Quebec filmmaker Érik Canuel, who directed several notable films, including La loi du cochon, Nez rouge, Le dernier tunnel and Bon cop, bad cop, died Saturday. He was 63 years old.
Annexe, a Montreal-based communications firm, confirmed Canuel’s death on Monday. The director was diagnosed with multiple myeloma seven years ago and died following complications related to secondary plasma cell leukemia.
Canuel was born in Montreal in 1961 and made his first short film, Mon ami, mon frère, at the age of 21. After studying film at Concordia University, he co-founded a production company called Kino Films with Pierre Gill. Kino specialized in commercials and music videos.
His first feature film was La loi du cochon, released in 2001, starring Isabel Richer and Catherine Trudeau as sisters Stéphane and Bettie Brousseau, who try to save the pig farm inherited from their father from bankruptcy before being kidnapped by cannabis traffickers.
His 2006 film Bon cop, bad cop transcended Canadian cultural divides by tackling stereotypes associated with French-speaking Quebecers and English-speaking Ontarians. The bilingual movie is about two police officers, one from Ontario and one from Quebec, who must work together to solve a murder.
Starring Patrick Huard and Colm Feore, Bon cop, bad cop was a massive box office hit and one of the highest-grossing Canadian films ever, with more than $12.5 million in sales.
