We met Gildor Roy on the sidelines of the film’s release The Little and the Olddirected by Patrice Sauvé. He opened up about a host of topics, including his career, his popularity and his family. Confidences in his image, sprinkled with anecdotes told in the frankness we know him to have.
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After completing the filming of District 31 on March 25, 2022, Gildor saw its plans change somewhat. “I had planned to make music, but immediately afterwards, The Tower arrived, then a film, and then a documentary on Mirabel. All kinds of business that I always loved doing! But, honestly, I never expected to have the title role in a series (Dumas). At 64, it’s my first time! I asked them, “Are you sure?” You could ask Fabienne (Larouche); I asked her if she had seen the first episodes and if she liked it. She said yes, and I said, “Seriously, did you really like that?” It’s in my nature; I’ve never had confidence in myself, and it’s not because I did Commander Chiasson that I’ll have more confidence in myself. In a way, that’s a good thing, because I’m not on top of my business. The longer it goes, the worse it gets. I tell myself that it will calm down, but it seems that it’s a good sign! There are a lot of old actors who say, “When you don’t get the female dog anymore, stop!” And a lot of athletes say that too: “When it no longer matters to you to lose a game, it’s because it’s time to stop.”
A tailor-made role
So let’s come to Dumasthe new TV series by Luc Dionne, in which Gildor plays the main role. “Luc spoke to me about this during the last week of filming District. It might even have been the last day. I would have liked to say thank you very much, because at the time he offered me to play Chiasson, I thought my career was over. I wanted to be really affectionate with him, but in the end, I just told him it was great. We are a lot alike on that, him and I. He told me: – I have an idea for my next series. It would be about a private investigator and I would write it for you…
– Oh yes?
– Do you like it?
– Well, sure, Luc. You can count on me.
– OK, bye!
“The level of emotion was like that,” he said, bursting out laughing. I knew he was planning something for me.” Gildor then leans towards me to tell me a secret. “It was the last day of filming for The Tower. I was in my tank, I was going to TVA. The phone rang. It was Fabienne, who said to me:
– Luc’s new show… I have the first three texts. Did he talk to you about it?
– Yes yes…
– He wrote the title role for you. Does that tempt you?
“I said yes, we negotiated my contract while I was driving and before I even arrived at the studio, it was settled: I knew I was going to do Dumas. It’s still not worse!” Gildor bursts out laughing.
Spoiled for choice
“Yes, Fabienne does a lot of productions and we hear all kinds of things said, including that things are going well with her. But we save a lot of time on lots of things. Our call was like, “How much is it? OK, how many days? From this date to this date? No filming in winter? Perfect, excellent, thank you very much for calling.” That’s it, that’s all! Plus, there’s no: “Call my agent.” I don’t have an agent. Another example: Luc sent me the texts, and I wrote to him that it was perfect. He asked me if I liked it, I told him I loved it, and that was it. I have less time left to live than I lived, so I don’t have time to waste on stupidity. My concern was that I didn’t want to remake Commander Chiasson. But when I read the texts, I realized that it wasn’t all that. It was perfect for me. Playing stupid and bad tunes is mainly what I’ve done in my life, and it doesn’t bother me!” For an actor who was perhaps thinking of retiring at the age of 65, that doesn’t look good! “I just received my form from the federal government. I don’t really know what to do with that, he said, laughing. Between you and me, it’s difficult to retire with a job like that. At some point, the world stops offering you jobs and that settles the matter. On the other hand, the more things go, the fewer there are, actors of my age who are capable of having a day that makes sense. There’s always going to be work, and I don’t have to say yes to everything. I’m lucky.”
Be popular
He is right to say that he will not run out of work. First of all, he is an excellent actor and what’s more, he has the love of the public. People appreciate him and love his work, which is not given to everyone. “It’s inexplicable. I’m just doing my best. I was lucky to play likeable characters, like Germain (in Km/h) and the good policeman who helped Cathou, played by Sylvie-Catherine Beaudoin in The return.»
Since it is a question of people’s love for him, he makes another confession: “In life, I am embarrassed! When I was going grocery shopping with my mother and a woman, for example, said hello to me as she passed me in an aisle because she recognized me, my mother would tell me: “Answer her! She pays your salary!” My parents taught me to always respect the world and not judge your audience. We have to treat the world as we would like to be treated, and it’s true that it ends up coming back to us. I’m going to tell you something I shouldn’t say. I’m doing a series called Before leaving. I’m doing this with Danielle Ouimet and it’s produced by France Beaudoin. I won’t name names, but these are interviews with people who have marked the history of Quebec, and which will be broadcast after their death. It’s special, and it makes for really good interviews. At one point, I was interviewing someone and I didn’t understand why I was given the interview. Production told me that this person had said no at first, but that when she knew it was going to be with me, she accepted. It is thanks to District 31. I never would have thought that she was a fan of District 31! It was extraordinary, I couldn’t believe it. There is no one who deserves to be loved as much as that by people they don’t know. It’s not natural for the world to love you. It’s a privilege.” Next year, Gildor will have been in his profession for 41 years. “I will no longer pay contributions to the UDA (the Artists’ Union), I will be a senior member,” he says with a laugh.
In recent years, with the success of District 31presented from 2016 to 2022, can we say that he is experiencing a period in his career that is truly extraordinary? “Yes yes! I would be churlish to say otherwise, and I would tell you that it even goes back to Km/h (broadcast from 1998 to 2006). At one point, I was also on The Return, and both shows were number one and two in the ratings! This makes no sense! What more do you want me to ask? I’m doing exactly what I wanted to do in life. It’s rare to have people who can say that. When you reach a certain age and you don’t have any friends to make in the business, you don’t want to impress a director. But give me a job to do, and I promise you I’ll do it to the best of my ability.”
“I broke down…”
Aside from the series, we can see Gildor in the film The Little and the Oldthe adaptation of the novel by Marie-Renée Lavoie. This feature film, currently in theaters, takes place in the 1980s. It stars the young actress Juliette Bharucha. “When we saw the film as a team, I fell in love,” admits Gildor. I started bawling! It was fantastic to make this film, and it wouldn’t have been possible to set the action today. There were no cell phones back then. The world was talking to each other. In the film, there is a little girl who poisons herself. Today, you don’t cross the street to see what’s going on, you call 911, and she might die.”
In this particular scene, the character played by Gildor manages to save the child, and the director, Patrice Sauvé, asked him if he could hold on for a long time. “I told him I was going to try… It was all improvised, that scene, and it was fun! Patrice was a great discovery for me; I had never worked with him. Tell you the pleasure I had! It was a great old role. It’s all dressed up: he’s touching, he swears, he drinks, he doesn’t wash… Cristi, I loved that! And little Juliette is so good!” In this role, Gildor plays a gruff character to whom we become attached. “The day we finished The Tower, I stopped shaving because I knew we were going to shoot this. It’s rare that you can grow your hair and beard for a character,” he told me on the film set.
Photo : Daniel Daignault / TVA
The film was shot in the fall of 2023 and the action takes place in Limoilou. We meet little Hélène, aged 10, who lives in a working-class neighborhood with her parents and three sisters. She will become friends with Mr. Roger (Gildor) and will undertake to save her father, who is going through difficult times. “My character will make her understand that as long as she is not herself, she will not be able to save anyone else. That’s a bit like the story that is being told. It’s a film for the whole family that conveys beautiful values. It shows life as it is, which is hard, unforgiving, but worth living,” he added.
A happy “cushion”
Aside from work, there is of course daily life, and the happiness, for Gildor, of being a grandfather of two grandchildren. “My daughter, Mahalia, lives at home with her little one, Laïa. For her, her house is grandpa’s house. It’s fantastic, I’m in love! I called my grandparents “grandfather” and “grandmother”, my children called my parents that way and that, our grandchildren also call us that way.” Gildor is the father of three children: a girl and two boys, Luis-David and William, who also went to the Dumas set. “I told my second son the story of Dumas, the father who is in conflict with his son, and he said to me: “I would like to play that. I always wanted to try being an actor and this is the kind of role that would interest me…” I was surprised! I told him: “You just finished your master’s degree in environmental marketing, you went to study in the United States, at Concordia and Carleton, you are a super girl, you speak five languages and today, at 25 years old, are you telling me that you always wanted to be an actor?” I had him learn a scene from Dumas, we made a video and I sent it to the casting agency. It could be that he “returns” to something at some point,” he says.
The movie The Little and the Old hits theaters October 4. Gildor is currently filming for Dumasbroadcast Mondays at 8 p.m. on Radio-Canada.
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