[VitaminC]

One dashing Quebecker signs on to play another

INGRID PERITZ

From Thursday's Globe and Mail

MONTREAL — When the makers of a CBC television series about the First World War were searching for actors to play soldiers on the battlefield, they knew they faced a tough challenge for the part of war hero Talbot Papineau.

Mr. Papineau was a dashing Quebecker who was bicultural, bilingual, charismatic, a foe to Quebec nationalism and a visionary for Canada. In fact, he's been dubbed the Pierre Trudeau of his time.

So the producers phoned somebody they thought could fit the bill: Justin Trudeau.

The 34-year-old son of the late prime minister mulled it over, and then said yes. And Wednesday, Mr. Trudeau began work on his first Canadian acting role.

The sometimes teacher, orator and self-described “ham” will don a scratchy First World War-issue army uniform to a Quebec field next week to take part in a large-scale dramatization of the crucial Canadian battles of the war.

He'll be working for scale.

“I'm just excited about it. This is something completely new for me — and geez, I hope I don't suck,” Mr. Trudeau said Wednesday in an interview.

Director Brian McKenna's $4.3-million series for the CBC and Radio-Canada will use about 150 of the actual descendants of soldiers and nurses who participated in Canada's great war effort. The great-grandchildren will embody their ancestors in the series.

But a handful of lead roles went to actors. And when Mr. McKenna and producer Stephen Phizicky started thinking about the person to play Mr. Papineau, Justin Trudeau's name came up like an inspiration.

“It was like a bolt from the blue,” Mr. Phizicky recalled yesterday. “If you want the Trudeau of his time, how about the Trudeau of today? So I said to Brian, the person who is Papineau is Justin Trudeau.”

Mr. Papineau, though obscure to most Canadians, was a seminal figure during the First World War. He was the great-grandson of patriote Louis-Joseph Papineau and cousin to one of Quebec's greatest nationalist thinkers, Henri Bourassa. Son of an anglophone mother and francophone father, Mr. Papineau became a Rhodes scholar and joined the war effort, where he rose to rank of major.

A devoted letter-writer, Mr. Papineau came to defend Canada's role in the war and, in echoes of Mr. Trudeau's vision many generations later, promoted the idea of English and French Canadians fighting side-by-side for a common purpose. In doing so, he become an outspoken opponent to Mr. Bourassa — much like Mr. Trudeau duelled with Parti Québécois leader René Lévesque decades later.

“The echoes are haunting,” Mr. McKenna said.

Mr. Papineau died in battle like so many other Canadians. Touted as a future prime minister, he came to symbolize the huge loss suffered by Canada on the battlefields of the First World War.

Justin Trudeau says he was won over to the project because of the values Mr. Papineau represented.

“It's all about the importance of fighting and building a nation with it,” he said. “It's through fighting and dying in the trenches that we really created a national identity for Canada. We're talking about the founding of a country and the birth pangs of a nation.

“My sense of Canada as a peaceful country is tied in directly to the fact that, in order to be able to be a peaceful country, we have a noble and glorious history in war — which we are forgetting.”

Though he sees parallel between Mr. Papineau and his father — “the niche that Talbot created was one that my father definitely stepped into” — Mr. Trudeau says he strongly identifies with Mr. Papineau as well. The soldier was killed in the battle at Passchendaele, aged 34.

“For me, my father was an old man and Papineau is a young man. My dad was 51 when I was born.”

While the television performance will represent Mr. Trudeau's major acting debut, he's no stranger to public roles. His eulogy at his father's funeral in 2000 was seen by millions of Canadians.

Mr. Trudeau took a voice and speech class while studying English literature at McGill University in the early '90s. He then taught drama, along with English and math, to high-school students in Vancouver. But his performances have been largely limited to public speaking on his favoured topics — the environment, education and youth.

Though he admits to being “a bit of a ham,” he said he never thought he could take on a role where he had to “get in the mind space of being someone else.”

But he'll have to: For his television role, he'll be expected to spend time in trenches, lead troops across battlefields, and live the re-enacted horrors of real battle, right down to the rats. He's also growing a mustache for the role.

The Great War, a four-hour series produced by Galafilm, is to air next April, the 90th anniversary of the battle of Vimy Ridge.

[VitaminC]

What a fucking disgrace. I love CBC and it is one of the only things I watch on tv, but this is too much.....Hiring a guy who has no acting experience to work as an actor......fuckin BS, I want my money back.

[PENATRATOR]

VitaminC VitaminC:

One dashing Quebecker signs on to play another



Though he sees parallel between Mr. Papineau and his father — “the niche that Talbot created was one that my father definitely stepped into” — Mr. Trudeau says he strongly identifies with Mr. Papineau as well. The soldier was killed in the battle at Passchendaele, aged 34.

Except for the fact, Mr Papineau was indeed a hero where as Trudeau was a piece of shit who avoided Military Service in WWII. Only in canada could you elect a man who, during WWII, rode a motorcycle around montreal in a german uniform with a swastika on his back.

[ridenrain]

Why not Peter Mansbridge.. He's not doing anything anymore, since the CBC got out of news.

The CBC's infatuation with WW1 drives me nuts.
The reason we don't see anything more modern is that it would be counter to the CBC's Liberal policy of one big happy family.

WW2 was "just another Euro war" for large sections of the French Canadians and to show that, one way or the other would be divisive.
Even 60 years later, only now do we start to feel that we were all together in our fight against global evil although those feelings of black and white are so alien to the Left.

Korea: 26,791 Canadians were there and 516 died but to the CBC and much of popular memory, it never happened.
Vietnam: Approx 3500 Canadians joined with the US but now the handful of deserters receive more recognition than our countrymen.
Even a soft MASH type comedy about a peacekeeping mission would be far too controversial for our fragile Canadian identities.

That's why we need to go back so far, so we can feel that unifying patriotism.
That's why I see so few "support our troops" ribbons.

Maybe the failure is not with Canadians, but with the Left and it's media.

[PluggyRug]

Just got a new Websters dictionary...

Looked up the word 'left'...

explanation....Canadian biassed news media. [nearly a verb]

[Tricks]

PENATRATOR PENATRATOR:

VitaminC VitaminC:

One dashing Quebecker signs on to play another



Though he sees parallel between Mr. Papineau and his father — “the niche that Talbot created was one that my father definitely stepped into” — Mr. Trudeau says he strongly identifies with Mr. Papineau as well. The soldier was killed in the battle at Passchendaele, aged 34.

Except for the fact, Mr Papineau was indeed a hero where as Trudeau was a piece of shit who avoided Military Service in WWII. Only in canada could you elect a man who, during WWII, rode a motorcycle around montreal in a german uniform with a swastika on his back.

What? Who did that?

[2Cdo]

Tricks you really need to read the posts before posting!

By the way it was Daddy Trudeau with the motorbike.

[Tricks]

2Cdo 2Cdo:

Tricks you really need to read the posts before posting!

By the way it was Daddy Trudeau with the motorbike.

I thought he was talking about Trudeau, but I couldn't fathom any leader of our nation doing something like that.

[Patrick_Ross]

Justin Trudeau gets an acting gig from the CBC? Quelle surprise!

[LABBATTS50]

PENATRATOR PENATRATOR:

VitaminC VitaminC:

One dashing Quebecker signs on to play another



Though he sees parallel between Mr. Papineau and his father — “the niche that Talbot created was one that my father definitely stepped into” — Mr. Trudeau says he strongly identifies with Mr. Papineau as well. The soldier was killed in the battle at Passchendaele, aged 34.

Except for the fact, Mr Papineau was indeed a hero where as Trudeau was a piece of shit who avoided Military Service in WWII. Only in canada could you elect a man who, during WWII, rode a motorcycle around montreal in a german uniform with a swastika on his back.

Yeah, I am pretty sure Pen means Pierre

[danikyvor]

Is anyone REALLY surprised? They couldn't get him to run for office so...that's the best they could do lol

[ridenrain]

Who are "they" and how do they wield such power, dimoreine? I didn't see the memo that said sons of political daddies equaled actors or entertainers.

Maybe for a new reality show, Ben Mulroney and Justin Trudeau could bare knuckle box to the death to become king of the garbage barge of New York harbor.

[LABBATTS50]

ridenrain ridenrain:

Who are "they" and how do they wield such power, dimoreine? I didn't see the memo that said sons of political daddies equaled actors or entertainers.

Maybe for a new reality show, Ben Mulroney and Justin Trudeau could bare knuckle box to the death to become king of the garbage barge of New York harbor.

With Joe Clarke's daughter as the ring card girl SCHWING(She's hot)

[canadian1971]

VitaminC VitaminC:

What a fucking disgrace. I love CBC and it is one of the only things I watch on tv, but this is too much.....Hiring a guy who has no acting experience to work as an actor......fuckin BS, I want my money back.

$1:

Director Brian McKenna's $4.3-million series for the CBC and Radio-Canada will use about 150 of the actual descendants of soldiers and nurses who participated in Canada's great war effort. The great-grandchildren will embody their ancestors in the series.

From the article you quoted........and you are only pissed about Justin? I see 150 other peole with no previous acting experience there too yet you focus on one. Why for that hmm?

[OnTheIce]

Someone get this idiot off the air. He's even more annoying then Ben Mulroney...