Our filmmakers are increasingly intrigued by Quebec criminals. While the tension confessionsabout the life of Gérald Gallant, hit theaters across the province this summer, a film about another killer, Donald Lavoie, will be released in early 2023.
Entitled Crépuscule pour un tueur, this film noir, directed by Raymond St-Jean (Peepshow) and co-written by Martin Girard, sees actor Éric Bruneau in the skin of this formidable hitman who worked for the Dubois clan in the 1970s -Brothers worked After agreeing to become an informant to save his skin, Donald Lavoie admitted in 1981 to being involved in 27 murders on behalf of the Dubois family, one of the largest criminal organizations in Montreal at the time.
If Confessions and Twilight for a Killer have in common tracing the paths of two of the worst hit men in Quebec history, the two films are very different, assures Raymond St-Jean.
“To use Eric Bruneau’s words, Donald Lavoie really is a different animal,” the director told the Journal. Lavoie had a rather flamboyant air. When he entered a room, he took up the whole room. Our film is a kind of little Shakespearean drama. In this respect it will be very different from the film that Luc Picard made about Gérald Gallant. »
part of our history
To write the screenplay for Crépuscule pour un tueur, Raymond St-Jean and Martin Girard drew on numerous newspaper articles written at the time about Lavoie and the Dubois clan, as well as a lengthy interview granted to the ex-killer by CBC in 1982. The two screenwriters did not find it necessary to meet Lavoie, although he is currently at liberty after seven years in prison.
In the film, the role of Claude Dubois (one of the brothers of the Dubois clan) is defended by Benoît Gouin. Sylvain Marcel lends his facial features to the character of Burns, a detective sergeant who tries to convince Lavoie to testify to bring down the Dubois family.
While he calls it coincidence that two films about Quebec hit men are released a few months apart, Raymond St-Jean is pleased that more and more filmmakers are taking an interest in the history of Quebec crime. In addition to Luc Picard and his film about Gérald Gallant, director Podz most recently looked into the world of the Italian mafia in Montreal in the thriller Mafia Inc, which will be released in 2020.
“I think these films still have an appeal [pour le public], observes Raymond St-Jean. It’s part of our history. I remember following the crime scene there in the newspapers in the late 1970s and early 1980s. It was something important then. »
► Filmed in 2020, Twilight for a killer will be released in early 2023.