Tom et ses chums – La bataille de Farador, c’est l’un des premiers succès viraux du Québec. Lancé dans une soirée Kino à Québec en 2005, le court métrage racontant les aventures déjantées d’adulescents restés accrochés à leur interminable partie de Donjons et Dragons est devenu un succès culte en atterrissant sur le web, générant rapidement plus d’un million de visionnements sur la défunte plateforme Google Video. À ce jour, ce nombre a presque triplé grâce aux plateformes de diffusion contemporaines.
D’abord embauché pour tenir le rôle de Charles, maître de jeu aspirant à devenir auteur de fantasy, Éric K. Boulianne n’avait aucune idée de la réelle portée de Farador quand il s’est mis à retravailler le scénario original d’Édouard A. Tremblay. « La pression est arrivée à la fin, quand le film a été accepté puis que la nouvelle est sortie ; là j’ai vu des gens me dire à quel point c’était malade que je puisse tourner ça, nous dit le scénariste qui a notamment travaillé sur les films Menteur, De père en flic, Viking et plus récemment Le plongeur. Les gens me citaient des passages du court métrage. »
Mon voisin, que je ne connaissais pas vraiment, m’a dit qu’il jouait à Donjons avec des amis, et c’est à partir de ce moment-là que j’ai commencé à être stressé. Là je me suis demandé si j’avais fait la bonne job.
Éric K. Boulianne
PHOTO YAN DOUBLET, LE SOLEIL
Éric K. Boulianne
Les éléments marquants du court métrage original sont encore présents, mais après avoir vu les institutions refuser à quelques reprises les demandes de financement formulées par Édouard A. Tremblay, il fallait trouver le moyen de remanier le scénario. « Quand Éric a passé le casting, je ne savais même pas qu’il était scénariste, avoue en riant le réalisateur, qui a surtout évolué dans le milieu de la publicité. En allant chercher son aide et celle de Marc-Antoine [Rioux], I was able to rely on more experienced people who could take my project forward. So I used their talent to flesh out the text. »
fantasy comedy
Eric K. Bolian essentially enhanced the narrative arc of some of the main characters, especially his own and that of Catherine Brunet, who plays Kim, Charles’ sister. This is by elle qu’arrive le changement in the universities sclérosé dans lequel évoluent son frère and ses amis Guillaume/Gardakan (Lucien Ratio) et Louis/Mordak (Benoit Drouin-Germain) – Paladin Niveau 66 and Archimage Niveau 57 de leur condition. Kim makes her brother realize that it is time for him to extricate himself from his stasis, but not before the latter manages to persuade her to share her passion by taking part in the final assault on Fort Varador – the battle that will also change the relationship between Guillaume and Louis.
“Yeah, we want to please the fans, but it’s still weird to make a feature film just to please a cult,” says Eric K. Polyan. In the end, I think it was a good deal, because we were able to strike deals without thinking of committing sacrilege and without worrying about whether we were providing “fan service.” What we wanted to do was get a good story. »
Photo by Jan Dubelt, The Sun
Says director Edward A. I lived the questioning, but on the other hand, I wanted to live the adventure of a professional movie, and the producers always encouraged me to continue. »
The screenwriter therefore believes that the film has everything needed to satisfy a general audience, despite its fantastic subject matter which may tend to relegate comedy to genre films. A rating that obviously bothers Eric K. Polyan. “American culture conquered us, and whatever it offers at the box office, it remains fantastic worlds, the world of costumes, superheroes, still the Lord of the Ringsinsists the actor with passion from Baie-Saint-Paul. the film Dungeons & Dragons It grossed $600,000 at the Quebec box office in its first weekend; If the world never gets tired of seeing Wizards and then Paladins for two hours at the cinema, why would it be any different because it’s a Quebec movie? »
It seems that when he comes from Quebec, we are not used to touching the culture geek He suddenly became considered an outsider, he was put away. But it is not a suitable place, it is what the world will constantly see in the cinema!
Eric K Polian
naturally, Varador He has a budget that has nothing to do with films shot in Hollywood, but he nonetheless took advantage of cooperation with Belgian producers to go shoot the last series in Europe in authentic medieval settings. This was the last block in a team shootout that turned out to be magical, even though it was extended due to the pandemic. Edward A. asserts. Also, the actors were so on set because we’ve already talked about it a lot between us, and we’ve done a lot of rehearsals. When I got to the group it was rare for me to go over a triple because everyone was already on the mark. »
Photo by Stéphane Bourgeois, provided by Umbrellas
Catherine Brunet plays Kim Varador.
The current seems to run nicely between the two actors; The relationship between Charles and his sister Kim is blatantly true. “For me, Charles is not really a composition role, because I recognized myself most in his passion for writing, in his passion for fantastic universes,” says Eric K. Bolian, who himself lived a period geek during adolescence. In fact, I played it a little bit like Eric from high school didn’t really mature, like I’d stayed with my high school friends my whole life. »
However, we’re told that Eric K. Polian has recovered a taste for the thing and is preparing in his spare time for a task that he’ll have two or three friends play…, how about it?
Varador It will be in theaters on April 21st.
“Amateur entrepreneur. Professional internet expert. Zombie maven. Incurable pop culture scholar.”
