Currently in the cinema, “Aline” by Valérie Lemercier is freely inspired by the life and career of Céline Dion. In the role of husband and manager, the director has set her sights on Sylvain Marcel, a Quebec actor.
He was born in Charlemagne, Quebec, in the same city as Celine Dion. Sign of fate or simple coincidence, Sylvain Marcel had everything to be one of the stars of Aline de Valérie Lemercier, a crazy project which is freely inspired by the life of the Canadian singer. On screen, he plays Guy-Claude, a fictional version of René Angélil, the diva’s husband and manager. Same look, same voice, the actor is causing a sensation alongside the grimaced actress.
In France, his name is not yet identified, but in Quebec, Sylvain Marcel is a well-known actor on television, theater and cinema. Now 57 years old, he nevertheless began his career far from the boards and film sets. For nearly 15 years, the actor was a caregiver in a Montreal hospital.
Passionate about comedy, he took off in the early 2000s thanks to advertisements from Familiprix, a well-known chain of pharmacies in Quebec. The actor plays a pharmacist who comes back to each commercial with the same gimmick: “Ah! ha!”This small role gradually installs him in the daily life of the Quebec public.
Self-taught, but above all versatile, Sylvain Marcel then follows projects and slips into the skin of diametrically opposed characters. He rubs shoulders with comedy with the sitcom 450, chemin du golf from 2003 until 2009, with the action film with Bon Cop, Bad Cop in 2006, with the thriller in Lac Mystère in 2013 or even with the drama with the fiction Pour Sarah in 2015, which was the subject of a remake in France, 4 years later.
RECTANGLE PRODUCTIONS / GAUMONT / TF1 FILMS PRODUCTION, DE L’HUILE / PRODUCTIONS CARAMEL FILM INC./PCF ALINE LE FILM INC./BELGA PRODUCTIONS
Sylvain Marcel and Valérie Lemercier in “Aline”.
In addition to playing, Sylvain Marcel is also a musician who has been composing and singing since he was a teenager. In 2014, he released his first album with his group, Sylvain et ses Marcel, made up of his two sons – Félix and Antoine – and himself. Together, they perform covers and original songs written by the actor.
When he received a call from his agent in 2018 to star in a film by Valérie Lemercier, Sylvain Marcel first believed in a hidden camera. However, the French director really wants to meet him to play alongside him in Aline, a false biopic on Celine Dion. To play Guy-Claude, the actor takes 9 kilos and observes René Angélil through the many archive images.
With this film, he signs a tender, luminous and touching interpretation. For his first French film, Sylvain Marcel makes a remarkable entrance.
