Érik Canuel, director of Bon cop, bad cop, died at 63

Quebec director Érik Canuel, who has directed several notable films such as Pig’s Law, Red nose, The last tunnel And Good cop, bad cop, died Saturday at the age of 63, the communications company Annex said on Monday. The man who had been battling multiple myeloma for seven years was finally overcome by a devastating secondary plasma cell leukemia.

Born in 1961 in Montreal, Érik Canuel directed his first short film, My friend, my brother, at 21 years old. After studying film production at Concordia University, he co-founded Kino Films with Pierre Gill, before Marie-France Lemay joined the duo. Kino specialized in advertising and music videos, which were rare at the time. The director has notably worked with Sass Jordan, Vilain Pingouin and Sylvain Cossette.

music videos and some 250commercials during this crazy period”,”text”:”I must have made nearly 50 video clips and some 250 commercials during this crazy period”}}”>I must have made nearly 50 music videos and some 250 commercials during this crazy periodhe explained in 2021 during an interview with Marc Lamothe as part of the series These artists who made music videos.

Pig’s Lawa first feature film

Pig’s LawÉrik Canuel’s first feature film released in 2001, stars Isabel Richer and Catherine Trudeau in the role of sisters Stéphane and Bettie Brousseau, who try to save the pigsty inherited from their father from bankruptcy before being kidnapped by cannabis traffickers.

Two years later, he moved away from the drama with Red nose (2003)a holiday comedy starring Patrick Huard which became a major success at the Quebec box office.

Next will follow The last tunnel (2004), a film inspired by the autobiography of criminal Marcel Talon, played by the great Michel Côté. Érik Canuel reunited with Jean-Nicolas Verreault the following year with The occurring (2005), a film based on the local novel by Germaine Guèvremont.

The monster success of Good cop, bad cop

In 2006, Érik Canuel ventured to bring together the two solitudes in the first bilingual police action comedy Good cop, bad cop, led by Patrick Huard and Colm Feore. It will be a gamble that will pay off, as the film will shatter all box office records in Canada with revenues of more than $12 million, thus surpassing Porky’s (nineteen eighty one). The filmmaker was also awarded the Genie Award for best film in 2007 and the Golden Ticket prize at the Jutra awards evening (today known as the Gala Québec Cinéma).

This success will give rise to a sequel, Good cop, bad cop 2, this time directed by Alain DesRochers. We also learned last summer that a series inspired by the world of the two action films was in preparation at Bell Media, with Patrick Huard writing.

Among Érik Canuel’s other films, we can also highlight the very dark black comedy Corpses (2009) and the thriller Mystery Lake (2013).

The director has also been very active on television, both in English and French. He notably directed a few episodes of the popular series Fortierfor which he received a Gemini nomination, as well as episodes of Transplant, Ransom, Flashpoint And The Hunger.

Flavie,as well as his mother, Lucile”,”text”:”He leaves to mourn his partner and faithful accomplice, Julie, his children, Elodie, L’ami.e and Justine, his brother Nicolas (Geneviève), Elliott and Flavie, as well as his mother, Lucile”}}”>He leaves to mourn his partner and faithful accomplice, Julie, his children, Elodie, L’ami.e and Justine, his brother Nicolas (Geneviève), Elliott and Flavie, as well as his mother, Lucileconcluded Annex in a press release.