At the end of July, Marcel Cloutier made an appointment with La Presse in the east of Montreal. He had an idea in mind. He almost always has an idea in mind when he walks the streets of Montreal or drives on a secondary road elsewhere in Quebec. That’s his job: to figure out if a certain piece of street can feel like it’s in the 1930s or if a certain house fits the reality of a middle-class family in the 1980s.
Near the intersection of Marien and Sherbrooke streets, in a very industrial corner of Montreal East, Marcel Cloutier found the right places to shoot scenes for the series Call me if you die and the film Twilight for a killer. “The car wash was a topless restaurant that became a strip club for Demain des hommes,” he explains, noting in passing the pleasure he has always had working with director Yves Christian Fournier. (Everything is perfect).
Before entering the world of cinema, Marcel Cloutier was a photographer. He had often exhibited in his native Saguenay before migrating to Montreal. With the idea of continuing on this path. However, a friend who worked for the cinema gave him a contract. The challenge ? Find a place to dig trenches to pretend to be during the 1914-1918 war.
“There shouldn’t be a single telephone pole at least 280 degrees. I found it, not far away, at Le Gardeur. It was easy, so they asked me to do some more. He accepted and has toured Quebec a thousand times over the past four decades photographing houses, stretches of road, mountains and the interior of houses, modest or quite the opposite.
He remembers in particular the winter when he looked for a place for a miniseries telling the story of Joseph-Armand Bombardier. He needed a concentration of houses to give the impression of being in 1930. “I had done 72 villages in January and February, in Lac-Saint-Jean and in Gaspésie. Until we choose a rue du Bic, ”he says.
These solo trips allowed him to build up an impressive bank of images… which have since disappeared. Five years ago, he lost all of his records due to a computer bug. Losing his archives was a shock. But it also made him realize that he has all of Quebec in his head. “I read a script, he explains, and I see places: such a street corner, such an apartment. »
You have to have an eye to be a rental manager (the other term used to describe your job). It also takes interpersonal skills. What Marcel Cloutier loves most about his job is human contact. Knocking on doors, convincing people to let him in and chatting while stealthily analyzing whether the place might be suitable.
“As soon as the door opens, I look behind the person and I already know if it’s worth it. And if I think it’s worth it, I’m going to be really fine,” he said, smiling.
Filming in Montreal is difficult, he points out. Streets or corners of the city have been so filmed that the neighborhood can no longer see teams blocking streets and parking large trucks. He regrets that no one is going to shoot in La Malbaie or Saguenay, even if it is magnificent. “Sets exist everywhere, the problem, he says, is money. » Moving teams is expensive.
From now on, Marcel Cloutier accepts the contracts that he likes. At his age, he can afford it. He no longer takes pictures, except for work. Otherwise, if a place where a landscape catches his eye, he observes it and enjoys it. “I keep the beauty to myself. »
