OTTAWA - Philippe Falardeau was dreaming of a political career rather than a career as an Academy Award-nominated director when he worked as an usher at the National Arts Centre.
A couple of decades later, Falardeau returned to the NAC for a gala screening of his film and to fret about what he's going to wear at the Oscars.
The whirlwind of interviews, schmoozing and travelling unleashed since Monsieur Lazhar was put on Oscar's shortlist has left little time for selecting and getting fitted for his tux for the Feb. 26 ceremony.
His cotton shirt and weathered jeans made it clear he cares little for what distinguishes Dolce and Gabbana from the Gap.
"I don't have much choice because I have to wear a black and white tuxedo with a bow tie, but it stresses me a lot having to find the right tailor and the right tux, its something I don't like doing at all," Falardeau said.
The Quebec director was raised across the Ottawa River in Gatineau and returned this week for a screening of his film.
Monsieur Lazhar is the poignant story of young students reeling from the suicide of their teacher who are comforted by his replacement -- an Algerian immigrant to Montreal who needs to have his own emotional wounds salved. Monsieur Lazhar is nominated for best foreign language film.
The movie enjoyed a gala screening at the National Arts Centre this week, complete with red carpets and political and powerful invitees. This was the same National Arts Centre where he worked more than two decades ago as a 17-year-old usher.
And no, Falardeau never dreamed he would one day return to his teenaged workplace as an Oscar-nominated film director.
"When I was 16 and 17 working as an usher I was focused on my studies and I had a second job as a tourist guide on Parliament Hill, so it was not at all something that was on my mind."
"I always loved cinema but it was something that I admired, like anyone else, and not something I wanted to do."
Now in his early 40s, the trappings of that sudden stardom are all around him. The fluttering press assistants, the array of healthy snacks and easily reached-for beverages. A poster for his film has been carefully placed and lovingly lit behind him to ensure more pre-Oscar publicity.
Reporters are wheeled through every 10-minutes throughout an afternoon of questions and answers before the well-turned out audience begins filing in.
But if he'd had his druthers, Falardeau might have been among the political audience rather than in the director's spotlight if he had pursued his teenaged ambitions.
After studying political science at the University of Ottawa and international relations at the University of Laval, Falardeau thought he would end up that quintessential and faceless symbol of official Ottawa: a federal bureaucrat.
He wound up becoming a film maker by stroke of whimsy after winning a contest in 1993 as a contestant for the popular TV series La Course Destination Monde.
The contest took Falardeau around the world producing short films and inadvertently launched his movie career. He says it also came to influence his work later on as a film director.
Since that time he has worked with the National Film Board and directed three other commercial films including La Moitie gauche du frigo (The Left-Hand Side of the Fridge), Congorama, and C'est pas moi, je le jure! (It's Not Me, I Swear!).
He knows his life will probably never be the same. Since his nomination was announced on Jan. 24th he has been approached by various Hollywood studios to produce his next film, yet he has made it clear he still wants to make independent films with his Montreal-based producer.
"I am working on a script that is a political comedy and it usually takes me two years to write it, so the film could be three or four years in the making," he said.
Monsieur Lazhar is up against five other movies including the highly acclaimed Iranian film A Separation which won the Golden Globe.
Falardeau is sanguine about winning or losing while making it clear some of Hollywood's business ethic has rubbed off on him since his Oscar adventure began.
"It's been a fun ride so far so no matter what happens it will be good exposure."
