Director Daniel Roby has found his Gilles and his Joann. It’s the actor Rémi Goulet who has been chosen to play Gilles Villeneuve in the biographical sports drama that will narrate the extraordinary rise of the famous Quebec racer. Rosalie Bonenfant will play Joann Villeneuve, Gilles’ wife and accomplice.
• Also read: The shooting of the film about Gilles Villeneuve will start next winter
Reached out by Le Journal, Rémi Goulet, 26, said he was proud and excited at the idea of reviving the legendary pilot, who tragically died exactly 41 years ago, on the big screen. It was an accident at the Zolder circuit during the Belgian Formula 1 Grand Prix.
“It’s a great honor to embody a Quebec hero like him,” says the actor, who has starred in the films Junior Majeur and Life at 100 MPH. Of course, that comes with enormous pressure. But my job is to put that aside and try to understand and interpret the man behind the legend. It’s an incredible opportunity and I feel up to the challenge.”
JdeM/ André Toto Gingras
Rosalie Bonenfant – whose physical resemblance to Joann Villeneuve is striking – said she too was honored to be part of such a big project. She even says she choked back sobs when the film’s director, Daniel Roby (Louis Cyr), called her to say she got the part.
- Anaïs Guertin-Lacroix talks about Rémi Goulet, who will play Gilles Villeneuve, in his Culture column, broadcast live every day at 6.35am QUB radio :
It’s an important film because it will tell a side of our story, underlines it. When I researched Joann, I discovered a strong woman who was vital to Gilles’ career. Without her, Gilles probably wouldn’t have had the career he has.
The two actors went through a long process of auditions to land the roles of Gilles and Joann Villeneuve. Daniel Roby met around sixty young actors and actresses to find the right couple. Rémi Goulet and Rosalie Bonenfant were then called back twice for an audition, the last time as a duo, to assess the chemistry between them.
I wanted you to feel that they form a team, explains the screenwriter. Joann’s casting was just as important to me as Gilles’. There’s a certain freshness to Rosalie because we haven’t seen her in the cinema very often. Rémi, on the other hand, is charismatic, touching, versatile and already very experienced despite his young age.
“The Making of a Champion”
Produced by Christian Larouche (Louis Cyr) and written by Daniel Roby and Guillaume Lonergan, Villeneuve will focus on “The Genesis of a Champion” by recounting the early years of Gilles Villeneuve’s career when the young driver from Berthierville entered Formula Ford snowmobile racing dominated and Formula Atlantic. The film ends in 1977 when Villeneuve is offered a Formula 1 drive by Enzo Ferrari.
Though far too young to have witnessed the exploits of Gilles Villeneuve, Rémi Goulet has several childhood memories of the legendary Quebec driver.
“I was born in the corner of Lavaltrie, a town next to Berthierville where Gilles grew up,” the actor recalls. If you live in this area you always know someone who knows someone who knows Gilles. I went to the same school as him in Joliette and I used to skidoo with my friends like him when he was young.
“My connection to Gilles also goes back very much to my father, who has always loved car racing. When I talk to him about Gilles I see in his eyes that it brings out the little guy in him and it really touches me.
Rémi Goulet will spend the next few months preparing for the shooting of Villeneuve, particularly through physical training. Although he has access to plenty of stock images and videos to analyze the character, the actor doesn’t want to fall into the copycat trap.
“Most of all I want us to feel his energy, the passion in his eyes, his love for speed and his will to fight on the slopes,” he explains. I also want us to understand what brought him to this sport. I think it’s going to be an exciting film that Quebecers will recognize themselves in.”
The filming of Villeneuve will be launched next winter. The film is slated to hit theaters in summer 2025.