Although he has had a great career on the small screen for a number of years, Maxime Le Flaguais still had to be patient before landing his first major role in cinema. With the release it is now done rodeothe first feature film by director Joëlle Desjardins Paquette, in which the actor slips into the shoes of a truck driver who crashes into you side trip with her nine-year-old daughter.
So Rodéo is the story of Serge (Le Flaguais), a truck driver and father of a nine-year-old girl (Lilou Roy-Lanouette), who has just experienced a tumultuous breakup with his ex-girlfriend. Feeling about losing custody of his daughter, he decides to take her in a truck to Alberta, where an important truck rodeo is to be held.
Photo courtesy of Enttract Films
Maxime Le Flaguais and Lilou Roy-Lanouette in a scene from the film Rodeo.
Maxime Le Flaguais says he fell in love with the script when director Joëlle Desjardins Paquette approached him for the role a few years ago.
“I literally cried while reading it,” he says in an interview with the newspaper. Basically, there were many things that influenced me in this scenario. The exciting side, but also the universal side of the story. It could be everyone. And to have a four-year-old daughter myself, let’s just say, I was doubly touched.”
The 40-year-old actor went to great lengths to bring a healthy dose of realism and humanity to Serge’s character. Not only did he take classes to learn how to drive the film’s truck (a Kenworth W900), but he says he put a lot of himself into the role.
“I’m someone who likes to joke, who’s spontaneous in life, so I wanted to bring that side of my personality to the character of Serge,” explains Maxime Le Flaguais.
“I’m a natural joker, I get that from both sides of my family. The Côtés and the Le Flaguais are teasers. We have a sense of comedy in the family, so Serge, I played it a little bit that way. But I also had to take into account that he is also an impulsive guy. If someone steps on his foot, he doesn’t hesitate to slap him in the face. He’s a very nuanced character. I wanted to embody it without condemning it. I was part of his good and not so good decisions.
13 years later
Not only did Maxime Le Flaguais not have a chance to star in a feature film before being cast as Serge, he had since filming the drama Piché: entre ciel. et terre no longer released in cinemas in 2009 In this film directed by Sylvain Archambault, the actor shared the role of Commander Piché with his father Michel Côté.
Photo Pierre Paul Poulin
Lilou Roy-Lanouette, Maxime Le Flaguais and Joëlle Desjardins Paquette, director of the film Rodéo.
“I was very disappointed not to be able to act in cinemas after the release of Piché: Between heaven and earth, he admits. But at the same time I did a lot of television: Trauma for 5 years, Les pays d’en haut for 6 years, 30 life for two years, Le rêve de Champlain, Mon ex à moi … I didn’t do it so no complaints. I really wanted to go back to the cinema, but I think I was waiting for the right project. And I’m lucky enough to find it at Rodeo.”
The film rodeo hits theaters this Friday.