By Sylvain Bolduc
There is a new film production happening in the region this month.
Eight episodes of a television series called Three Pines, based on the detective novels of well known local author Louise Penny, are being shot. Three Pines is a fictional village in the Eastern Townships. For the new series, Saint-Armand was chosen as the location.
Penny’s novels have been very successful in the United States and Canada. The addition of this mega TV series is likely to create a phenomenal snowball effect. The series is directed by the man who produced one of Netflix’s biggest hits: The Crown.
MANY TOURISTS NEXT YEAR
It would be wise to expect a tourist tsunami for years to come. The upcoming film production will create a huge craze for the region. Three Pines is presented as the idyllic village to discover. Fans of Penny’s novels know very well the town in question bears a striking resemblance to Knowlton, with sprinklings of other popular haunts throughout the Townships known to the author.
Remember novels like Une année en Provence by Peter Mayles? Tourists from around the world invaded small villages in Provence. Real estate has since boomed.
BEST SELLER IN USA
Penny’s first novel on Gamache, Still Life, was published in 2005 and she has published 14 other books in the series, which have gone on to top the New York Times bestseller list. She has won five Agatha Awards, which are awarded to authors whose books characterize the work of Agatha Christie.
WORLDWIDE BROADCASTING
The eight-hour-long drama will be filmed August through December and will launch exclusively on Prime Video in Canada, US, UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Norway, in Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Greenland. Sony Pictures Television will handle all other international sales. In 2021, a Washington Post reader survey named Chief Inspector Armand Gamache the most beloved fictional detective, beating characters like Sherlock Holmes and Hercule Poirot.
THE STORY
The title, Three Pines, refers to the fictional French Canadian village in which Chief Inspector Gamache operates. The series follows Chief Inspector Armand Gamache (Alfred Molina) of the Sûreté du Québec, a man who sees things others don’t. As he investigates a series of murders in Three Pines, a seemingly idyllic village, he uncovers long-buried secrets and confronts some of his own ghosts.
THE STAR OF THE SERIES
The character Armand Gamache will be played by Alfred Molina
Alfred Molina played in Frida, in Chocolat (as mayor of a small French town), and The Da Vinci Code. He played Otto Octavius / Doctor Octopus in Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 2 (2004) and Spider-Man: No Way Home (December 2021).
LOCATION
The shooting will take place from Oct. 13 to 23, in the village of St-Armand.
