The first six episodes of the series TLC were filmed over the summer of 2001, in Montreal as well as Toronto. In Quebec, the summer of 2001 was hot, humid and dry. I don’t know how it was in Toronto but in Montreal, things were sultry. Not a drop of rain, or nearly, till late in September, lawns yellowed, as if in California. Suffocating.

During the torrid days of August, I was in Abitibi. No respite there either. The same heat as in Montreal. I had gone there to see the northern forest and its men with their wolf-like look. I wasn’t disappointed. I found them both there. During that same time, Roy became Ross Desbiens, an outlaw biker sick of his situation, bonded to the pavement and to the shiny body of the Harley. Far from where I was, and yet the bearer of something essential pertaining to the savage life of the North. The men and beasts who live above the 48th parallel have an unconquered, unconquerable fire that burns in their gaze. It is the look of survivors, of those who struggle against a hostile environment and who know the incalculable value of life.

Ross came to Roy while the latter was in the hibernation that he needed after having loaned five years of his life to the character of Michael. Ross came to Roy impatient to make known to him a mysterious universe, unknown to common mortals, a universe at once brutal, sordid and fascinating. At first, Roy turned down the invitation from Ross Desbiens, refusing to take part in the adventure of TLC. Then, several days later, he changed his mind, possessed as he had been by this Ross since reading the script. I’m forced to admit that today I share his opinion as to the uniqueness and attractiveness of this character.

It’s difficult to reject a being this complex, a being who seems forever condemned to live only to suffer and yet who struggles like the devil to get out of his situation. Ross tries desperately to have faith in life, to have as much confidence in his own strength as in that of destiny. What drives him - whether that be the slenderest flame of hope or its opposite, the most complete disgust - what motivates him and keeps him alive, is an energy which comes both from his combative temperament and his criminal surroundings. You have to be tough to live in an environment where nothing is won easily and where everything that you have is acquired by manipulation, if not violence.

Ross deserves Roy.

Ross belongs to those characters of Roy’s who are the most difficult to love. To become attached to Ross demands the same availability required to love Alex (Cap Tourmente), Yves (BAHWC), Lee (True West) or Jay (Le Chien). Ross is another delinquent. Another outsider. If he lacks the ingenuousness of those four, nevertheless he shares some traits with Jay, be it only his thirst for freedom and his passion for motorcycles. Roy must always be curious to explore the turbulent areas in his characters and that probably explains the commitment that he pledges to those whose destiny is fragile, whether because of their marginality, or the internal wounds they carry in the very deepest part of themselves.

Ross Desbiens is cut from this cloth. While there is this kind of vulnerability in him, there is also in this human being an astounding capacity to be reborn from the ashes. He is a sort of phoenix who rightfully aspires to better days. He never stops battling, if not against his enemies, at least against the fatalism that dogs his existence.