Director Alexis Durand-Brault is working on writing a biographical series on Yvon Deschamps. Reached by telephone, the famous comedian speaks of a “magnificent” adventure.
“It’s nice that there’s someone who likes my stuff enough to say, ‘I’m going to work on this.’” I’m very happy,” says Yvon Deschamps on the other end of the phone.
Alexis Durand-Brault mentioned the existence of the fiction project at the microphone of host Guy Bissonnette on CKVL FM last week. The director, who runs the ALSO production company with Sophie Lorain, however refused our interview request, since the series is still “in creation”. This is a second biographical drama in a few years for ALSO, which was behind Disobey: Chantale Daigle’s Choice (which will air on Noovo starting October 25, after being picked up by Crave).
Alexis Durand-Brault made contact with Yvon Deschamps last summer. The two men discussed the project over coffee. The director would have spoken of a series structured around the comedian’s memorable monologues, such as Les unions, qu’ossa donne? (1969), Happiness (1969), Little Jesus (1970) and Intolerance (1972). Thus, the action would alternate between moments captured on stage and others, taken from the monument’s past, exploring his childhood and adolescence in the heart of the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s, to understand the reasons which pushed him to write these numbers.
“He explained to me what he wanted to do, and to be honest, I didn’t really understand how he was going to organize it! », exclaims Yvon Deschamps in a burst of laughter.
For the moment, no network seems attached to the project. All options are possible, given that ALSO has produced, in recent years, series for Quebecor (Mégantic, Portrait-robot) and Bell Media (Disobey: the choice of Chantale Daigle, Sortez-moi de moi and Projet innocence, supposed to land on Noovo in the winter). The offering could also land on Radio-Canada, since ALSO is also responsible for Un lien famille, a series offered on ICI Tou.tv in 2021, then broadcast on ICI Télé in 2022.
Detail to note: Alexis Durand-Brault is not the only person to prepare a biographical series on Yvon Deschamps. In an interview, the comedian mentions that in recent months, another actor in the television industry contacted him to transpose his journey to the screen. However, we do not know the details surrounding this new project, which could potentially compete with the offering from Alexis Durand-Brault and Sophie Lorain.
How can we explain that in 2023 two miniseries projects on Yvon Deschamps are emerging in the space of a few weeks?
According to the main person concerned, the broadcast in the spring of the documentary L’osstidquoi? The osstidcho! has something to do with it. Directed by Louis-Philippe Eno and produced by Claude Larivée, the 90-minute feature film revisited, 55 years later, the legendary show in which Deschamps participated with Mouffe, Robert Charlebois and Louise Forestier.
“I don’t know why, but this interview resonated a lot. The documentary was shown two or three times on Télé-Québec… So that means that at least 100 people saw it! », says with a laugh the father of Quebec humor, who has just celebrated his 88th birthday.
His brief – but highly publicized – return to the stage in July, to close the final gala of the Just for Laughs festival, would also have tickled the nostalgic fiber of the creators. “The fact that I came back into the news a little, it seems to have revived business among people, I suppose,” observes the living legend of show business. I was quiet at home, and boom! I’m told we’re going to make a series! »
Yvon Deschamps has complete confidence in Alexis Durand-Brault. Officially retired for more than ten years, the monument gave only one instruction to the director: “As long as I don’t work, everything is fine! »
Yvon Deschamps could join a select club of notable figures in the history of Quebec (mainly men) to be the subject of a fiction series. Félix Leclerc, Alphonse Desjardins, Lucille Teasdale, Maurice Duplessis, Jean Béliveau, Alys Robi, Raymond Malenfant and René Lévesque (twice rather than once) have all been at the heart of a biographical drama. On the humorous side, we mention Cher Olivier, a 1997 miniseries in which Benoît Brière played Olivier Guimond.
The work of Yvon Deschamps was also brought back into the spotlight in 2022 by Guylaine Tremblay. In a solo musical show entitled I don’t know how, I don’t know why, the actress told her own life through the texts, but also the songs, of the monologue.
Which actor would you see playing Yvon Deschamps in a screen fiction? Tell us who and why.