Allen Altman: I feel so blessed and I’m so proud. From the first moment that I read the script I thought it was so incredible and I worked hard to get the part and I’m so thrilled it`s getting the recognition my instinct said it would. And I’m having a great, great time these days. It`s been a pretty amazing ride, with this film and the whole year. I had two films at TIFF this year and both of them were voted Canada Top 10, so it`s been amazing.
AA: I had seen the play years before when I was living in Montreal and I was just thrilled to have the opportunity to audition. I thought it would be a fun exercise for me. I got a dialogue coach and I started working on the accent right away.
NS: The final list of nominated films will be announced next week, on the 25th…
AA: I think it would be amazing. There hasn’t been a Canadian film that has been voted into the Oscars® since Les invasions barbares in 2004. That`s a long time. Lots of good films have come out of Canada but we just seem to get lost in the American shuffle, if you will. I’m just thrilled. It`s such a risky film, you know. It`s such a topical, intense subject matter. I’m so happy that a film like this is getting the attention it deserves because it shows that there`s so much more to Canada, if you know what I mean.
NS: And I think that`s reflected in the accolades it has already received across Canada.
AA: It was so ambitious and so well done and so elegant. The entire time I was on set I felt I was part of something special. Everybody who was on that project knew that it was an act of love doing it.
NS: If Incendies ends up in the final list of nominated films, will you be going to Los Angeles?
AA: I hope so. I’m one of only a very small list of credited actors, so I imagine there`s a chance, but it all depends on budget constraints, but I will be there with them in spirit.