Mars & Avril (French: Mars et Avril) is a 2012 Canadian science fiction film starring Jacques Languirand, Caroline Dhavernas, Paul Ahmarani and Robert Lepage. The movie, based on the photo-novels of the same name published by Sid Lee & la Pastèque,Mars et Avril leaps off the pages of graphic novels, article from BULBMars et Avril: the precarious jump from Graphic Novel to Cinema, article from UCalgaryBlogs.ca, 8 April 2013Exclusive look at Canadian scifi film MARS ET AVRIL a graphic novel adaptation , article from Quiet Earth, 4 April 2011Martin Villeneuve – Graphic Novels Interviews (2002-2004) on Vimeo is written, produced and directed by Martin Villeneuve.Denis Villeneuve's brother Martin imagines future Montreal with 'Mars et Avril', article from Canadian Press, 26 October 2011
The film was shot on a budget of C$2.3 million and featured numerous green screen effects. Belgian comic book artist François Schuiten is the production designer, former ILM Senior Compositor Carlos Monzon worked as VFX supervisor, and Benoît Charest composed the original score.Mars and April // Mars & Avril, review from Variety, 16 July 2012 The film was financed by Telefilm Canada, SODEC, Les Productions du 8e Art and the Harold Greenberg Fund, and is distributed in Canada by Alliance Vivafilm (now owned by eOne) and in the United States by Gaiam. The official trailer was released in Quebec theatres and on Alliance Vivafilm's YouTube channel on 21 December 2011.
The world premiere took place on 2 July 2012 at the 47th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, Czech Republic (the film was selected in the section "Another View" for its unique artistic approach in both form and content).Stunning Canadian sci-fi flick MARS ET AVRIL premiering at Karlovy Vary , article from Quiet Earth, 16 June 2012 Since then, the film has been screened in twenty other major cinema events around the globe and has received 10 nominations.Mars et Avril Awards & Nominations page on IMDb Martin Villeneuve was nominated for "Best Adapted Screenplay" at the 2013 Canadian Screen Awards, and he also won an "Imaging the Future Award" at the Neuchâtel International Fantasy Film Festival in Switzerland. In addition, Villeneuve gave a TED Talk about his film at TED2013 in Long Beach, California."Martin Villeneuve: How I made an impossible film", TED, 7 June 2013
Plot In Montréal, in the near future, humanity is about to set foot on Mars. Jacob Obus (Jacques Languirand), a charismatic musician, takes pride in slowing down time by playing instruments inspired by women's bodies, designed by his friend, Arthur (Paul Ahmarani). A love triangle develops when Jacob and Arthur both fall in love with Avril (Caroline Dhavernas), a young photographer. Enter Eugène Spaak (Robert Lepage), inventor, cosmologist and Arthur's father, who unveils a new theory about man's desire to reach Mars and helps Jacob find the true meaning of life and love.
Cast
Production Development In 2005, Robert Lepage optioned the rights to Martin Villeneuve's Mars et Avril photo novels through his Quebec city-based motion picture company, Films Ex æquo (who had already produced The Far Side of the Moon in 2003), with the intent of adapting them into a science fiction feature film. While Villeneuve was to write the script, Lepage was attached to the project as producer and as an actor.Du papier glacé au grand écran, article from Le Devoir, 17 October 2006 A year later, Lepage shut down Films Ex æquo.Robert Lepage ferme sa boîte de production Ex aequo, article from Le Devoir, 8 July 2006 Nevertheless, he strongly encouraged Villeneuve to produce and direct the film himself.Amour et science-fiction, article from Le Journal de Montréal, 6 October 2012 Villeneuve took over the project, while Lepage remained involved as an actor and creative producer.
In 2008, SODEC, Telefilm Canada, The Harold Greenberg Fund and Alliance Vivafilm decided to finance the production.
Due to the film's significant amount of visual effects, an extensive year of pre-production was necessary. In pre-production, Schuiten made some sketches of the sets and, in post-production, he oversaw the visual coherence of the whole film while acting as art direction consultant.Entrevue exclusive avec Martin Villeneuve, Z-télé, 11 October 2012 Since the film was to be shot almost entirely on green screen, in only 25 days and on a very tight budget of C$2.3 million, preparation was key to making it work. The 1200 shots were hand-drawn as storyboards and then edited with the dialogues in a detailed, two-hour-long animatic that mapped out every detail before shooting.Whistler Film Festival 2012 Interview - Mars & Avril director Martin Villeneuve, eFilmCritic.com, 1 December 2012 Villeneuve went to Brussels in May 2008 to work with Schuiten, then Schuiten came to Montreal twice to follow up: in September 2008 and December 2011. Throughout filming and post-production, the two men touched base as often as they could through Skype.François Schuiten: The Watchmaker of Dreams, Martin Villeneuve's BULB page, 2 December 2013 A brainstorming session between Villeneuve and Schuiten is available as the audio commentary on the DVD.Mars et Avril DVD on Amazon Canada, 19 March 2013
Design In 2007, Villeneuve contacted famed Belgian comic book artist François Schuiten, who accepted the position of production designer.Voyage à travers le Montréal de demain, article from La Presse, 8 December 2011 Schuiten had already worked on such films as Toto le Héros, The Golden Compass and Mr. Nobody. The filmmaker wanted the source of his inspiration to play a direct role in the creation of the film rather than try to mimic his style. For a scene taking place inside the Temple of Cosmologists, Schuiten agreed to have a 3D model made of the futuristic auditorium from Fever in Urbicand, a volume in his Les Cités Obscures series. Villeneuve had this image in mind when writing the photo novel. For the shooting of this scene, extras were chosen who looked like the characters from Schuiten's graphic novel.
Villeneuve could not afford to have the imaginary musical instruments used in the film built, so he went to Cirque du Soleil CEO Guy Laliberté and convinced him to buy them before they were even made. When Laliberté saw Villeneuve's TED Talk on 7 June 2013, he offered the filmmaker the "Gravophone" which is seen in the talk.Trivia & Fun facts about the film, BULB, 2 December 2013 Laliberté has thereby financed the creation of the instruments sculpted by artist Dominique Engel.
Casting Most of the actors who appeared in the photo novels (most notably Jacques Languirand, Robert Lepage, Paul Ahmarani and Stéphane Demers) reprised their roles in the film, with the exception of Marie-Josée Croze (who portrayed the lead female character in the books), due to a schedule conflict. Caroline Dhavernas, who along with Croze was a roommate of Villeneuve during his college years,Martin Villeneuve : l'ambition de la science-fiction, article from Le Nouvelliste, 21 January 2012 was then hired to play the part of Avril., article from The Gazette, 5 October 2012 Her mother Michèle Deslauriers, provided the Montreal Teleportation Service's voice in the film (she is also the voice of the real life metro service).
Filming Principal photography The film was almost entirely shot on green screen, in 25 days, using the RED digital camera.Martin Villeneuve talks MARS ET AVRIL + English subbed trailer! , article from Quiet Earth, 16 February 2012
Since Robert Lepage only had a few days available for filming, Villeneuve turned his character into a hologram and had another actor wearing a green hood stand in for his scenes during principal photography. An avant-garde 3D capturing technique was used to integrate him virtually into his scenes as a hologram. Six cameras were trained on Lepage's head while a mime, Jean Asselin, portrayed the body.Robert Lepage de retour au cinéma, article from Le Journal de Montréal, 13 October 2012 The character became a cosmologist whose research into virtual technologies has extended to bold experiments on himself. His head is actually a hologram, with all of his ideas, memories and thoughts stored electronically.Cronenberg's son Brandon, Villeneuve's brother Martin debut in 2012, article from Canadian Press, 30 December 2011Robert Lepage : L'homme-orchestre, article from France-Amérique, October 2012Robert Lepage projeté dans l'avenir, article from La Presse, 11 October 2012 Additionally, in order to work around Lepage's extremely tight schedule, principal photography took place in Montreal in two segments; the first was in September 2008, and the second in April 2009.Jacques Languirand dans l'espace, article from La Presse, 29 April 2011
This was radio host Jacques Languirand's first leading role in a feature film. Nearly 80 years old at the time, and being hard of hearing, he wore an ear-piece so that his wife, Nicole Dumais, could feed him his lines off set.The 'Mars & Avril' Experience (22-minute Making Of) on Vimeo, 2013 When performing on the stage of the Liquid Pub with the band of old musicians played by Marcel Sabourin, André Montmorency and Gabriel Gascon, all cultural icons of Quebec like himself, they received a standing ovation from the 50 extras present during the shooting that lasted several minutes. The first assistant director had to stop the applause so as not fall behind schedule.
The Martian backgrounds were taken by photographer Denis McCready in the Mojave Desert using a panoramic film camera. The exact location is near Trona Pinnacles where several sci-fi movies and TV series were filmed including Battlestar Galactica, Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, The Gate II, Lost in Space and Planet of the Apes.
The scene where Jacob and Arthur are leaving for Mars is inspired by one of Villeneuve's childhood memories: when he was 4 or 5 years old, his older brothers (including Denis Villeneuve) put him in a box and made him believe that he made a space travel on his way to Mars.Mars et Avril – Interviews (2011-2013) on VimeoMission accomplie Interview with Martin Villeneuve on Bouillant de culture, 4 February 2012
Editing By the end of 2009, the editing of a first cut was assembled. In 2010, Martin Villeneuve searched for new investments in order to complete the 550 VFX shots involved in the film. In early 2011, Anne-Marie Gélinas and Benoît Beaulieu joined Villeneuve as producers.On me disait que c'était impossible, article from Qui fait Quoi, 31 January 2012 Telefilm Canada and Alliance Vivafilm both accepted to raise their initial investment, and so did Robert Lepage and Lynda Beaulieu though their new Quebec city-based motion picture company, Les Productions du 8e Art. At this point, Pierre Even and Marie-Claude Poulin from Item 7 also joined the team as executive producers.Mars et Avril sortira en 2012, article from Le Journal de Montréal, 29 April 2011
Re-shoot In March 2011, exactly two years after principal photography was completed, a re-shoot took place at Lepage's request. The scene in which Jacob and Avril make love was shot in Languirand's actual bedroom. The final cut of the film was completed during the summer of the same year.Mars et Avril selon Caroline Dhavernas, article from Cineplex Magazine, October 2012 Montreal-based post-production company Vision Globale (under the supervision of former ILM Senior Compositor Carlos Monzon) then started the visual effects and sound design.
Music Benoît Charest was tasked with scoring the music.Le pari fou de Martin Villeneuve, article from Le Journal de Montréal, 9 February 2012 Charest's score was composed according to Johannes Kepler's cosmological theory, Harmonices Mundi, in which the harmony of the universe is determined by the motion of celestial bodies, referenced in the film's opening voiced by Robert Lepage.Mars et Avril – Opening Sequence, on VimeoScience-fiction romantique, article from La Presse, 6 October 2012