ll just have to see.
|
