The following is the transcript of the BoxTop Live chat with:
HLHost says "Guns N' Roses frontman Axl Rose was
arrested Tuesday night after he allegedly created a disturbance at a Phoenix
airport. He was booked on a misdemeanor disorderly conduct charge and spent
several hours behind bars before being released early Wednesday morning."
HLHost says "Hello from HOLLYWOOD! It's Rebecca
here coming to you live from BoxTop Studios where all the hip kids come together
& share their most intimate secrets. Welcome back to BOXTOP LIVE on realhollywood.com.
Joining me in the studio tonight are my producers Mike & Dori, my screener
Glenda, and our fabulous typist Michelle."
HLHost says "Helen Hunt is expected to decide
on whether or not she will return for another season of "Mad About You". Her
Oscar nomination will influence her decision, and it would definitely increase
her price if she decides to return."
HLHost says "All right, if you're a newbie
tonight…welcome to the show. If you'd like to ask a question, there is a question
mark icon on the menu bar you can click on, or just type /ask space and then
type in your question. We'd like to give a warm shout out to all of you Excite
users joining us tonight. If you're using Excite's VP chat, you can ask a question
by clicking on the "something to say?" button on the lower right corner of the
stage."
HLHost says "I am really excited about the
show. We have a very special guest joining us in the studio tonight, Roy Dupuis
from the hit TV show "La Femme Nikita". Let's all welcome Roy to the show!"
HLHost says "Hi Roy!"
RoyDupuis says "Hi!"
HLHost says "How're you doing?"
RoyDupuis says "Doing fine!"
HLHost says "Billions of questions are rolling
in."
maria772 asks "Roy, how do you prepare
for a role; how do you become the character?"
RoyDupuis says "I start by reading the scenario.
And, each character has their own demands. Like Michael, for me, was mostly
a lot of observation and inner feeling and a lot of logic and understanding.
There was a movie made before that I liked. One of the reasons I decided to
do the series. I let time act on me, too. I don't rush things."
HLHost says "That's good, take it slow ...
let it unfold."
ravenmc asks "What do you do to get in
the mind frame to play Michael with no emotions showing?"
RoyDupuis says "By understanding the section,
what it's all about. By understanding what Michael's all about how he survived.
The fact that he doesn't show emotions is because he wants to survive in there.
All he's got left is life. It's a lot of concentration. Michael is always very
focused and doesn't do any movement for nothing. Very minimalist. That was a
choice that I made for this character. I don't even know if I made the choice
or the character did."
Reeeh asks "What is your favorite and
least favorite things about Michael's personality?"
RoyDupuis says "My favorite thing about Michael's
personality is that he's a very intelligent character. It's fun to play intelligent
people. The mystery of this character is fun to play, too. I hope he's fun to
watch! My least favorite ... I don't think I've discovered it yet."
HLHost says "Oh, that's good!"
RoyDupuis says "That would be my answer."
Rowan1 asks "Roy, how difficult was it
to speak Spanish for your new film, Aire Libre? Do you know when it'll be released?"
RoyDupuis says "No, I don't know when it
will be released. It was not that difficult. Spanish is pretty close to French
and I was surrounded by Spanish people. We shot in Venezuela and that helped.
It was mostly fun. I like other languages and am thinking of learning German
or Italian."
HLHost says "Spanish is similar to French,
isn't it?"
RoyDupuis says "Yes, it's Latin. So, a lot
of Latin words are almost the same."
LFNRoyFan asks "What does Michael really
think of Nikita"
RoyDupuis says "I don't know if I can say!
There's still a lot of the shows that are based on this question. What I can
answer is that we will ... along the way, learn a lot more about that this season
and hopefully, next season. Maybe that will be clarified this season. But, that's
what I can answer right now. Be patient!"
MicheleN asks "Out of all the movies you've
done, which one are you most proud of and why?"
RoyDupuis says "Oh. It was the first one
I did, "Being At Home With Claude." Because it was one of the most rich characters
that was given for me to play for cinema. I'd done some theatre before that
with some great roles there, too. But, this movie ("Claude...") I had to transform
myself a lot to this character. He demanded a lot to me so I could reach him.
Since he was gay and a prostitute, and over that, a killer. Of course it was
an act of passion, but he did it. So, there was a lot of intensity. And, the
script used to be a play in Quebec by one of our greatest writers. This story
and the color of his language was so rich and so well done that it was an honor
for me to do it. I think I did well. That's the one I'm mostly proud of."
Row8 asks "What sort of films do you most
like working in, comedy, drama, horror, sci-fi?"
RoyDupuis says "I don't have any specifications
I would say. No? That's not the right word?"
HLHost says "Specifications. That works.
Absolutely!"
RoyDupuis says "What counts for me is the
story, the character. People want me for ... yeah, I'm willing to do all those
styles if I feel my place is there and if I feel I like it .... if it touches
me. And, even more if I feel the movie's important and has something to say."
LindaVa asks "Roy, I really loved Emilie,
how old were you when you filmed that?"
RoyDupuis says "That was I'd say six or seven
years ago. So, I was .... uuuhhh .... 22? No, 23. 23 or 24. Cause it took about
a year and a half to shoot. That's another thing in the category of television
it would be another thing I'm pretty proud of. It was based on the novel, a
great character."
guest59 asks "Do you resemble Michael's
character in any way?"
RoyDupuis ponders thoughtfully.
RoyDupuis says "Oh ... I guess so. There
must be a little of me in Michael. Of course there is also a big difference.
How could I put it? I'm not in the same situation he's in. I don't think I could
pull the trigger on anybody right now. I used to hunt when I was younger, today
I don't let anybody hunt on my land. I do it myself cause I don't like doing
it. There's also a big gap. But, once you play a character, you put a lot of
yourself in it. It's hard for me to explain exactly what is part of me and what
is not."
Nightingale_ asks "Had you seen Luc Besson's
original movie La Femme Nikita before you got the part of Michael?"
RoyDupuis says "Yes, I had seen the french
version before I did Le Femme Nikita. I admire what this person does. I think
he's a great director (the film director). Was one of my favorite movies. Still
is, I think. When they asked me to do the series, I wanted to make sure it would
be respectful to the movie. So, I asked to meet them and try to see if we were
on the same track and it felt like that. I also wanted to meet Peta and it clicked
from the first meeting. So, yes, I have seen it and I liked it a lot."
HLHost says "Good."
LindaVa asks "Roy, what was your first
paying acting job?"
RoyDupuis says "It was a play called "Harold
and Maude", based on the movie. It was a tour around Acadie, the cajun in Louisiana.
That's where they used to come from. So, they still have this area on the Atlantic
coast which we call Acadie where those people came from. We were all on tour
around there and it was a great experience. It was my first role after the National
Theatre Company in Canada where I studied for 4 years. I was still in the school
when I auditioned for the role and I came right out of there. I was pretty lucky."
erin119 asks "How do you feel about all
the attention you get from fans? Do you regreat the loss of privacy?"
RoyDupuis says "Actually, I've been ... this
is something that happened to me six years ago when we did "Emilie" and this
series broke all their records of rates ... How'd you call them?"
HLHost says "Ratings."
RoyDupuis says "Yes. I was living down in
Montreal and the day after it showed, I came out of my apartment and noticed
a big difference. 80% the population was watching this show. I've been dealing
with this for 7 years in my area. I haven't gone to the States since I've been
shooting Le Femme Nikita. But, I enjoy it and it's a good feeling knowing that
people appreciate my work. Helps me to keep going."
jileyla asks "Who or what gives you inspiration?"
RoyDupuis says "Everybody and everything.
I take from ... like I said before, the character has his own demands. I like
to observe ... like for "Being At Home With Claude", I had this big transformation
to do. So, we had this area where there's a lot of gays an gay prostitutes,
so I had to go there and get some feelings out of it. I like to go as close
to the real world as possible. I didn't kill anybody to play Michael."
HLHost says "Good to hear that!"
Sister asks "Roy, if you were offered
a "mainstream" American film, and it fit your schedule, would you consider it,
if the story was good? It would probably result in even less privacy...could
you do it? Thanks!"
RoyDupuis says "I like my work. I think cinema
is a big ... a lot of importance in today's world. Cinema carries a lot of thoughts
and ideas to the entire world. Like most of the arts. And, of course, if I think
the story interests me, of course I would do it. I don't think I would think
about the consequences of being international. I just do this job because I
really like it."
HLHost says "That's what matters."
Glitters asks "Roy, when are you going
to do some talk shows here in the U.S.?"
RoyDupuis says "I don't have anything planned
right now. Probably. I guess."
HLHost says "Sometime in the future."
RoyDupuis says "Yeah, probably."
DCContingent asks "Roy, during last night's
chat, it sounded like you're so very busy. How do you deal with the long hours
and keep going through 9 months of filming?"
RoyDupuis says "I don't know! I just don't
know. I take it a day at a time. I would even say a scene at a time. I just
do one thing not thinking of what's ahead of me. If you start thinking of 9
months of shooting in front of you then it gets really long and gets you more
tired than you really are. Stay in shape, take care of myself, eat well. Mostly
try to have fun and pleasure doing it."
HLHost says "It's important."
RoyDupuis says "Yeah, I make it a responsibility
to have pleasure doing what I do."
PippyFoofenshnoof asks "Did you want to
be an actor all your life?"
RoyDupuis says "Not at all. I always liked
cinema since I was pretty young. I was the kind of kid that didn't want to go
to sleep cause I thought I would miss something. So, the weekends I'd stay up
late at night with my mother to see what was on TV. There were no videos, so
we had no choice except for what they gave us. It happened by accident when
I was in this play at 17 years old in school. This girl I was doing the play
with decided to become an actress and wanted to do her auditions for this private
school and asked me to do the lines for her."
RoyDupuis says "Two days before her auditions
it was my birthday, she arrived with the questionaire that they give you once
you subscribed to the auditions. Which was my friend's but he didn't want to
go anymore so she gave that to me as a present because she thought I should
be there. She wanted me to take his place and make believe that I was him. Because
there was a certain time limit for subscription for the auditions."
RoyDupuis says "I said, why not. I went and
did the auditions and he had the same time and date that she had so we did our
auditions together. We forgot that when you subscribe, you have to send a picture
of yourself, so the guy didn't look like me at all! They discovered what I was
doing so I had to give my real name. The woman auditioning us asked me to fill
out a form and bring a picture and if I was accepted to say it to nobody!"
HLHost says "Wow! That's a great story!"
RoyDupuis says "It's an interesting school
where you work with six professional directors every year for 4 years. It was
interesting to me cause I didn't know anything about this world. No one in my
family is a part of it except my mother teaches piano. That's how I got into
it."
HLHost says "I love that story! So many questions
here ...."
guest59 asks "Is there any actor you would
love to work with?"
RoyDupuis says "A lot of them. I think there's
a lot of very good actors and actresses out there. I wouldn't be able to name
one right now."
RoyDupuis says "One of the actors I respect
a lot is Marlon Brando. And, I met him this summer. I had a small piece in a
film he was shooting in Montreal. The director called me and asked me if I wanted
to do this small scene with him for fun. So, I got killed by Brando this summer.
He didn't deceive me at all. He's very generous. He's a mountain. He's like
a father, I like him a lot."
HLHost says "That's great!"
SusanW asks "Roy is there a director that
you haven't worked with yet that you would like to work with?"
RoyDupuis says "A lot of them ... again.
First name that comes to my head is Jim Jarmusch."
HLHost says "He's fabulous!"
RoyDupuis says "I love what he does!"
HLHost says "Me, too."
RoyDupuis says "There's a lot of them."
HLHost says "I can never remember this guy's
name but the guy that directed "Delicatessen." What's his name?"
RoyDupuis says "I'm not very good with names."
HLHost says "He's fabulous. Love his stuff!"
RoyDupuis says "Yeah."
jileyla asks "What is your most embarrassing
acting experience?"
RoyDupuis says "Fun question. That's the
kind of question I ... (giggle) ... I'm going to find the answer to when I sleep
tonite."
HLHost says "That's okay, more questions
here!"
guest59 asks "What is a typical day like
for you on the set? Hours?"
RoyDupuis says "Today, I was picked up at
6 a.m., and got up at 6. No! Got up at 5:30 a.m. and jumped in the shower and
jumped in the car to take me to the set. Have some fruits and cappuccinos. And,
then makeup and hair, dress. And, then usually this day will end around 10:00
p.m. at night. Then I come home and check out the scenes I have to do for tomorrow.
Think about them while falling asleep. That's mostly what I do during the week."
HLHost says "That's long. Do you have the
weekends off?"
RoyDupuis says "Yeah, Saturday and Sunday.
I go back to my country house. An apartment in the city, a house in the country."
Nightingale_ asks "If you were asked to
star in a movie made of the biography of some famous person's life, whose would
you pick?"
RoyDupuis says "Right now ... Einstein."
HLHost says "Oh! Great! My fiance just read
a book about Einstein. I don't know which one it is."
RoyDupuis says "What's the title?"
HLHost says "I don't know. It has one of
those fabulous crazy pictures of him on the cover with his hair all wild."
RoyDupuis says "Yeah. He was a great human
in every sense of the word."
HLHost says "Yeah he was."
Hollydream asks "What advice would you
give fans who wanted to work in the enterintament industry?"
RoyDupuis says "To, ummm .... There's no
real advice. There's no recipe. So, be yourself as much as you can. And, I would
say just be yourself and .... I'd almost say start by doing theatre. It's a
very good school. It gives you a lot of knowledge about writing and poetry ..
the base of what acting's all about. Saying important things. And, yeah ....
And, be yourself. That's it."
HLHost says "That's good. I like that advice.
There is no formula, you're right."
tracy5 asks "What do you believe is your
greatest strength as an actor, and what is your greatest weakness (that you
might want to develop further)?"
RoyDupuis says "I would have to say ... charisma.
Cause (laugh) ... cause since I was in National Theatre School it was something
that was brought to me very often by directors of the school. They watched us
grow through those 4 years. I have a hard time speaking about myself."
HLHost says "It's tough ... the hardest thing
to do."
RoyDupuis says "Yeah."
RoyDupuis says "My weakness ... Can't find
any! (laughs!!)"
HLHost says "He's perfect ladies and gentleman!"
RoyDupuis says "No!"
RoyDupuis laughs.
HLHost says "What about something else you'd
like to work on and strengthen? An aspect of your character?"
RoyDupuis says "I always try to work more
and more on imagination. That's the thing I'm always trying to do things ...
not necessarily differently .. but in a way that fits the character and pushes
that character as far as possible. That goes to imagination. It always has to
be worked on."
HLHost says "That's something Einstein said."
RoyDupuis says "yeah."
HLHost says "Knowledge is not as important
as imagination."
RoyDupuis says "That's it."
HLHost says "A lot of questions that we're
not going to be able to get to tonite. So many!"
Sister asks "Roy, you speak English beautifully!
I love your accent on the show, it adds to the mystery of the character. I hope
you get to speak French soon on the show! Thanks!"
DeBey asks "Roy, What is the most dangerous
thing you have done?"
RoyDupuis says "Physically it would be ...
(laughs) .. There is this ... in Montreal there's a mountain and on top of this
mountain there's, I would say about 400 feet antennae."
HLHost says "How long?"
RoyDupuis says "400 feet."
HLHost says "That's what I thought you said."
RoyDupuis says "A huge antennae for radio.
One day I climbed on top. But, I think (laughs) still the most dangerous thing
I've done was the first time I did theatre. It was the most scary feeling I
have experienced. Inside of you just goes mama! What am I doing? And, then the
magic happens and it's incredible and you want more."
HLHost says "Right, it's invigorating! Absolutely!"
cherylc asks "Roy, is there any one great
dream or goal you have that you haven't yet fulfilled?"
RoyDupuis says "Yes. Well, there is since
I bought this farmhouse, which is an 1840 house in the country on 50 acres of
land. I have this uncle who's been working on a house like this for 40 years
now. And, I've worked with him through time and this place has become almost
like a masterpiece. It's HIM. He's worked on every bit and piece of it. All
the land ... he chose the trees. It's an incredible place. "I want to do this
with MY place. I want this place to be ME. When I leave, I want my children
to take advantage of it and live in it and to continue this to make this piece
of land like a dream. Yeah, that's what I want."
ExciteUser asks "(Chrissy17) :your show
is awesome...how many years do u think u will stay with it?"
HLHost says "Believe me, if it depends on
these people on here, your show will be on the air forever."
RoyDupuis says "We don't know! It all depends
on you guys, I guess. They tell us in May if we're going for another season.
It all depends on ratings. It looks good for another year at least."
HLHost says "I hope so. Is there anything
else you want to say to your fans? Your devoted fans?"
RoyDupuis says "I'd say Anvie! Which means
"to life." And, goodnight everybody. Good night and have sweet dreams!"
HLHost says "Roy, thank you so much for joining us tonight, it was great to have you on our show. And thanks to all you folks for joining us from excite, and to all of you here on realhollywood.com. Please join us again tomorrow night at 7PM when our guest will be Aries Spears from "Mad TV". Goodnight!"
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