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Q&A: Patrick Huard

In Funkytown, opening Friday (March 4), Patrick Huard (Bon Cop, Bad Cop) plays a power-?tripping disco DJ and TV host who rises to the top of his game only to be undone by drugs and his own ego.

Huard gives an intense performance in a piece that takes the disco-?crazed 70s very seriously. Looking more like a tattooed biker than a suave 70s star-maker, he talked to NOW about the era, his character and making movies in Quebec that always seem to find audiences in English Canada.

What’s your personal connection to the 70s?

I was seven or eight when disco hit the mainstream, but I do have memories of aunts and uncles getting ready to go out on a Saturday

night. For me, this story captures a feeling that I remember – that after the Olympics and Expo, anything was possible in Montreal. We

could be like Paris or New York, a very important business city.

What’s the key to your character, Bastien?

It’s about his rise and fall. He could be anyone who thinks he owns the world. He’s on a big wave that he’s riding himself because he

thinks he’s the only one good enough to ride it. This guy could have been from Wall Street two years ago or from rock ‘n’ roll.

He’s loosely based on an actual person, Alain Montpetit. Did you do much research on him?

I was very selective about the research. I decided not to look into his personal life. For that part I relied on Steve [Galluccio]’s

amazing script. Everything was there on the page. As for his professional life, I watched Montpetit’s television shows. This guy

was really the reference point for the time – everyone was mimicking him. But I had to tone it down. Today, it almost looks like a spoof,

yet people who [were there] say, “You’re exactly the way he was.”

On the subject of his drug dependence, the first time he’s offered drugs in the movie, he says, “I don’t do that any more.” It’s a quick

and subtle moment.

That line was in the original script but out of the second version.

And I said to Steve, “No, that line’s important.” He winds up doing drugs because he wants the woman, and that shows how weak he is. He can’t stand his ground and say, “I don’t want this, I want you.” It’s the first time you see him make the wrong choice.

What was it like working with director Daniel Roby?

I love how Daniel directs actors – it’s almost non-?directive, one word there, one feeling there. He might say, “Tone it down a little,”

and it would put you in a perfect place. It’s not a very complicated, intellectual process. He guides you more than directs you.

Tell me about the interplay between your character and the art direction.

I love any bit of wardrobe or accessory that can help me get into character. In a period piece like this, you’re submerged in a

different world, and that really helped me. My character goes into dark places. You have to put yourself in a situation that you don’t

necessarily like. It’s easy to pretend when you’re not in your own era. You can go to those places, but it’s not really real.

But you have to make the character believable.

Oh yes. Any time I work on a character, I ask, “How does he eat, how does he drive, what lane does he drive in? How does he decide when to pass?”

Speaking of which, you drive a red vintage Jaguar in the film. Are you a car guy or was that car wasted on you?

I’m not a car guy, but that’s the kind of ride that would turn anyone into a car guy. You not only get to drive it, but you do it onscreen,

which means you’re gonna drive it forever. Every time I see the shot when I’m driving the car with the sun and the sunglasses, I think it’s

so hot and so cool. Although, I have to say, the car was stalling all the time.

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