Trudeau (film)
Encyclopedia


Trudeau is a 2002 television miniseries
Miniseries
A miniseries , in a serial storytelling medium, is a television show production which tells a story in a limited number of episodes. The exact number is open to interpretation; however, they are usually limited to fewer than a whole season. The term "miniseries" is generally a North American term...

 dramatizing the life of former Prime Minister
Prime Minister of Canada
The Prime Minister of Canada is the primary minister of the Crown, chairman of the Cabinet, and thus head of government for Canada, charged with advising the Canadian monarch or viceroy on the exercise of the executive powers vested in them by the constitution...

 Pierre Elliott Trudeau. It aired on CBC Television
CBC Television
CBC Television is a Canadian television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcaster.Although the CBC is supported by public funding, the television network supplements this funding with commercial advertising revenue, in contrast to CBC Radio which are...

 and was written by Wayne Grigsby
Wayne Grigsby
- Career :He started in journalism, primarily arts and entertainment, but had always intended to write fiction. He was able to get a script produced by Brian McKenna and Bernie Zukerman, which led to his becoming a screenwriter. Later he formed Big Motion Pictures Inc. with David MacLeod...

 and directed by Jerry Ciccoritti
Jerry Ciccoritti
Jerry Ciccoritti is a Canadian film, television and theatre director. His ability to work in a number of genres and for many mediums has made him one of the most successful directors in the country.- Biography :...

.

The miniseries was one of the highest-rated Canadian television programs of the year. It won several Gemini Award
Gemini Award
The Gemini Awards are annual television broadcasting industry awards in Canada.First awarded in 1986, the Geminis celebrate the achievements of TV members of the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television. Essentially, it presents awards for the best television productions in Canada. Awards are...

s, including Best Actor, Best Writing and Best Direction.

It follows Pierre Trudeau through the major events of his political mandates up to the patriation
Patriation
Patriation is a non-legal term used in Canada to describe a process of constitutional change also known as "homecoming" of the constitution. Up until 1982, Canada was governed by a constitution that was a British law and could be changed only by an Act of the British Parliament...

 of the Canadian Constitution. A few of the major characters in the film (notably "Greenbaum" and "Duncan") are fictional, or composite character
Composite character
A composite character is a character composed of two or more individuals, appearing in a fictional or non-fictional work. Two fictional characters are often combined into one upon adaptation of a work from one medium to another, as in the film adaptation of a novel...

s.

A prequel, Trudeau II came out in 2005, examining Trudeau's early life.

Cast

  • Colm Feore
    Colm Feore
    Colm Feore is an American-born Canadian stage, film and television actor.-Early life:Feore was born in Boston, Massachusetts to Irish parents who lived in Ireland for several years during Feore's early life. The family subsequently moved to Windsor, Ontario, where Feore grew up.After graduating...

     - Pierre Elliott Trudeau
  • Polly Shannon
    Polly Shannon
    Polly Shannon is a Canadian actress.She is best known for her portrayal of Margaret Trudeau in the 2002 miniseries Trudeau, a film about the late Prime Minister of Canada Pierre Trudeau.Brioux, Bill . , Canadian Online ExplorerShannon was born in Kingston, Ontario, and raised in Aylmer, Quebec...

     - Margaret Trudeau
    Margaret Trudeau
    Margaret Joan Sinclair Trudeau Kemper is the former wife of the late Pierre Trudeau, the 15th Prime Minister of Canada.-Early years and marriage:...

  • Patrick McKenna
    Patrick McKenna
    Patrick McKenna born May 8, 1960 in Sylvania, Saskatchewan is a Canadian comedic and actor. He is best known for playing Harold Green on the television series The Red Green Show, Marty Stephens on Traders, and the Trudeau miniseries. McKenna is a member of Toronto's The Second City comedy troupe...

     - Duncan
  • Don McKellar
    Don McKellar
    -Personal life:McKellar was born in Toronto, Ontario to a lawyer father and teacher mother. He attended Glenview Senior Public School, Lawrence Park Collegiate Institute and later studied English at the University of Toronto's Victoria College...

     - Greenbaum
  • Peter Outerbridge
    Peter Outerbridge
    Peter Outerbridge is a Canadian actor, best known for his role as Dr. David Sandstrom in the TMN series ReGenesis, as William in Saw VI and his role as Dan Farmer in Happy Town.-Life and career:...

     - Jim Coutts
    Jim Coutts
    James Allan Coutts, is a Canadian lawyer, businessman, and former advisor to two Prime Ministers.Born in High River, Alberta, he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1960 and a law degree in 1961 from the University of Alberta and an MBA from the Harvard Business School in 1968...

  • Raymond Cloutier - Gérard Pelletier
    Gérard Pelletier
    Gérard Pelletier, PC, CC worked as a journalist for Le Devoir, a French-language newspaper in Montreal, Quebec. In 1961 he became editor-in-chief of the Montreal daily and North America's largest French circulating newspaper, La Presse...

  • Raymond Bouchard - Jean Marchand
    Jean Marchand
    Jean Marchand, PC, CC was a well known French Canadian public figure, trade unionist and politician in Quebec, Canada....

  • Luc Proulx - René Lévesque
    René Lévesque
    René Lévesque was a reporter, a minister of the government of Quebec, , the founder of the Parti Québécois political party and the 23rd Premier of Quebec...

  • R. H. Thomson
    R. H. Thomson
    Robert Holmes "R. H." Thomson, is a Canadian television, film and stage actor.Thomson was born in Richmond Hill, Ontario. He studied at the University of Toronto, and the National Theatre School. His own play The Lost Boys was staged at the Great Canadian Theatre Company in March 2000 and at...

     - Mitchell Sharp
    Mitchell Sharp
    Mitchell William Sharp, PC, CC was a Canadian politician and a Companion of the Order of Canada, was most noted for his service as a Liberal Cabinet minister. He had, however, served in both private and public sectors during his long career.-Background:Sharp was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba...

  • Guy Richer
    Guy Richer
    Guy Richer is a Canadian actor. Aside from a few other roles, he is notable for his portrayal of Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chrétien in the 2002 television miniseries Trudeau.- External links :...

     - Jean Chrétien
    Jean Chrétien
    Joseph Jacques Jean Chrétien , known commonly as Jean Chrétien is a former Canadian politician who was the 20th Prime Minister of Canada. He served in the position for over ten years, from November 4, 1993 to December 12, 2003....

  • Jean Marchand (actor)|Jean Marchand 1 - Marc Lalonde
    Marc Lalonde
    Marc Lalonde, PC, OC, QC is a retired Canadian politician and Cabinet minister.Lalonde was born in Île Perrot, Quebec and obtained a Master of Laws degree from the Université de Montréal, a Master's degree from Oxford University, and a Diplôme d'études supérieures en droit from the University of...

  • Geraint Wyn Davies
    Geraint Wyn Davies
    Geraint Wyn Davies is a British-Canadian-American actor.He was born on 20 April 1957 in Britain, at Swansea. He was the son of a Congregationalist preacher...

     - Bill Davis
    Bill Davis
    William Grenville "Bill" Davis, was the 18th Premier of Ontario, Canada, from 1971 to 1985. Davis was first elected as the MPP for Peel in the 1959 provincial election where he was a backbencher in Leslie Frost's government. Under John Robarts, he was a cabinet minister overseeing the education...

  • Eric Peterson
    Eric Peterson
    Eric Neal Peterson, C.M. is a Canadian stage and television actor, known for his roles in three major Canadian series – Street Legal, Corner Gas and This is Wonderland.-Personal life:...

     - Tommy Douglas
    Tommy Douglas
    Thomas Clement "Tommy" Douglas, was a Scottish-born Baptist minister who became a prominent Canadian social democratic politician...

  • Robert Bockstael
    Robert Bockstael
    Robert Theodore Bockstael was a Liberal party member of the Canadian House of Commons. He was a businessman by career....

     - Roy McMurtry
    Roy McMurtry
    Roland "Roy" McMurtry, OC, OOnt is a judge and former politician in Ontario, Canada and the current Chancellor of York University.-Early life:McMurtry was born in Toronto and educated at St. Andrew's College, graduating in 1950...

  • Ron White
    Ron White (actor)
    Ron White is a Canadian actor who was has been credited with several film and television works.-Filmography:White's television credits include several television series. His television credits include:*9B...

     - James Sinclair
    James Sinclair (politician)
    James Sinclair, PC was a Canadian politician and businessman.-Life and career:Sinclair was born in Banff, Scotland, the son of Betsy and James George Sinclair. He moved to Vancouver with his family in 1911...

  • Sara Botsford
    Sara Botsford
    Sara Botsford is a Canadian television and film actress. She is probably best known for her role of Ann Hildebrand in the television series E.N.G. for which she won a Gemini Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Continuing Leading Dramatic Role...

     - Kathleen Sinclair
  • Michael Copeman - Robert Stanfield
    Robert Stanfield
    Robert Lorne Stanfield, PC, QC was the 17th Premier of Nova Scotia and leader of the federal Progressive Conservative Party of Canada. He is sometimes referred to as "the greatest prime minister Canada never had", and earned the nickname "Honest Bob"...

  • Brian Heighton - Brian Peckford
    Brian Peckford
    Alfred Brian Peckford, PC served as the 3rd Premier of Newfoundland. He served as leader of the Progressive Conservatives from 1979 until his retirement in 1989....

  • Gary Levert - Roy Romanow
    Roy Romanow
    Roy John Romanow, PC, OC, QC, SOM is a Canadian politician and the 12th Premier of Saskatchewan ....

  • Jean-Guy Moreau - Jean Drapeau
    Jean Drapeau
    Jean Drapeau, was a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as mayor of Montreal from 1954 to 1957 and 1960 to 1986...

  • Stephen Morgan
    Stephen Morgan
    Stephen Morgan was a U.S. Representative from Ohio.Born in Jackson County, Ohio, Morgan attended the common schools, Central College, Worthington, Ohio, and the National Normal University, Lebanon, Ohio....

     - Bryce Mackasey
    Bryce Mackasey
    Bryce Stuart Mackasey, PC was a Canadian Member of Parliament, Cabinet minister, and Ambassador to Portugal....

  • William Parsons (actor)- Lester B. Pearson
    Lester B. Pearson
    Lester Bowles "Mike" Pearson, PC, OM, CC, OBE was a Canadian professor, historian, civil servant, statesman, diplomat, and politician, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1957 for organizing the United Nations Emergency Force to resolve the Suez Canal Crisis...

  • Hugh Thompson
    Hugh Thompson
    Hugh Thompson may refer to:*Hugh Miller Thompson , second bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Mississippi*Hugh Smith Thompson , Governor of South Carolina, 1882-1886*Hugh Thompson, Jr...

     - Ron Basford
    Ron Basford
    Stanley Ronald "Ron" Basford, PC was a long-time Canadian Cabinet minister in the Liberal government of Pierre Trudeau. Based in British Columbia, he was known as "Mr...

  • Karl Pruner
    Karl Pruner
    Karl Pruner is a Canadian actor whose most notable work is in portraying Canadian Prime Minister John Turner in the 2002 mini-series Trudeau. He did not play Turner in the sequel Trudeau II: Maverick in the Making but did portray Frank Scott. Amongst his other work, he did voice acting as Beta Ray...

     - John Turner
    John Turner
    John Napier Wyndham Turner, PC, CC, QC is an English Canadian lawyer and retired politician, who served as the 17th Prime Minister of Canada from June 30 to September 17, 1984....

  • David McIlwraith
    David McIlwraith
    David McIlwraith is an actor who has appeared in numerous television series and in several movies since the 1970s. He co-starred in the 1993 television series White Fang. In 2005 he appeared in the television movie Living With the Enemy. In 2006 he appeared in the feature film Hollow Man II.-...

     - Peter Lougheed
    Peter Lougheed
    Edgar Peter Lougheed, PC, CC, AOE, QC, is a Canadian lawyer, and a former politician and Canadian Football League player. He served as the tenth Premier of Alberta from 1971 to 1985....



Archival footage of Joe Clark
Joe Clark
Charles Joseph "Joe" Clark, is a Canadian statesman, businessman, and university professor, and former journalist and politician...

, Knowlton Nash
Knowlton Nash
Cyril Knowlton Nash, OC, O.Ont , commonly known as Knowlton Nash, is a journalist, author, and former long-serving senior anchorman of CBC Television's flagship news program, The National...

 and Queen Elizabeth II
Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom
Elizabeth II is the constitutional monarch of 16 sovereign states known as the Commonwealth realms: the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize,...

 is used in the film. Cynthia Dale
Cynthia Dale
Cynthia Dale is a Canadian television actress and stage performer. With a long and accomplished history as a dramatic actor, she is best known for her role as lawyer Olivia Novak in the 1987-94 television drama Street Legal....

 and Peter Mansbridge
Peter Mansbridge
Peter Mansbridge, OC , a Canadian broadcaster and news anchor, is the CBC News Chief Correspondent and anchor of The National, CBC Television's flagship nightly newscast. Mansbridge has received many awards and accolades for his journalistic work including an honorary doctorate from Mount Allison...

 also have small roles; Mansbridge plays himself.

Accuracy

In several interviews at the time of the premiere, actual Trudeau PMO bureaucrats commented on the general accuracy of the film with one major exception. Most characters in the film refer to Trudeau as "Mr. Prime Minister." This is improper Canadian government protocol
Protocol (politics)
Protocol can mean any logbook or other artifact of a political meeting between persons from different nations, such as the Kyoto Protocol on Climate Change. The most notorious example of a forged logbook is "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion"....

; the prime minister is simply referred to as "Prime Minister", although it is not uncommon for the Prime Minister to be addressed by the former as well as the latter. It is notable that actor R. H. Thomson
R. H. Thomson
Robert Holmes "R. H." Thomson, is a Canadian television, film and stage actor.Thomson was born in Richmond Hill, Ontario. He studied at the University of Toronto, and the National Theatre School. His own play The Lost Boys was staged at the Great Canadian Theatre Company in March 2000 and at...

refused to use the scripted address and ad-libbed instead.
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