The filming of the Jean Béliveau Docu-drama

Daniel Belliveau: For the Jean Béliveau filming, I had to modify a lot of things here. I had to change the glass, glass from Aréna Denis-Savard for those at the Auditorium, because the ones at the Auditorium are too modern and are in compliance with the norms of the Québec Major Junior League. So, we had to put lower glass. At the time, the glass was much lower. There were no nets either at the extremities. And to freeze the ice, since we are awaiting a renovation project here, we couldn’t use the compressors to freeze the ice. So, we had to use back-up equipment to freeze the ice. It was a huge challenge, but it worked out well. We had to also remove all the advertising, because at the time, hockey was not a business. It was really sport, so there were no sponsors on the rink nor on the rink’s boards. And on the other side, Denis-Savard, we were obliged, well not obliged, but we rebuilt all the locker rooms of the old Forum, with the infirmary of the old Forum and the showers of the old Forum. It had been so well done that the people who were used to the building here, they would walk through the corridor of the scenery that had been made, they were completely disoriented and they thought that we had completely completely changed the Aréna Denis-Savard, so how well done it was. It was trully special. Besides, it was a period filming. So I understood that in those days, there were a lot more details than today, much, much more. They didn’t go for simplicity, I can tell you that, eh! There were little ornaments, little ones, everything was thought of, it was incredible.

On the Auditorium side, we set up huge green screens to work them on the computer, to simulate as if there were people, there were stands, old stands of the Forum, instead of inviting needless extras. Those screens reproduced everything. It was really impressive! I was wondering what they were for. It was then that I understood what were those huge green screens, that served to… to recreate the… the… the old Forum.