In what we hope is the
first of many interviews,
we have put together an
interview with Yvon
Barrette, the actor that
played Denis Lemieux.
This interview is exclusive
to our site and
is the first interview
he has ever given
about Slap Shot! We hope
you enjoy the interview
as we grill him about various
topics such
as "who own the Chiefs"
and if
he ever went to Florida
and got his money.
So sit back, take a deep
breath of "hair"
and enjoy!
Thanks for letting us spend
some time with
you today, Yvon. We are
really excited to
be able to speak with you
about your role
as Denis Lemieux. We'll
start off with some
questions about your childhood
and what not,
then go from there. So,
did you play hockey
as a kid?
Oh, yes, I think every
Quebecer does. I start
skating around 5 or 6 years
old and playing
hockey, there was a rink
in my uncle's yard.
He had a team named the
Squirrels, we used
to go play against other
teams from little
towns around. But, I never
thought I was
going to be a pro hockey
player, I was a
little small to become
a pro hockey player.
And that was not really
my favorite sport.
What was your favorite sport?
Basketball, even though
I was small, I played
and scored some points.
And I did some, how
do you say it?, running
like 6 miles, 12
miles and I was doing a
lot of sports, but
I never thought to become
a hockey player.
Did you ever have a favorite player growing
up?
Yeah, we grew up with the
Montreal Canadiens
leading the league and
I am 55 now, so, Maurice
Richard, Beliveau, those
guys were my stars.
So, did you grow up near Montreal?
No, I grew up in the country,
a small town,
15,000 people called Alma.
The same town
Mario Tremblay grew up.
When Tremblay was
around 12, I was like a
trainer, sport trainer
for young kids and I had
that guy in my club.
And then you know I was
facing between two
things, becoming an actor
or a sport teacher
and I was accepted in National
Theater School
and Ottawa University for
that course. And
I make my choice and went
to National Theater
School and then I became
an actor.
Did you do all of your own hockey scenes
since you could play or did they have a double
for you?
I did most of it, but something happened
the last Saturday before we were going to
start shooting on Monday. [The] last Saturday
we were having hockey rehearsal in a small
town close to Johnstown and I was injured
that first day. I had the goalie equipment
on for less than two hours when George Roy
Hill had asked every professional and actor
not to shoot from too close to give me a
chance to get used to the equipment. I wanted
to do it all by myself, but I was injured,
I received a puck by the knee. I was booked
for three weeks of crutches, that was a little
frustrating, but that is a good anecdote
to tell you. It will show you I think that
all the...what atmosphere was surrounding
our practice and everything. From the beginning,
we were like a team. I think George Roy Hill
did a wonderful job.
Anyhow, I was injured and they brought me
in Johnstown, but I was a little worried,
that they change their mind and bring in
somebody else. Instead of feeling alone at
the hospital a lot of people came to see
how I was feeling and I came back to the
hotel and I was in my room for a few minutes
and everybody came in. They had wrote a song
to tell me that I was Denis Lemieux and nobody
else was going to do the job and they brought
me gifts. Newman brought me a a bottle of
fine Napoleon and a deck of cards and George
Roy Hill brought me some adult magazines,
anyways, they all wanted me to be on my legs
as soon as possible. Instead of being 3 weeks
on crutches, I made it in one week and a
half. But to protect the character, I was
doubled by Ron Docken, who was playing the
substitute goalie in the movie. When there
was danger for myself he was in the goal.
Each time he had to do my part, he was like
a magician, you know. That's the story.
We noticed that you did your own voice for
the French version of Slap Shot. Tell us
a little about that.
I did the French version
myself, but you
know regarding my character
Denis Lemieux,
with the French Canadian
speaking so-so English,
doing mistakes, that was
the funniest part
of my character in English,
saying he has
a big cock, like a horse,
you know a lot
of those things are impossible
to bring in
French. I prefer for that
reason, the original
version to the French one.
But the French
people really love the
French one. I think
they use too much bad words
that we don't
find in English. For me
it was a cheap translation
of it.
Yeah, that was a big part of your character,
the thick French accent, so I would think
that wouldn't have translated very well to
a French version.
Yeah, for the original
George Roy Hill kept
saying to me, "Yvon,
you're speaking
too well", so I had
to be careful. For
the French, I did it simply
using my voice
and just the same words
with the same intention.
But, I did it I think in
only a few hours,
it was really a fast job.
I go back easily
in the atmosphere, that
was not a problem
for me. Also, I saw a Spanish
version of
it, there was a German
version. I don't know
if they did a Japanese
one, but, it is impossible
for me to double my voice
in Japanese (laughing).
Switching gears a bit, Mike Vernon is a big
fan of your Denis Lemieux character and he
apparently is the king of Slap Shot quotes
in the locker room. Have you ever noticed
how Slap Shot and your contributions have
become embedded in hockey lingo?
You know when that movie
was done, for me
it was just like another
one. The character
went I don't know where
and I start back
to my life. I live very
simply in the country.
If somebody finds me, it's
alright, somebody
did last year. I did a
movie [15 Fevrier
1839] with Pierre Falardeau,
a beautiful
movie. You are the first
whom I give an interview.
I refuse all interview
when the movie went
out. I don't like that
part of the actor
job, it's like a plumber
is a plumber, when
the job is done, it's done
(laughing).
If Mike Vernon would like
to get in touch
with me, I wouldn't mind.
But [the quoting
of lines], that's one part
of it I don't
really understand. George
Roy Hill is a great
director. We had a wonderful
script written
by a woman, Nancy Dowd.
Do you know why she
wrote that script?
Well, her brother was Ned Dowd who played
on the Johnstown Jets team that the Chiefs
were based on and she got most of her story
from that, as far as we know.
Yeah, her idea was to...ahh...there
were
people from violence in
hockey. In that league,
it was really a rough game,
like throwing
sticks in the stands. You
know it was very
tough. Really, nothing
looking so much like
hockey for me. There were
great people around,
Steven Mendillo, Brad Sullivan
and all those
guys. Great actors, great
team, and you know
there was only one star
with Paul Newman,
so Paul had to be close,
we were a team.
Like I do for any other
movies, I had to
play a character of a hockey
player, so I
became a hockey player
for the six months
before the movie and a
few weeks after, but,
I used to be very close
to professional hockey
players like the [Hanson]
Brothers, like
Ron Docken, all those guys.
I became a part
of their lives, too, and
maybe it's the reason
my character was so close
to reality for
the fans. You don't know
if I'm a hockey
player or an actor. I was
a hockey player
for that part of my life,
it was a great
feeling. All the girls
around and everything,
it was a party. When you
put a bunch of guys
together, that's a party.
We had fun, a lot
of fun. When I think of
that movie, I think
of a lot of funny things,
you know. We did
such things, you know on
the bus the fans
are passing by and we show
our asses? (laughing)
That was great to see those
faces looking
at the windows.
Did you actually stick your ass out the window?
I'm not going to tell you
in which window
I was. You will never know
which one was
me (laughing). Anyway,
the kind of things
we did, one scene that
the bus with fans
are following our bus,
we stop in front of
restaurant and some of
the girls come out
of the bus and we do the
same and run to
each other, but the first
time we did the
scene, we had the assistant
director on our
bus and we had to go back
three miles to
get the speed and the feeling
and everything.
We told the guy to shut
his mouth then, we
undressed, all the players
and actors, we
undressed completely. And
when the bus stop
and we were on the fan
bus, they all run
back on their bus (laughing).
But you know
Universal is a lot of money,
so those scenes
were good to watch the
day after and laugh.
It was a great party.
In the movie, you never had any one-on-one
fight scenes. Did you have any and they got
edited out or were you just always in the
background?
I was always fighting,
but, the accent was
on the [Hanson] Brothers.
The camera was
not on me, but I was injured
during a fight.
You know that was dangerous,
the danger was
not from the guy we were
fighting with, but
other people dancing around
with their skates.
Skates in the air and that
was quite dangerous.
There is a scene where
I try to go in the
stands to give help to
one of the [Hanson]
Brothers and they break
a bottle over my
head. I was a fighter,
but not the violent
player. Not looking for
that, but ready to
face them at anytime. It
was a little difficult
not to close my eyes before
I knew she was
going to hit. I had to
do the scene three
times. George says, "Oh,
you close your
eyes, try it again".
Then the time I
didn't close my eyes, I
opened my head on
the ice. It was a good
headache.
Was there anything else you remember that
might be of interest to our readers, any
funny stories or memories?
Well, to make the teams
against who we were
playing, they brought back
some hockey players
from that league specifically
and the guys
knew each other very well.
Some of them were
out of touch for many years,
so that was
a party for them. The guy
that played the
Indian, the big chief?
He was an insurance
seller, you know, very
far from hockey and
when he came to do those
days of shooting,
he was excited. There were
most of the time
three-thousand people in
the arena, it was
a very big show. It was
funny, it was interesting
to see how professional
hockey players like
the [Hanson] Brothers were
getting into the
movie, to see them play
parts. They had to
teach us how to play hockey
and sometimes
needed our help to become
an actor. It was
a very good friendship.
The Hansons are the best athletes as actors
ever to be on film, as far as we're concerned.
We're guessing their roles weren't much out
of character from their real life, though.
Yeah, they were playing
their lives.
When they first came on the set, what was
your first impression of
them?
Ahhhh...who are those guys?(laughing).
They
were nice fellows.
Do you remember if they actually wore those
glasses in real life back then?
Two of them did. There
were three brothers.
There was Steve and Jeff
and the other brother
was playing for Edmonton
in the World Association,
so they brought Dave Hanson
to play the third
one. Because two of them
were wearing glasses
for real, they had to bring
glasses and that's
why all three wore glasses.
To finish up here, let us know what you've
been doing for the last twenty or so years.
Well, I did a few movies
afterwards, but
I came back to theater.
I was directing a
group and we did some theater
shows. At the
beginning we were supposed
to do it thirty
times and we did it two-hundred
times. We
went all around the country
to do it. That's
a show to bring people
together, to bring
the people aware of their
village, where
there village might be
closed by the government
if they don't do things.
It's a little political
show. [I did] a few movies,
and then I invest
in a mill. We sell cedar
to an American company
in New Jersey and they
do garden furniture.
I work in that mill, I
love to do physical
work. I did a nice trip,
a nice boat trip,
I went across the Atlantic
on a sailboat
in 1984. Twenty-nine days
of sea. It was
a forty-seven foot boat
with five people.
That was my first experience.
I do a very
simple life. I am the grandfather
of two,
my son works with me at
the mill. I live
in country, I wouldn't
be able to live in
town. That's why I only
do things that I
feel like will be interesting,
like the movie
I did last year. Now Slap
Shot is haunting
me.
Did anyone contact you to have a part in
the sequel?
No, never did. I don't
think it [the sequel]
will be a great thing.
I would have loved
it. I'm still an actor!
(laughing)
Well, if we were in charge of the sequel,
you can bet you would've been one of the
first actors we called. Maybe if we can scrape
together a few million, we can do something.
Let's do it! I've got everything to be like
a hockey player, except the salary (laughing).
That's funny to think that Mike Vernon is
getting, I don't know how many millions a
year and is looking at my picture to get
courage, just ask him to give me one percent
and I'll send him color pictures! (laughing)
Well, that about wraps it up. Thanks so much
for the interview, Yvon. We really appreciate
the time and we hope to hear from you again.
Your welcome. Tell the fans its a great thing
to see that movie still living. Bye.
Well, there it is folks, our first interview
in the books. We'd just like to say thanks
to Yvon again for spending time with us.
We hope that you enjoyed reading the interview
as much as we enjoyed talking with him. Yvon
can now be classified as one of the greats,
right up there with Toe Blake, Eddie Shore
and Dit Clapper. He never did tell us who
own the Chiefs, though. |
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