Marc-André Grondin is currently experiencing beautiful and great moments in his life, both professionally and privately. He multiplies the projects as an actor and we see him both on television and in the cinema. He is also taking his first steps as a producer on the series Dance!, which we will see in 2024 on Club illico. Discussion with an enthusiast with a 30-year career.
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Marc-André, let's talk about this first Reasonable doubt, in which you play Detective Sergeant Frédéric Masson. Are you happy with the development of the series and your character?
Yes. The series is well structured. Pierre-Marc Drouin (one of the authors) does exceptional work! I really enjoyed the second season episodes he wrote. In the third season, he took full control and did a remarkable job. There are also plenty of twists and humor, which was less the case in the other seasons. I think that every year we add a little more realism to the working dynamics of the investigators. The duo formed by Alice (played by Julie Perreault) and Frédéric seems stable, but it's not really that. Frédéric is a beautiful character, I'm very lucky. And Julie and I, it was a great meeting: we clicked from day one. I'm coping well with it. Every year I say how nice it is to work with her: we spend our days together and really have fun. I repeat, I'm lucky, despite the terrible summer filming schedule and the fact that I don't see my family.
What do you think makes this series so successful?
For two years now, I've noticed that the people who like the series have different profiles. She is my mother, my aunt, my best friend, an advertising director… There are people with different backgrounds, different interests and different ages. It's a compelling show: people come along and they like it.
It's safe to say that 2024 is a busy year for you!
It's a big year full of releases. The years 2022 and 2023 have been really busy. I hosted my radio show (Empreinte Musicale on ICI Musique), we had our son Lawrence (in April 2022) and three weeks later I started filming the second season of Reasonable Doubt. Then we shot IXE-13 until Christmas. And after the 2022 Christmas season, I shot the film “The Successor,” which is currently in theaters. Then I filmed Season 3 of Reasonable Doubt, then Bellefleur (a new series airing on Crave later this year), and also the radio show at the end of the year. That's two years, which makes up for a lot of years where I did a project every year and a half, and they were all things I wanted to do.
You grew up watching your dad present on the radio, and now, for two years now, you've been doing it too…
Yes, it blows my mind, that little show there. I hope I get the opportunity to do a little radio show in the next few years because I love talking to people about music and learning things. They say I'm a big music lover because I know everything, but I don't know everything. There are people who know a lot more about music than me. But I'm curious: I like talent and discovering deals. It forces me to do a lot of research and I like that. It's very interesting. I spent my entire youth with music, a medium that I feel comfortable with.
They will probably film the fourth season of Reasonable doubt next summer… Are you hoping to spend more time with your family?
I think everyone strives for a balance between family life and professional life. There's the financial aspect, but also the passion for our own work, because that's what we like to do. I wouldn't be happier if I was just at home because I have to work. I like this. It turns me on.
You became a father for the third time in December. You had a daughter named Léo. Is everything going well in the family? You don't seem too confused!
(Laughs) I was surrounded nine years ago when I had my first child. I'm tired all the time, but it doesn't show. Everyone always thinks I'm in great shape! (laughs) But yes, the baby was born, it's healthy and everything is fine. We are super happy. The children are doing well and are happy too.
Did things go well for Sarah-Jeanne?
She did it better than I could have done it! (laughs)
What about five people in the house?
It's a good journey, but we're finding the rhythm. I find that the conflict is less when you have two children under two years old since you are already in diapers with the first. We're just recovering from the fatigue, but we're doing well. Well, the first night the baby doesn't sleep, you say to yourself, “Oh, that's right, I forgot!” I had forgotten the screams and how sometimes you can't do anything… The helplessness. But here we are and it's okay.
Also, you are the main protagonist of the drama The successor. It's a film noir that keeps us on the edge of our seats from start to finish…
You don't have to say too much so that the audience feels the same emotion and the same surprise that we had when reading the script; That makes things very complex, because it's not an easy little film that Xavier Legrand made. “The Successor” has a darkness to it that I haven’t seen often in other films. My character gets into trouble, he makes bad decisions, and we feel his fear. We are experiencing a descent into hell.
Can you tell me something about the series? Beautiful flower Which one will be released soon?
I play an English teacher from Sherbrooke who would like to become a music teacher. He's something of a perpetual teenager. He is one of Nicolas' friends, played by Guillaume Laurin, a comedian who worked in Montreal. After a breakup, he returns to Sherbrooke, where he finds his high school friends, including a character played by Sarah-Jeanne. We don't play as a couple, me and her. His character's friend is played by Maxime de Cotret, who played my half-brother in the series Fragile. It's a great team, there are a lot of people I know and have worked with before.
In addition to performing and radio shows, you are now also a producer!
Yes. I produce the series Danse!, written by Sarah-Maude Beauchesne. And I will also be producing the next Podz series “The Collection”, which will consist of eight one-hour episodes and will be filmed in March. I'm working on that right now. It tells the story of a debt collector who one day decides to retire. It's a series for Club illico.
What do you like about being a producer?
When I do this work, I enjoy it as much as I enjoy playing. It is different. As an actor, you are the last link in the chain, you arrive at the end of the process. When we produce, it's not the same relationship: we work on a project for years, we modify it, we sell it, we look for the right people to make it the best possible product. It's very rewarding! And I want to produce things that I want to see.
Now let's talk about the series IXE-13 which is now playing on Club illico. I imagine it was interesting to star in this historical series…
To be honest, for me it was the fact that Yan Lanouette-Turgeon was the director and Jonathan Decoste was the cinematographer. They're two guys I respect enormously. I did L'Imposteur with them for two years. When Yan called me, I immediately said yes. And then it is Gilles Desjardins (the author of successes such as Les pays d'en Haut and Mensonges) who signs the texts. It is set in 1945 and is about espionage. I don't know who could have said no! As I read the texts, I realized the gaming options available to us. When I think about all the visual references, be it the costumes, the sets, the sound, the photography, the bar is set high. I told myself that I had to be as good as all the other departments. It's rare that there are television projects where everyone has a chance to shine. In this series there is a universe that we often see abroad, but that we rarely get to see in Quebec. I enjoyed being on set every day and seeing the costumes, the other actors and the sets. It was inspiring.
So you're proud of your character and the series…
Oh yeah! I am very happy! I think it's unlike anything that's ever been done here. We have evidence that when we invest energy and resources, when we give ourselves more resources than the average series, and when we don't stifle creativity, the end product we see on television is off the beaten path. I think it's important to offer the public something different.
Would you say this is the type of TV series that could be sold abroad?
Yes, I think it is easily exportable. Firstly, thanks to the interesting theme of the series and also thanks to the quality that is really there. In Europe, hearing about the Russians, the Nazis and uranium will resonate with everyone. It's still a series set at the end of World War II, and everyone has references from that time.
IXE-13 and the race for uranium is now available on Club illico. Reasonable doubt, Monday 9 p.m., on Radio-Canada. The film The successor is now displayed. The new fiction Dance!, which Marc-André produced, will soon be presented at Club illico. The new series Beautiful flower will be on Crave sometime in 2024.