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Quebec filmmaker Érik Canuel, best known for the cult black comedy Bon Cop, Bad Cop, has died. He was 63 years old.

Annexe, a Montreal-based communications firm confirmed the news of Canuel’s death with local press Monday. The director’s cause of death has been reported as complications related to secondary plasma cell leukemia.

Born in Montreal in 1961, Canuel was the son of two actors, Yvan Canuel and Lucille Papineau. He began his career in the 1980s shooting music videos for artists such as Paul Piché, Sass Jordan, Norman Iceberg, Vilain Pingouin, and Sylvain Cossette.

His first feature film was (The Pig’s Law) La loi du Cochon, a crime drama about two sisters who run a struggling pig farm in rural Quebec and decide to rent part of their land out to a criminal marijuana smuggling ring. The film starred Christian Bégin, Jean-Nicolas Verreault, Stéphane Demers, Christopher Heyerdahl and Marie Brassard.

Veteran Quebec director Erik Canuel, best known for his box office hit Bon Cop, Bad Cop, has died. He was 63.

Canuel died on June 15 in Montreal after complications from secondary plasma cell leukemia, according to Montreal-based communications firm Annexe. He was first diagnosed with multiple myeloma seven years ago.

“Erik Canuel left an unforgettable mark on the film and television industry both in Quebec and across Canada. His breakout, crossover hit Bon Cop, Bad Cop remains not just a Canadian favorite, but a groundbreaking benchmark in bilingual film,” Directors Guild of Canada president Warren P. Sonoda said in a statement.

The Quebec bilingual buddy movie Bon Cop, Bad Cop, directed by Canuel and starring Patrick Huard and Colm Feore, earned the Golden Reel Award as the highest-grossing Canadian movie of 2006 and broke Canadian box office records by grossing $10.3 million at the local multiplex.

His other French-language movie credits included his...

2020 continues, as a first trailer for the Quebec remake of Brooklyn Nine-Nine has now been released. Yes, you read all of those words correctly. Do not adjust your screen.

Escouade 99 (Squad 99 in English) really does appear to be a near shot-for-shot remake of Brooklyn Nine-Nine, with its original cast replaced by the likes of Mickaël Gouin, Bianca Gervais, Mylène Mackay, Widemir Normil and Guy Jodoin. The Quebec version was directed by Patrick Huard (Bon Cop Bad Cop) and it follows “a group of endearing and out of the ordinary detectives who fight crime at Escouade 99 in Quebec City.”

Quebec broadcast company Quebecor Content purchased the rights to the Andy Samberg-led comedy series last year, and this is the first time that the team behind Brooklyn Nine-Nine have authorized an adaptation of outside of the U.S., according to HuffPo. So, from next month, the often shamelessly weird and predominantly...

The Film Farm’s Simone Urdl and Jennifer Weiss (“Away From Her”) have won the Canadian Media Producers Assn.’s 2018 Established Producer Award, it was announced this afternoon at the Indiescreen Awards, the opening event of the Toronto film festival’s industry conference at Glenn Gould Studios.

The award comes with a Can$10,000 cash prize.

The producers’ latest, Darlene Naponse’s “Falls Around Her,” which has its world premiere Sunday, is one of three Toronto titles featuring the beloved Metis actor Tantoo Cardinal.

The Cmpa also announced Prowler Film’s Caitlin Grabham won newly dedicated Kevin Tierney Emerging Producer Award for her inspiring early-career accomplishments and bright future as an influential filmmaker. The award is named for the late Canadian film producer, best known for “Bon Cop Bad Cop.”

The award comes with a $5,000 cash prize.

“Firecrackers,” which Grabham produced through Telefilm’s Talent to Watch program, has its world...

Emerging Producer Award renamed Kevin Tierney Emerging Producer Award.

The Canadian Media Producers Association (Cmpa) on Tuesday (August 21) announced the nominees for the 2018 Indiescreen Awards, which will kick off the Tiff Industry Conference on September 6.

The Cmpa, which represents the country’s independent producers, also announced that its Emerging Producer Award will be renamed the Kevin Tierney Emerging Producer Award in honour of the producer of Bon Cop Bad Cop and The Trotsky who died last spring.

“This year’s Indiescreen Awards nominees have each made important contributions to the rich fabric of our national cinematic tapestry,” said Cmpa president and CEO Reynolds Mastin.

Sony Pictures International Productions, the local language production arm of Sony Pictures, has boarded French-Indian-Belgian co-production The Extraordinary Journey Of The Fakir starring Bérénice Béjo, Barkhad Abdi, Erin Moriarty and Abel Jafri. Sony Pictures Releasing International will release the title in the UK and France in Spring 2018. Gérard Jugnot (The Chorus), Ben Miller (Johnny English), Sarah-Jeanne Labrosse (Bon Cop Bad Cop) and Stefano Cassetti (Young & Beau…...

Stars: Antonio Banderas, Ben Kingsley, Liam McIntyre, Chad Lindberg, Gabriella Wright, Cung Le, Mark Rhino Smith, Jiro Wang, Katherine de la Rocha, Lillian Blankenship, Velimir Velev | Written by Tony Mosher, John Sullivan | Directed by Alain Desrochers

Down on his luck and desperate for work, ex-special services veteran Eddie (Banderas) takes a job as a security guard at a run-down mall in a rough area of town. On his first night on the job he opens the doors up to a distraught and desperate young girl who has escaped and fled from a hijacking of the Police motorcade that was transporting her to testify as a trial witness in a briefcase. Hot on her heels is psychopathic hijacker (Ben Kingsley), alongside his resourceful henchmen, who will stop at nothing to extract and eliminate their witness.

The Die Hard template of movie-making (trapped in a locale as invaders take it over) is...

The Boys are Back: Colm Feore and Patrick Huard talk Bon Cop Bad Cop 2The Boys are Back: Colm Feore and Patrick Huard talk Bon Cop Bad Cop 2Marni Weisz - Editor, Cineplex Magazine5/10/2017 10:01:00 Am

If you’ve seen the highest-grossing movie in Canadian history, 2006’s bilingual comedy Bon Cop Bad Cop, chances are you live in Quebec where the film earned more than $11-million of its $12.5-million domestic take, and where Canadian films do much better than they do in the rest of the country.

As the film’s sequel, Bon Cop Bad Cop 2, hits theatres this month, star Colm Feore makes an impassioned case for Anglo-Canadians to jump on board.

“What many Canadians don’t understand is that they’ve already paid for this movie, they’ve already bought a ticket,” Feore argues enthusiastically over the phone from Montreal where he and his Bon Cop co-star,...

Colm Feore and Patrick Huard talk Bon Cop Bad Cop 2Colm Feore and Patrick Huard talk Bon Cop Bad Cop 2Adriana Floridia5/9/2017 10:38:00 Am

Our favourite Canadian buddy cop duo are back for Bon Cop Bad Cop 2!

One of the most successful Canadian comedy films ever made, the excitement is high for the return of Colm Feore and Patrick Huard in this anticipated sequel. It has been eleven years since the two were onscreen together as an English and French speaking duo who were brought together to solve a murder that took place on the Quebec-Ontario border.

This time around, the pair have to take on a car theft ring, that looks like it'll take them to new territories. We can't wait to see how it all plays out when Bon Cop Bad Cop 2 hits theatres on May 12th. Watch our interview with stars Feore and Huard below,...

Baywatch, Alien: Covenant, Snatched and more movies you need to watch this MayBaywatch, Alien: Covenant, Snatched and more movies you need to watch this MayAdriana Floridia5/3/2017 10:23:00 Am

Blockbuster season is officially upon us, and we must say, it's going to be a great one.

With May comes Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, which is already getting stellar reviews and frankly looks like it will (somehow) be better than the first. Then we have some great comedies in Snatched and Baywatch, some horror with Alien: Covenant, and some Canadian power with Bon Cop Bad Cop 2. We're breaking down all of May's releases for you below!

10 movies you need to watch in May:

Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2

Release Date: May 5th, 2017

For Fans of: Chris Pratt, Superheroes, Fun

See it With: Friends and Family

See it In: IMAX 3D Nobody expected the first Guardians of the Galaxy...

Colm Feore and Patrick Huard reunite in the Exclusive new trailer for Bon Cop Bad Cop 2Colm Feore and Patrick Huard reunite in the Exclusive new trailer for Bon Cop Bad Cop 2Adriana Floridia4/6/2017 2:59:00 Pm

In the highly anticipated sequel, David Bouchard (Patrick Huard) and Martin Ward (Colm Feore) are once again forced to work together. This time, the Quebec investigator is under Ward’s command, since Ward is now a Royal Canadian Mounted Police officer. The unlikely duo has the mission of dismantling a stolen car ring, which in fact fronts for something much, much more sinister. Through their experiences, Bouchard and Ward discover that the enemies are not always whom you think. They also realize that as time goes by, some things change, while others stay exactly the same.

Check out the Exclusive new trailer for Bon Cop Bad Cop 2 below and see the film...

TORONTO -- Quebec films dominated nearly all the major categories as nominations for the Genies, Canada's top film honors, were unveiled Tuesday in Toronto.

In the best picture competiton, Ivan Reitman-produced Trailer Park Boys: The Movie was the lone English-language Canadian entry. It will face off against four Quebecois films: Erik Canuel's Bon Cop, Bad Cop, Charles Biname's Maurice Richard/The Rocket, Jean-Francois Pouliot's Guide De La Petite Vengeance and Robert Favreau's Un Dimanche A Kigali.

The same quartet of French-language filmmakers surfaced again in the best director category, an all-Quebecois affair rounded out by La Vie Secrete Des Gens Heureux helmer Stephane Lapointe.

"Maurice Richard/The Rocket," a French-language drama about the legendary hockey player, led the Genies field with 13 nominations, followed by bilingual buddy comedy Bon Cop, Bad Cop with 10 nominations.

Terry Gilliam's Tideland, a British-Canadian co-production, grabbed five craft nominations and a best actress nod for Jodelle Ferland, while Julia Kwan's Eve and the Fire Horse earned a best supporting actress nomination for Vivian Wu and a best supporting actor nomination for Lester Chit-Man Chan. Otherwise, English-language Canadian movies, which garner a paltry 1% of cinema screen-time nationwide, look set to play second fiddle to their French-language counterparts when the Genies are handed out next month. Quebec films similarly overshadow the acting categories, with Colm Feore (Bon Cop) going up against Roy Dupuis (Maurice Richard), Belgian actor Olivier Gourmet (Congorama), Patrick Huard (Bon Cop) and Luc Picard (Un Dimanche A Kigali) in the best actor competition.

In the best actress category, Sigourney Weaver, nominated for her role in Snow Cake, will challenge Julie Le Breton (Maurice Richard), Fatou N'Diaye (Un Dimanche A Kigali), veteran Quebec star Ginette Reno (Le Secret De Ma Mere) and Jodelle Ferland (Tideland).

The Genie nominations, which came on the second day of Canada's actors strike, were announced at a Toronto press conference with no nominated directors or actors on hand for the assembled media.

TORONTO -- The Toronto International Film Festival on Tuesday stirred up controversy by releasing a Top 10 list of Canadian movies for 2006 that left out this year's top two domestic boxoffice earners.

The 2006 list, voted on by selected Canadian filmmakers, producers and critics, includes Mike Clattenburg's Trailer Park Boys: The Movie, a popcorn comedy executive produced by Ivan Reitman about ex-convicts in a Halifax trailer park complex.

The 2006 list also includes Sarah Polley's Away From Her, Zacharias Kunuk and Norman Cohn's The Journals of Knud Rasmussen, which opened the 2006 Toronto festival, and Jennifer Baichwal's Manufactured Landscapes, a feature-length documentary.

But this year's kudos ignored Erik Canuel's Bon Cop, Bad Cop, a bilingual buddy movie that earlier this year became the highest-ever Canadian boxoffice earner. Also passed over was the year's second-highest grosser, Christophe Gans' video game-inspired horror pic Silent Hill, a Canada/France co-production shot in Ontario and produced by Don Carmody and Samuel Hadida.

Toronto-based Carmody said leaving his own film and Bon Cop, Bad Cop off the 2006 Top 10 showed that the 10-member jury was out of step with the tastes of ordinary Canadian cinemagoers.

TORONTO -The Canadian phalanx at the American Film Market was toasting a bevy of business deals Saturday after wall-to-wall meetings since the market opened began paying dividends.

Montreal-based distributor Seville International pre-sold Global Metal, the follow-up documentary to Sam Dunn and Scot McFadyen's 2005 hit film Metal: A Headbanger's Journey, to Amuse Soft in Japan and D Prods. of Turkey. The Canadian film also was picked by Pretty Pictures of France, and Europa Films of Brazil.

Seville also said it has sold the rights to bilingual Quebec comedy hit Bon Cop, Bad Cop to Alphaville Filmes for Brazil, J-Bics in Thailand and Turkey's D Prods.

In addition, the distributor sold the Erik Canuel-directed comedy, which recently became Canada's biggest-ever domestic boxoffice hit, to Tandem Film for Bulgaria and MG Film Distribution for the former Yugoslavia, while Lizard Trade bought the Quebec movie for the Russian market.

Seville vp international sales Anick Poirier said she expects Bon Cop, Bad Cop to sell into additional foreign territories before the market wraps.

TORONTO -The Canadian phalanx at the American Film Market was toasting a bevy of business deals Saturday after wall-to-wall meetings since the market opened began paying dividends.

Montreal-based distributor Seville International pre-sold Global Metal, the follow-up documentary to Sam Dunn and Scot McFadyen's 2005 hit film Metal: A Headbanger's Journey, to Amuse Soft in Japan and D Prods. of Turkey. The Canadian film also was picked by Pretty Pictures of France, and Europa Films of Brazil.

Seville also said it has sold the rights to bilingual Quebec comedy hit Bon Cop, Bad Cop to Alphaville Filmes for Brazil, J-Bics in Thailand and Turkey's D Prods.

In addition, the distributor sold the Erik Canuel-directed comedy, which recently became Canada's biggest-ever domestic boxoffice hit, to Tandem Film for Bulgaria and MG Film Distribution for the former Yugoslavia, while Lizard Trade bought the Quebec movie for the Russian market.

Seville vp international sales Anick Poirier said she expects Bon Cop, Bad Cop to sell into additional foreign territories before the market wraps.

TORONTO -- Canadian distributor Motion Picture Distribution LLP on Monday said the Quebec-made bilingual buddy movie Bon Cop, Bad Cop had bucked tradition and broken through into the English Canadian market. Jim Sherry, executive managing director at Toronto-based Motion Picture Distribution, said the Erik Canuel-directed action adventure, shot in Canada's main French and English languages, had pulled in around CAN$300,000 ($267,000) in ticket sales outside Quebec since bowing on August 18. In Quebec, Bon Cop, Bad Cop has already broke all box office records by reaching CAN$6.4 million ($5.7 million) in ticket sales after 17 days on release in that French-speaking province.