The chair of the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television could not help ending the announcement of the Genie Award nominees on a down note.
Just as the nominations for next month's awards, particularly in the category of best motion picture, make up the most commercial list in recent memory and reflect the recent box-office strength of Canadian films, the current labour dispute between producers and the actors' union is throwing the Canadian film industry into uncertainty.
Academy chair Paul Gratton added yesterday that he does not anticipate any disruption to the Feb. 13 awards show or telecast if the strike by the Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists (ACTRA) was still on. "Anything's possible. But if [the strike]would still be going on a month from now, it's a horrifying possibility," he said, talking more about the industry as a whole rather than any worries about the Genie Awards.
But it is ironic. This is all happening after a year in which box-office successes were as much a part of the story as the usual critical acclaim, Gratton said. "More than in past years, this is probably our most commercial slate of best pictures."
It also bucks the tendency that most Genie-nominated films have not been seen by most Canadians.
For instance, the films up for best motion picture include Trailer Park Boys: The Movie and the detective comedy hit Bon Cop, Bad Cop. The film version of Showcase's Trailer Park Boys cable showhad the strongest opening weekend box office in Canadian history with $1.3-million. Bon Cop, Bad Cop, starring Colm Feore and Patrick Huard, who both received nominations for best actor in a leading role, had a domestic box-office take of more than $11-million and is vying with 1982's Porky's for the title of the biggest domestic box office ever for a Canadian film.
Also up for best picture is The Rocket, a dramatization of the life of hockey great Maurice Richard, which drew a sizable box office of $800,000 in English Canada, which is good for a subtitled film.
Although The Rocket is a 2005 film, it qualifies this year because its English version was released in April, 2006, Gratton said. The film also scored the most Genie nominations with 13.
Bon Cop, Bad Cop was second with 10 and A Sunday in Kigali was third with seven.
A Sunday in Kigali, a love story amid the horror of the Rwandan genocide and based on Gil Courtemanche's novel, is also on the list of best-picture nominees.
The final nominee is the quiet Quebec comedy The Little Book of Revenge, undoubtedly the least-known film to English-Canadian film buffs, about an accountant seeking revenge against his abusive boss.
Despite the continuing strong presence of Quebec films, major international co-productions were not a major force as they have been in previous years, although the British-Canadian production Snow Cake starring Sigourney Weaver and Carrie-Anne Moss did receive four nominations.
Gratton agreed that some of the commercial strength of this year's films may reflect the tail end of a wave of films backed by Telefilm Canada, which has in recent years tried to impose domestic box-office targets to its funding strategy.
As for the actors' strike that began Monday, he said he could only speculate what performers might say when standing on the podium receiving their awards or during the after-party telecast following the event on CHUM Television. He noted that the telecast is not a production affected by the collective labour agreement being negotiated by ACTRA and the Canadian Film and Television Production Association, which were unable to come to terms by last Sunday's strike deadline.
ACTRA reported no official resumption of talks or any picket lines in any part of Canada, since all film and TV productions that could have experienced a labour disruption signed letters of continuation with ACTRA preventing any work stoppage.
"We've never been in the situation where we've had a long labour strike of this sort," Gratton said. "Who knows what effect a long labour strike would have? It's just not a good thing. There's no way you can look at it and say there's a positive side to this.
"We can only hope that both sides sit down and resolve their differences, instead of anteing up the rhetoric."
Major nominations
Best motion picture: Bon Cop, Bad Cop, The Little Book of Revenge, The Rocket, Trailer Park Boys: The Movie, A Sunday in
Kigali
Best director: Érik Canuel ( Bon Cop, Bad Cop), Jean-François Pouliot ( The Little Book of Revenge), Stéphane Lapointe ( The Secret Life of Happy People), Charles Binamé ( The Rocket), Robert Favreau ( A Sunday in Kigali)
Best lead actor: Colm Feore ( Bon Cop, Bad Cop), Patrick Huard ( Bon Cop, Bad Cop), Olivier Gourmet ( Congorama), Roy Dupuis ( The Rocket), Luc Picard ( A Sunday in Kigali)
Best lead actress: Ginette Reno ( Le secret de ma mère), Julie Le Breton ( The Rocket), Sigourney Weaver ( Snow Cake), Jodelle Ferland ( Tideland), Fatou N'Diaye ( A Sunday in Kigali)
Best supporting actor: Chan Chit Man Lester ( Eve and the Fire Horse), Michel Muller ( The Little Book of Revenge), Stephen McHattie ( The Rocket), Hugh Dillon ( Trailer Park Boys: The Movie), Robert Joy ( Whole New Thing)
Best supporting actress: Vivian Wu ( Eve and the Fire Horse), Marie Gignac ( The Secret Life of Happy People), Caroline Dhavernas ( Niagara Motel), Carrie-Anne Moss ( Snow Cake), Emily Hampshire ( Snow Cake)
Best original screenplay: Philippe Falardeau ( Congorama), Ken Scott ( The Little Book of Revenge), Stéphane Lapointe ( The Secret Life of Happy People), Martin Girard and Ghyslaine Côté ( Le secret de ma mère), Ken Scott ( The Rocket)
Best adapted screenplay: François Létourneau ( Cheech), Mike Clattenburg and Robb Wells ( Trailer Park Boys: The Movie), Robert Favreau and Gil Courtemanche ( A Sunday in Kigali)
For the complete list, see http://www.globeandmail.com/arts.
CORRECTION
Bon Cop, Bad Cop's opening-weekend box office was $1.48-million, while Trailer Park Boys: The Movie had a record opening weekend box office for an English-language Canadian film at $1.3-million. The total box office to date for Bon Cop, Bad Cop is $12.7-million, according to Alliance Atlantis.