More than three years after directing “Matthias and Maxime”, Xavier Dolan returns behind the camera for his very first series entitled “The night where Laurier Gaudreault woke up” for Canal+.
Since 2019, Xavier Dolan has put aside his career as a director in favor of his acting. Recently, he starred in the film Illusions Perdues, directed by Xavier Giannoli, in which he played the role of Nathan d’Anastazio. After Matthias and Maxime, the Canadian actor and director returns behind the camera for his very first series, in five episodes for Canal+, entitled The Night where Laurier Gaudreault woke up.
Adapted from the eponymous play by Quebec playwright Michel Marc Bouchard, the series promises to be a real psychological thriller against a backdrop of family drama.
The director also decided to bring the project to the screen after attending a performance of the play in 2019, as he explains in a press release from Canal+: “Beyond the evidence that imposed itself on me, to write and shoot this story about life and death, about mourning, self-acceptance, family, there was between the idea and the realization of the months of waiting caused by the pandemic, and which will have inspired me more than ever, excited, impatient, even, to take action, and to push my limits ever further, to explore the genre of the thriller, to renew my way of telling, with what is more a dream distribution.”
If Xavier Dolan is the director and screenwriter of The Night where Laurier Gaudreault woke up, he will also play in the series alongside the original cast of the play composed of Julie Le Breton (Plan B, Epidemie), Magalie Lépine Blondeau (Plan BMy Brother’s Wife), Eric Bruneau (Lies, Coroner, Twilight for a Killer) and Patrick Hivon (Babysitter, My brother’s wife). In addition, the actress Julianne Côté (Before we explode) is added to the cast.
On Instagram, the director recently unveiled the first images of the new original creation of Canal + which let imagine the pain and the sadness of the characters.
WHAT IS THE SERIES ABOUT
In the early 1990s, Mireille, her brother Julien and their best friend Laurier formed an inseparable trio. The boys have just won the provincial baseball championship and Mireille dreams of burning the boards. Who knows what the future holds for them?
However, one night in October, in 1991, their destinies are forever changed by a terrible incident and their paths separate. Both families are broken. Nothing will ever be the same again. Thirty years later, when she has become a thanatologist, Mireille returns to her family to embalm her mother at her request, and finds her brothers whom she had not seen for decades. Soon, secrets and resentments resurface, intertwining with mourning and an unstoppable quest for reconciliation.
After having had great success with Mommy and Just the end of the world, more popular with viewers than his last films My life with John F. Donovan and Matthias and MaximeDolan returns to the front of the stage with a series with strong themes whose scenario will certainly pique curiosity.
The Night Laurier Gaudreault Woke Up does not yet have a broadcast date.