LNP, Nic Sauve, Frank April, Alex Cantin, Ben Bilocq, Phil Jacques, Will Lavigne, Louif Paradis -- names you all know, yes, but once upon a time rail kids from Canada rarely broke into the consciousness of the U.S. scene. This crew from Quebec City was the first to do it with the force that they have. Based almost solely on their urban savagery, many of them found unparalleled success filming with high-level production companies like Videograss and Forum.
In the beginning, however, they all found their focus working together for Bandwagon Films. And so, after years of filming for other projects they have decided to come back together once again to create Déjà Vu, their first full-length video due out in the fall of 2013. In doing so they'll be turning away from their usual projects.
We sat down with Déjà Vu star and X Games gold medalist Louif Paradis to get the scoop on the new crew.ESPN: How did this project come together?
Louif Paradis: Well, we have been talking about it for a while -- really since we all filmed together for the Bandwagon movies. Last fall we started talking about filming for this coming season, and we were all down, so it's going to happen.
Last season we took one trip together so that we could make the teaser and the free online prologues. Also we wanted to prove to our sponsors and ourselves that we were capable of making a legit video.
With everyone having different commitments and different sponsors was it hard to get everyone together?
Yeah, but since we knew from the start of the season and all agreed to it we made it happen and it wasn't too complicated. Nic is usually filming for Forum but the rest of us were filming for Videograss so we are usually together anyway.
How was the trip you all took together this season, was it like old times?
Yeah, we usually only get to snowboard together a few times a year so it was really nice. Plus it was one of the most productive trips I have been on in a long time.
Do you guys talk about how lazy the U.S. kids are?
(Laughs) I don't think people are lazy, but sometimes people don't have to work very hard to get cool tricks and we do. We are always shoveling and working together and making things happen for each other, so instead of just sitting in the car and waiting for someone to land their tricks we will work to make the set-up nice without having to be asked. We all have fun and are on the same page, which is nice.
Is it nice to be able to speak French on those trips?
Yeah it's nice, but we are filming with Hayden and he only speaks English.
Is the whole project going to be a free online video?
Well the prologues are going to be free, but for the main video we want to make DVDs and sell it on iTunes. I feel like web videos don't really stand the test of time like DVDs do, so we definitely want to put it out in that format.
So is Déjà Vu going to be everyone's main project next season?
Yes, we are going to be filming for this project. We are sort of jumping ship from our other projects to focus on this video. It sucks to be leaving Videograss because they have helped us so much, but at some point you have to go after new creative endeavors. This has been a dream of ours for a long time and while it is hard to be leaving VG it's really exciting to be working on Déjà Vu.
Last question: did you do anything awesome with all that X Games money?
(Laughs) I'm pretty boring when it comes to that. I gave some to Hayden because he filmed it, I gave a bunch to the U.S. government, and then I saved the rest. I have to save something for when I can't snowboard anymore.
