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Thank you to Ana Maria of Roy Dupuis Argentina for the additional capyures
excerpt from interview with Jeremy Peter Allen:
How did you cast the principals
in the film?
Surprisingly, neither Roy Dupuis nor Serge Houde were the
first actors I looked at. In Roy's case, I knew he would be perfect for the part
but I guess I figured we were working with such a small budget (one million CAN,
or about 750 000 USD) that we wouldn't be able to afford him. After going
through a few casting session, I just wasn't seeing anybody I felt was right for
the part of Kevin Barlow. I mentioned to Yves Fortin, my producer, that I was
looking for somebody kind of like Roy Dupuis, to which he answered,"Well, why
didn't you say so! Lets ask Roy Dupuis!". Roy accepted immediately. He later
told me it was the first time he had accepted a part without first meeting the
director. I guess he liked the script.
Below are two articles written about Roy's upcoming film, Manners of Dying. The first is from the September 30, 2003 issue of the Quebec Chronicle-Telegraph. The second is a recent article from Modem Magazine online. Many thanks to Gayla for the translation. All photos on this page except the Maison Gomin were taken by Jocelyn Bernier.
On
the set of
Manners of Dying By Marlène Lebreux
For 19 days in September, the site of the former women’s prison, Gomin House, became the filming location of the feature film, Manners of Dying, the first full length film by producer Jeremy Peter Allen. It's a small budget film (1 M$), but there's no skimping on the resources: a disturbing look into a story inspired by Yann Martel's short story. At the top of the cast list are Roy Dupuis and Serge Houde.
"It’s a joy for
me to produce suc
h a film," affirms Jeremy Peter Allen (see the interview in the
May 2002, Mode M). Manners of Dying doesn’t address any position on
capital punishment. It seeks rather to try and understand what one would do in
the last 12hrs of their life. So there are no debates between lawyers. It’s
an examination of a person facing death, with no way to escape. The interest
isn’t in either the time or place of the story; besides, the story is unclear on
this subject, other than that it takes place somewhere in
An ideal place for filming
The producer considers himself lucky to have had a prison so nearby. The natural sounds from the beams and solid walls are important as they add credibility. “It’s a gift for an actor to have an authentic set, to be able to pound on the walls and not have them move," confides Roy Dupuis in the role of a condemned man, Kevin Barlow”.
"The film relies essentially on the interplay of the actors. There is no moving around the timeline while filming, the work is chronological. This especially allows the actors to gradually develop their characters. This acting style is a rare opportunity for film actors," continues Jeremy.
The film takes place
mainly in two areas: the cells and the execution room. “The film is cyclic…one
always comes back to this place," explains Jeremy as he shows the execution
room. There is something macabre here. People get nervous in here….one could
say they are affected by the décor." This room sends shivers down the spine of
the film crew, even though originally this room wasn’t set up to give the last
days to the prisoners. Ironically, the death table used in Manners of Dying
is an old obstetrics table. “It’s, in a way, a contradiction, since after having
given birth, the table became a death bed."
Everything was filmed
inside the former prison, except for one scene, which, during the last minutes
of the film, we bring to the
If Roy Dupuis
agreed to play the part of Kevin Barlow, "it’s for the beauty and intensity of
the
character," he indicates. "It’s the kind of character that one can’t forget
when one goes home at night, it’s always there. To use all the mannerisms of
living death, one can’t rely on technique; it’s necessary to look inside to find
the emotions. I had the opportunity to meet with the last man condemned to
death, still living in
Jeremy points out that the first walk to death presented in the film, in his opinion, is the most painful. “It wasn’t hard physically but definitely on the emotions……very distressing."
The editing of Manners of Dying will continue until December. As to when the film will be released, that hasn’t been decided yet, but they say perhaps the summer of 2004. Regarding the translation of the film to French, it will be reviewed to see if there is a possibility of a second version. If that is the case, be assured that it will be of good qu
Original article at: http://www.modem-magazine.com/200310/reportage-i.html
Quebec City’s Jeremy Allen directs debut feature film By Michele Thibeau
Quebec City
film maker Jeremy Peter Allen is finishing off a 19-day shooting schedule for
his first full-length feature, Manners of Dying.
Yves
Fortin of Thalie is producing this $1 million budget English-language movie
being shot at the Maison Gomin, the former women’s prison in Sainte-Foy. It
stars Roy Dupuis, Quebec City-born Serge Houde and Chris Yarwood. Several
Quebec City Anglos also share the silver screen.
Manners of Dying is the story of a condemned man, Kevin Barlow (Dupuis),
who dies by lethal injection — eight times. Each walk from the Death Chamber,
Barlow’s cell, to the Execution Chamber is a different experience.
“Presumably the film takes place somewhere in the States, but it’s somewhere in
North America. It’s never really identified,” said Allen.
Jeremy Allen
saw potential after the first read of Yann Martel’s short story of the same
name.
“I was camping out at a friend’s in Montreal one night and he said, ‘By the way,
you should read this.’ I picked it up. I found it very interesting. The next
morning I ran out to get the English version and it was just as good. I
contacted Yann a couple of months after that.”
At the
Montreal launch for Jeremny Allen’s Requiem contre un plafond, Martel
showed up and asked him about his interest in doing Manners. It took off
from there.
“I always have three, four, five projects in development at one time. I never
really know which one’s going to take off, but over the past two years
Manners of Dying has sort of come to the front and it’s the one that’s
flying right now,” said Allen.
“Everything starting last year — Yann won the Booker Prize, so suddenly anything
he’d written previously became valuable property. Roy came on. He read the
script and loved it. Having somebody like Roy come on brings the whole thing
up. And Serge Houde — just finding a guy like Serge who was strong enough to
play that kind of role —facing Roy — was very lucky too,” said Allen.
After working his way up from cameraman, Allen has developed valuable contacts
in the Anglo community, including help with casting extras from Paul Cummins.
In Quebec City, “You find a few Anglos. There are some people in the community
who have been doing little roles and there are a couple of them in this film,”
he said. "There are people like Chris Yarwood and Ken Slade. I’ve worked with
them in other short projects and I’m really glad to give them little parts in
this one. That’s something I hope to keep doing. They’ve done a lot of free
stuff for me over the years,” he said.
Making English-language movies in Quebec City is “more difficult than in
Montreal because the actor base is smaller,” admitted Allen. “The crews don’t
make a difference. For the actor base, it depends. There is that difficulty to
get over, but it can be done. I certainly hope to be here as long as possible,”
he said.
“I started making films in Montreal when I was in university. I didn’t plan to
come back here — but I like living here more. So I’m hoping that I can keep on
working. Like I said, I do both English and French,” said Jeremy Allen, adding,
“We’ll see.”
Article originally online at: http://www.qctonline.com/lead_story.html
Read another Manners of Dying article at Roy Dupuis Online
