CLOSE-UP Marathon man: Pierre Lamy

by Barbara Samuels as a kind of'femme k tout faire', recallti the volunteer spirit that ruled those Whatever else is said of this yeai's Genie days and accounted in good part for the Awards presentation, one fact remains enormous output of product: "You did indisputable. The network broadcast everything then. Unit, script assistant, gave most of the country its first - albeit makeup, whatever. Le viol was shot on brief - glimpse of a one-man national weekends with volunteer labour. I think institution. The gravel-voiced recipient it took about six months to complete." of the Air Canada citation for Outstand­ Ranger was directly involved in Carle'i ing Contribution to the Business of Film­ second feature Red, shot in 1968. "We making in Canada delivered a thank- worked with a crew of 19 people. Two you speech more concise than the title weeks of pre-production. And on top of of his award. But that was to be expect­ that, we produced two TV ads during ed. Louise Ranger, independent produ­ that two-week period. It was a rough cer, head of L'Institut qu^b^cois du shoot, but the desire to do that film was cin6ma and a close associate since 1967 very strong. It was always a question of has called Pierre Lamy "the quintessen­ desire." tial behind-the-scenes man." And after Producer Harry Gulkin encountered some twenty-four 'low-profile' years as Lamy for the first time after the complfr I one of this country's premier film pro tion of Red. "He invited me to a screen­ ducers, Lamy has finally been nudged ing of the film one day, because he want-: into the spotlight. ed to know if it would work as an The recognition from Air Canada English-language dub." Gulkin describes i came on the heels of another major Onyx as a "structure which has not yet award. At the end of 1981, Lamy was been replaced in all of Canada, a set-up' named recipient of the Albert Tessier within which a group of directors and' Prize, bestowed annually upon a distin­ producers worked as a team, discussed' guished Quebec filmmaker as part of projects, gave each other support." I the Prix du Quebec. There is justice in More than just the moral variety, as if'l all this overdue admiration, and more often happened. When a financially' than a touch of irony From the sudden strapped Claude Jutra turned to Lamy ' explosion of Quebec film talent in the for help on his first film, A tout prendre.' late '60s, through the oversized glitz and he was offered equipment and facilities,' expenditure of the tax shelter boom and all free of charge. Lamy dismisses the into the current, unc.is) calm before the period with characteristic modesty: "It advent of pay-'IA". the circle completes was just a time when everyone helped itself and deposits us back on Pierre everyone else." Lam/s doorstep. The man's filmography From the sudden explosion of Quebec film talent Louise Ranger counts herself among reads like a history book for students of the recipients of that help. After the Quebec film culture , it also provides a in the late '60s, through the oversized glitz and exhaustive process of Red came to a thumbnail sketch of someone who expenditure of the tax shelter boom, into the current, close, she found herselfconfusedbythe adopted a credo of integrity at the outset whole event. "I asked myself whether and stuck by it. Now embellished by this uneasy calm before the advent of pay-TV, the circle people worked like this on films all over new wave of esteem, Lam/s career is a completes itself - and deposits us back on Pierre the world. I was convinced we'd bum singular defiance of the axiom that good out in five years if we kept this up." As a guys always finish last. Lam/s doorstep. means of clarification, Lamy obtained a For a starting point, he goes back to CFDC grant in 1969 that sent Ranger to his days at the Universite de Montreal, vision production asked me to become a Foumier were among original staffers. France on an apprenticeship program. where he was enrolled in the highly- producer on Radisson," he recalls. "No The company began on familiar ground, "1 spent two months in Paris," she regarded Ecole des Hautes Etudes Com- one else knew an\-thing about TV pro­ concentrating on TV series and com­ recounts. "I found out we were on the merciales. As president of the university's duction, so we were all in the same boat. mercials to establish itself But the in­ right track here; all we really needed Artistic Society, he was heavily invohed Half of the series had been shot by then, centives for feature production were were bigger crews, more people to do in the administration of plays and cint^ and it was very expensive for those clearly in place with the establishment the same kind of work a few of us were club events. Director Claude Jutra, a days: SI 2 million for twenty-six epi­ of the CFDC in 1968. Lamy dates the trying to handle. It was really a ques­ medical student at the time, recalls sodes. That's the point where I really Quebec film explosion from that mo­ tion of confidence. Going to Paris enabled appearing in a stage review mounted by became a film producer."" ment "We were all basically frightened me to say 'Yes, I'm capable of doing it, the fiedgling producer He left Radio-Canada in 1958 to work of getting involved in feature films," he and the methods we used on Red are In 1948, Lamy moved to Vermont, with Fernand Seguin. who had estab­ remembers "There were so many risk more or less the right ones. All this where he handled administrative busi­ lished Niagra Films Inc. in .Montreal. A factors But .Michael Spencer came to experience came through Pierre. He ness for the Trapp Family Singers. B\ blend of T\" series and commercials see us. He said, "Look, if you're not going was the one who really brought me into 1956 he \\ as back in Montreal, and ex­ added to Lam\''s portfolio, and he joined to do the films, who is ? You're the com­ feature filmmaking" perienced his first taste of film produc­ with his brother Andre current execu­ pany with all the potential You're tion as administrator of the Youth Section tive director of the Canadian Film obligated to get into feature produc­ Before leaving Onyx in 1971, Lamy at La Societe Radio-Canada. Television Development Corp.l in 1962 to found tion " also produced Carle's Les males and Claude Fournier's record-breaking production was a brand-new field, and On\ \ Films Inc. In many ways the birth­ They did so with commitment. Denis by taking on the first TV series ever place of the Quebec cinema boom that Deux femmes en or. And the major Heroux produced the company's first activity on the Quebec scene still lay produced b> the Societe, Lamy became v\'as to follow. Onyx boasted a roster of feahjre, Pas de vacances pour les idoles one of its pioneers. "The head of tele- names almost top-heavy with talent; in ahead. When Lamy decided to regixjup Gilles Caries screen debut came with his resources, he chose his associate addition to the Lamys, Denis and Claude Le viold'unejeunefille douce : produ­ Heroux, Gilles Carle, Michel Belaieff, carefully. Gulkin comments : "1 think if* Barbara Samuels is a Mont real-based free­ cer this time out was Pierre Lamy Roger Moride, and Guy and Claude a measure of Pierre's taste and vision lance writer. Louise Ranger, who joined the companv that he selected a man I feel is this

42/Cinema Canada - April 1982 5i:osE- UP country's outstanding director. He was host of production problems turned the The Canadian option ' We can make able to see - long before there was terms were strictly his "Les beaux shoot into an endurance test. The trou­ movies. Within our own structure and general recognition of the fact - that souvenirs had a budget of $1,250,000," bles, however, brought no mad display on our own terms. But I feel that pic­ Gilles Carle was the guy to go with." he explains. "Of that, $300,000 was tax of temper ft-om the producer. "If Pierre shelter money, privately invested cash. tures costing more than $2 million are Les Productions Carle/Lamy Lt6e was gets into a rage," Jutra explains, "its icy out of the question." formed in 1971, with Louise Ranger and It obligated us to no one; it didnt cold. The best description of his anger is impose conditions on the film." His He is also rather critical of prevailing Jacques Gagn6 rounding out the quartet this : absolute motionlessness. Silence. attitudes in the two governmental agen­ of key players. Another woman who reticence to endorse the CCA is some­ And he looks at you with cold, dark eyes. thing he can only explain instinctively : cies established to promote indigenous spiralled her way up through Canadian At the end of Kamouraska, when there film. "Its worked out so that LInstitut fUm ranks after starting at ground level "When the tax shelter came along, I was no more money, I refused to cut the wasn't eager to get involved. There was and the CFDC have created a whole with Lamy is former film and video shooting schedule, refused to eliminate framework for the financing of films officer at the Canada Council, Penni something in there that didn't jibe for scenes. So our confrontation took place me. I don't know; maybe a moral ques­ that forces pictures into categories No Jacques. She joined the company near at his house in Beloeil. It consisted two films are ever alike. So the realities its inception, and stayed for two years. tion. I had always worked on a small- mostly of long silences." scale, low-budget basis. I guess the whole of independent production are ignored. During that time, she learned all she The ordeal of Kamouraska finally These institutions were originally creat­ could about film production by working overblown, expensive scene just turned over, Lamy went on to produce a succes­ me off " He refutes all suggestions that ed to help private industry ; they used to the administrative gamut. "He has a flair sion of features, among them La mort have consultative committees at the for teaching" she remarks now. "He his reluctance had a touch of the vision­ d'un biicheron, II itait une fois dans ary about it. "I \\ as approached to pro­ CFDC. That doesn't exist anymore. It's enjoys seeing young people learning Vest, Gina, and La tete de Normande coming very close to the same situation from him; he takes great pride in that, St-Onge. Examined as a body, the films we've had for years in terms of the CBC irhere are so many people who went produced during the five-year life of and the NFB ; if you fitted into fheir (hrough his offices in one capacity or Carle/Lamy probably represent the mold, you could co-produce with them. another, and are today an important highwater mark of that filmmaking era. I think its a basic mistake." part of the Quebec film scene." She It ended in 1975. Carle and Lamy parted The future direction of Canadian film credits her time at Carle/Lamy with ways, with Lamy going on to form his is of central concern to Lamy, and he providing the resource material for her own company. That year, he was called sees it as being very much entwined Council position. "Using Quebec and in on The Far Shore by the CFDC, which with the pay-T\' market There is a that two years of experience as a micro­ asked that he oversee the troubled pro­ personal note involved here ; as one of cosm for films, I drew from it the essen­ duction. "The people at the CFDC began the partners in Premiere Television, he tial elements for a program that was to look to Pierre as perhaps the senior awaits the CRTC decision with great in­ Canada-wide." And echoing others, she producer in the country, in terms of terest. Should Premiere win the license. .adds: "My experience with Pierre was getting them out of difficulty," Harry Lamy will become \'ice-President of gcrucial in terms of where my life led." Gulkin explains "He was able to create Programming working with associates I Lamy's eye for talent is reflected in not just an effective administration, but Moses Znaimer and Jean Fortier. "This the names that hold the director" s credits he also avoided the kind of resentments will mean," he says, "leaving film pro­ ,in the long string of films the company that always seem to "happen in those duction as a first-person film producer, jiroduced between 1971-75. Lorraine takeover situations." Lamy was called but I'll be close to the production of puhamel, Lamy's executive assistant upon for similar reasons on Who Has films nevertheless." And if Premiere ^nd de facto right hand since 1972 sums Seen the Wind in 1977. doesn't get the nod? Til continue to up his criteria for involvement in a film In 1976, he handled the production of duce an awful lot of things. I refused, produce pictures privately, as I always ,quite neatly: "Quality. He's always done the opening and closing ceremonies at but I only make the films I want to make have. Either way, TV will be involved iqiiality pictures. He's stuck fast beside the Montreal Olympics It was a change When you look back at my record, all the That market holds out the most money certain people, like Denys Arcand and of pace, one he enjoyed tremendously. pictures I made weren't award winners. and the biggest audience. If that lax ^ndr6 Brassard. The guys who make And he opted for another Later that But I produced them at the time because shelter survives, the amounts sought ^ilms of a certain calibre." Nowhere was year, he took time off to plan and cons­ I liked the subject, because I got along will be much less ; pay-T\' will be able to that more evident than in the case of truct two cinemas in Beloeil, Quebec, with the director. The pictures never co-finance films as well. But we re look­ fiaittouraska, a project which, at $875,000, moving away from film production for started out as money makers; I never ing al reasonable budgets. Not more loomed in 1972 like a Hollywood mega- quite a few months. Lorraine Duhamel produced anything with the sole inten­ than $2 million. This is a viable structure. ."novie over the otherwise modestly notes that this break was taken not too tion of cleaning up." K.\er\one gets involved: L'Institut, the budgeted Quebec film industry. It was long after the split with Carle, and Nor does he envision a glowing future CFDC, the National Film Board and the finother undertaking Lamy brought in speculates that Lamy "needed time to for film production dependent upon the CBC. We"ll be working on films scaled on his own terms, wrangling what was rethink the way he was going to func­ writeoff. "As far as 1 can see, the tax down to our means It has to be the start essentially a 'hot property away from tion. I think he needed the breather shelter principle is finished. It will al­ of a new credo " the competition despite overwhelming Maybe he was tired of the constant ways exist in one form or another. But That credo will not be new to Pierre odds. "Both Anne Hubert (the author) pressure." the boom that busted isn't going to Lamy. His modus operandi for years, it and the book's French publishers wanted Lamy filled the years between '76 and happen again. The way budgets broke has seen him through cycles of boom a French director," Claude Jutra recalls. '78 with a string of TV series, and his down in the middle of that boom showed and bust with his principles and his "And Pierre called me one day. He said' I stint on Who Has Seen the Wind, but that the greatest percentage of the reputation intact. No small feat. And can do the picture on the condition that returned to feature production in 1979 monies invested were going to cover they're giving awards for it this year. you direct and Michel Brault shoots it.' " with Contrecoeur. He also teamed up costs incurred because of the size of the "Its kind of nice that after sitting there Lamy swung the deal, thereby launching with Michael Spencer to form Lamy, film; lawyer costs, accountant costs, for \ears with no kudos, he's finally one of Canada's first co-productions Spencer &, Company Ltd., and it was star costs. Then all the other costs were been fully recognized," says an admiring kvith France. through this new association that he infiated accordingly. So a picture that Harry Gulkin "He's a marathon runner ; made his first foray into film production should have cost around $1 or Si 5 no good at all for short bursts. Pierre But the pressures were extraordinary. million comes in at three or four or five." High costs, bitter winter weather and a with partial tax shelter funding. But the lasts the course."'

La conquele by Jacques Gagne 1962-1971 : La vraie nature de Bernadette 1975-1979: Filmography Onyx Films Inc. by Gilles Carle les productions Pierre Lamy I.lee Les^nsolences d'une camera (tvl Kamouraska by Claude Jutra Far Shore by Joyce Wieland Jeunesse oblige ilvi Aux frontieres du possible itv ( hanson pour Julie (The following films are feature Place aux Jerolas Hvi La mort d'un biicheron liy Jacques \ allee films unless marked ffvj for tele­ Place a Olivier Guimond (tvl bv Gilles Carle le soleil se leve en retard vision series or (docu) for docu­ Le viol d'une jeune fille douce Les corps celestes by Andre Brassard mentary films. Throughout his by Gilles Carle by Gilles Carle Who Has Seen the Wind career, Lamy has also produced a Red by Gilles Carle II etait une fois dans Test by Mian Kinglexrrutive producer! great number of commercials and Les males by Gilles Carle by Andre Brassard Innu Asi by Arthur Lamoihe educational films. His credit on L'Expo 67 (docu) Gina by Denys .Arcand 1 executive producer! these films is as producer unless Deux femmes en or Pour le meilleur et pour le pire Frederic Uvi marked executive producer.) by Claude Foumier by Claude Jutra Contre-coeur bv Jean-Guv No6l Situation du theatre Tout feu, tout femme by Jacques Gagne Idocul b\ Gilles Richer 19H0-1981 : 1958-1962: Education (ivi Les rhevaux ont-ils des ailes Lamy. Spencer et compagnie ltee Niagara Films Inc. bv Gilles l^arle idocui Les beaux souvenirs (executive producer) 1971-1975: La Ipte de Normande Si-Onge by Francis M.inkiewicz Le roman de la science (tvl Les productions Carle-Lamy Ltee bv Gilles Carle Hockev ilvi Par le trou de la serrure (tvi La rnaudilegaletle FJN Denys Arcand Les insolences d'une camera (tv) Les smatles L'homme devant la science Itv) by Jean-Claude Labrecque

Cinema Canada - April 1982/43