Inside Section One

2025 marked the 35th anniversary of Roy's extremely popular Quebec miniseries "Les filles de Caleb" I've read that like 80% of the people in the province were watching the series. Roy has talked in the past about how literally overnight during the run of the series he could not go anywhere. He stopped being an anonymous actor and he became "ROY DUPUIS".

Look what dropped recently: a new DVD box set. Although, it's not Blu-Ray because the universe hates me. The disc contents are exactly the same as the original releases. However, no booklet is included nor are episode titles listed on the discs. The art on the discs copy the smoky aesthetic on the box. Seasons 1 & 2 are grouped together and season 3,4, and 5 are in another set.

I made a YouTube short that shows the packaging. You can find it here: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/c7e7mXeXgEs

Chris Heyn doesn't seem overly optimistic that the series will ever see a Blu-Ray release, which is a real bummer. I can definitely see where he's coming from. As much as I love it, it's not like the series would likely be a big seller. Aside from a few nostalgia blips, it's largely forgotten. The few references I see online are from people who used to watch wrestling commenting on how they used to see ads for LFN during the commercial breaks.

My understanding is that the series' original masters or camera negatives have to be rescanned to create a high quality digital master. In the case of LFN, the series was shot in 16mm rather than 35mm. It came down to a question of price. Network shows were shot in 35mm while cable was shot in 16mm. I realize that's kind of an oversimplification but that's the basic gist. 16mm is also more grainy, which could work to the benefit of what was being shot. That was apparently preferred for LFN. Shows like Homicide: Life on the Street and Oz were both shot in 16mm.

Warner Bros would also have to make the financial investment to have the negatives rescanned. If they don't feel like they'll get a reasonable return on their investment, then they might opt out of paying for that conversion. That brings us back to LFN's popularity. It's popular with fans but perhaps not enough with the general public to move units.

It's really such a shame. LFN is the only property based off the original movie that does not have a Blu-Ray release. The original Luc Besson film does, as does Point of No Return and the CW's version. Heck even the Hong Kong Black Cat and Black Cat 2 have a Blu-Ray release.

Maybe the technology will someday allow for the process to be done at a more reasonable rate. I wonder, though, if having a shoddy HD version of the show with lots of grain and bad coloring would be better than no HD version at all. Also, with the sale of Warner Bros to Netflix, there's a considerable amount of worry about the fate of physical media with their new owners. They might someday consider having the series rescanned so that it can be streamed in HD but having an actual physical release might be off the table.

I loved and I loved and I lost you
by abby82

category: Missing Scene
rating: Explicit
word count: 9,250
warnings: None
author’s note: In one of my first LFN stories I made an offhand reference about "a wet and amorous Michael" early on in his relationship with Nikita. I always wanted to revisit that and see what kind of shenanigans these two could get into with that scenario. It was also a nice day/night contrast to the more somber bathtub scene from "Third Party Ripoff". One is at the dawn of their relationship and the other is on the eve of their forced breakup.

Huzzah! Peta has a role in "Play Dirty" a film that stars Mark Wahlberg and LaKeith Stanfield from director Shane Black. It premiered on Amazon's Prime Video on October 1st.

pick up your sword
by abby82

category: Post Series
rating: General
word count: 4,800
warnings: None
author’s note: This story came together in less than a week when I hit a brick wall on another story I was working on. It's based on the screen grab for the title card from Roy's 2013 movie, "L'Autre Maison". He plays a photojournalist whose goes to Afghanistan and the NATO convoy he was riding in gets hit by a roadside bomb. The sequence in the film inspired the mission that Michael wants to participate in.

chance is the only game I play with
by abby82

category: 1940s Jazz Club AU
rating: Explicit
word count: 46,000
warnings: None
author’s note: This story was initially inspired by two photographs. The first is a promotional image that was published in Elle Quebec for Roy Dupuis' 2004 movie Jack Paradise in which he plays a jazz pianist in Montreal. He looked absolutely amazing with his white dinner jacket, half smoked cigarette and just the right amount of stubble on his face. The second were two promotional images of Peta Wilson as Nikita that were shot for the series' first season. She was wearing a fur stole and her hair was in some Veronica Lake style waves. Those images alone screamed for a 1940s AU of some sort. The plot point concerning Nikita and Operations was inspired by a wonderful story called "Mutual Respect" by Enjoue and Jean in which they both have to feign an emotional attachment to buy them some time with their kidnappers. I had this story in my drafts folder for some time now and when the 14th round of the smallfandomfest came around, I knew it was time to finish the story.

Guy Maddin and Evan and Galen Johnson's "Rumours" had its Out of Competition Gala Premiere Saturday night in the 10PM evening slot. Roy Dupuis walked the red carpet along with his co-stars and the film's trio of directors.

I think everyone can agree that at 61, Roy Dupuis can still get it. His character is described as "hunky", "buff", and "brooding".

Just as I'd hoped, he wore a black on black suit but he did it in a much more different way than usual. His jacket was almost knee length and there was a subtle sash embellishment across his chest that shimmered in the light. I feel like it didn't quite fit him as well as it could have and would have benefited from some additional tailoring. The sleeves at his wrist looked a little too loose. Roy wore his hair up as I kind of expected but I was disappointed that he wore it in pony tail rather than looping the tail in like he's worn it in Toute la vie and A couer battant.

Like all the other cast members, he got his got his own moment in the spotlight during the standing ovation at the end of the screening. There was an afterparty where he also made an appearance.

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