BY MICHAEL JAMES
Luc Montpellier is on top of the world these days, and well he should be.
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Chelmsford?s Luc Montpellier (left), is quickly gaining a reputation as one of Canada?s top cinematographers. Montpellier, left, was thrilled to work with Italian superstar actress Isabella Rossalini in the acclaimed film The Saddest Music in the World, which recently played Cinefest. |
Last week the 31-year-old Chelmsford native copped a Gemini Award for his work behind the camera in the CBC mini-series Hemingway vs. Callaghan, which aired earlier this year.
Montpellier isn?t letting all the success and his streak of professional good luck go to his head.
For one thing, he doesn?t have time to. He?s already gearing up for his next project?a six-part anthology based on the short stories of Carol Shields to be shot in Winnipeg just before Christmas.
Of the six segments or short films, the affable, talkative young cinematographer said he?ll be shooting three.
While Christmas may be a couple of months away, there is much work to be done before shooting actually gets
under way.
There are pre-production meetings to attend, locations to be scouted and scenes to be storyboarded.
That means leaving his wife and the comfort of his Toronto home behind and staying in a hotel room in The Peg
for the next couple of months.
Such is the life of a freelance cinematographer.
Still, you won?t hear Montpellier, who graduated from Macdonald-Cartier Secondary School in 1990, complaining.
A graduate of the Ryerson University film program in Toronto, Montpellier said he?s been working pretty steadily in the film industry since graduating in 1996.
?I got lucky,? he said. ?I?ve been pretty much working since I got out of school.?
Like a lot of other aspiring young filmmakers in Toronto, Montpellier said he got his start directing music videos.
?Then the odd indie (independent film) came up...and it was a building block from there. I started getting grants (to
do short film projects) here and there (and) that led to some independent features and that led to some television,? he said.
Right now, Montpellier said he?s working as a director of photography in both television and feature films.
For a man who likes to be involved in projects that offer him the opportunity to explore different looks, working in film and television offers him the best of both worlds.
?If I can have a career where there?s extremes in it, as far as different kinds of films and looks, (then) that?s what I?m looking for,? he said.
It seems somehow fitting, therefore, Montpellier would end up shooting a film such as Guy Maddin?s densely layered and extremely idiosyncratic The Saddest Music in the World, a film that was screened in Sudbury during
the recent Cinefest 2003.
?Guy?s film shoot was chaotic...black and white, grainy, Super 8...I loved working that chord,? he said.
Luck, another film shot by Montpellier, starring Sarah Polley, was also featured at Cinefest this year.
It?s been a busy year for Montpellier. Indeed, 2003 has been his busiest year yet, he said.
As for winning the Gemini, Montpellier said it?s hard to say what it will do for his career.
?Hopefully, after seeing the show, my name will come up (amongst) American producers - not that it?s
necessarily my ambition to work in Hollywood - and it will open the door for me to work abroad,? he said.
While Montpellier doesn?t rule out the possibility of directing films some day, he doesn?t foresee making that move any time soon.
?Directing could be in the cards for me, in the future, when I have something to say. Right now I?m having too much of a good time (being a cinematographer) and collaborating (with directors and production designers).?
