A CHILLING NEW DRAMA
Cardinal set for première
With its chilling winter setting in northern Ontario, there’s a distinctive and definitive Canadianness to the buzzy new detective drama Cardinal, says star Billy Campbell.
And that was a large lure for the Golden Globe-nominated American actor as well as co-star Karine Vanasse, who both play detectives hunting for a serial killer in the series.
“I’m not Canadian, per se, I’m from the States, but I have an enormous affinity for Canada, I’m a permanent resident and I love, love Canada,” said Campbell, a Virginia native who has lived here on and off. “I feel more Canadian than anything else.”
Vanasse said the series gave her a rare opportunity to showcase her Quebecois roots onscreen outside her home province.
“I’m actually really proud that CTV decided to keep the character French-Canadian,” said Vanasse, a 2010 Genie Award winner for her leading role in Denis Villeneuve’s Polytechnique.
“That’s how she was written and it’s really the first time that I’ve had a chance to play a French-Canadian character on English television.
“When I was part of Revenge or Pan Am, I was playing great characters but both times they were from France. So to actually play a character with Quebecois roots, that’s something that I was actually proud of,” she added.
“Not that I like to play characters that are connected to me, but there’s an added value to the experience, I think. Maybe now viewers in Toronto will know that I’m not from France, that I’m Canadian.”
Adapted from author Giles Blunt’s award-winning mystery series, the six-part show stars Campbell as Det. John Cardinal and Vanasse as his new partner, Det. Lise Delorme, in the fictional town of Algonquin Bay. The gruff Cardinal was demoted after getting too close to a case. But when the body of a 13-year-old indigenous girl is found encased in ice, he springs into action.
Delorme has faith in Cardinal — who is also facing struggles at home — but is forced by other investigators to question his motives.
“I’ve got to say, this is one of the more gratifying things I’ve ever, ever done,” said Campbell, whose other credits include CSI: NY, Once and Again and Dynasty.
“For a long time in my career, I wasn’t allowed to play grown men and now I get to and that’s really very satisfying. I generally pretty much always — until way later than I should have — had kind of a baby face and kind of a happy-go-lucky demeanour.
“So people didn’t think of me as really a grown sort of man or somebody that could play somebody who’s troubled or what have you.”
The show was shot in the northern Ontario cities of Sudbury and North Bay, and Campbell said it was colder than when he made an indie film in Antarctica.
But it added to the moodiness of the series.
“The environment and the weather in the show really (are) a nice metaphor for Cardinal, for what’s inside his heart,” he said.
“The cinematic beauty of Canada is really there,” added Vanasse. “The way it was filmed, I think it really makes Canada beautifully eerie, tense.”
Vanasse said they spent time with North Bay officers, including one who inspired her character. She also consulted her brother, who works with the RCMP in the Yukon.
The series sticks to the essence of Blunt’s books and the stars got to meet him on set.
“I got drunk with Giles and I plan to get drunk with him again in the next day or two,” Campbell said with a laugh, noting they bonded over whisky.
“There is a screening party but then we’re going to go find a dark corner in some pub somewhere and get blissfully snockered.
“(Like Cardinal), he’s a little grumpy and rough around the edges but a really, really fascinating and sweet guy in the centre of it.”
The environment and the weather in the show really (are) a nice metaphor for Cardinal, for what’s inside his heart.