The work of Quebec filmmaker Denis Villeneuve was shown in a room at a palliative care centre to fulfil the end-of-life wish of a long-time film fan in a special world premiere, well ahead of the official launch.
A man from Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean, Que., had an almost impossible final wish when he knew he was at the end of his life. The movie buff said he would like to see the film Dune: Part Two, which was set to be released on March 1, before he died.
He expressed this wish to Josée Gagnon, whose job is to accompany people at the end of life through her company L'Avant.
Sébastien Pilote, a director from the Saguenay region, put Gagnon in touch with Villeneuve, the renowned filmmaker, after she put a call-out on Facebook with the man's last wish.
"Denis Villeneuve and his wife Tanya, who is a producer, said, 'OK, we could get him to come to Los Angeles.' I said, 'You don't understand, he's at the end of his life, there's no way to move him. We don't even know if he's going to be here next week,'" said Gagnon in an interview on Radio-Canada's Place publique.
Director Denis Villeneuve, right, and producer Tanya Lapointe attend the premiere of Dune: Part Two in Montreal. (Christinne Muschi/The Canadian Press)
Realizing that the man would not be able to go to the premiere, Villeneuve decided to send the movie directly to the municipality of Saguenay. Villeneuve's assistant flew down to Quebec with the filmmaker's laptop.
"They locked themselves in a room at the Maison de soins palliatifs [...] and this man managed to watch the film on his own," said Gagnon. Everyone had to sign waivers not to reveal anything about the movie.
The screening took place more than a month and a half before its worldwide release.
Too weak, the film buff fell asleep before the end of the movie and died later. Gagnon said Villeneuve and Lapointe were disappointed that the man had not been able to see the end.
"They said, 'He didn't see the ending, you know, the ending of the film is so good.' I said, 'You don't understand, it's extraordinary what this man went through, The end of a film when you're going to die, it doesn't mean anything … it was all there for him," said Gagnon.
Gagnon had to keep this story to herself until the movie hit the big screen. She finally posted a long message on Facebook late Friday, thanking everyone who had made the adventure possible, including her husband and the staff at the Maison de soins palliatifs du Saguenay.
"It's been truly magnificent. The others went through something great, they went off to do the international red carpets, the media, but here there was something," she said.
"[Villeneuve and Lapointe] said, 'It's for him, it's for that man that we make films, it's for the guy who said before he died, I want to see that film,'" she said.