Montrealers surprised, honoured by Emmy nomination
Gavin Fernandes and Louis Gignac are nominated for their sound mixing work on HBO miniseries Big Little Lies
Two Montreal sound mixers have been nominated for an Emmy Award for their work on the HBO miniseries Big Little Lies.
This is the first Emmy nomination for Gavin Fernandes and Louis Gignac, who worked on the show directed by Montreal native Jean-Marc Vallée.
"We were quite surprised, actually," said Fernandes. "We're very happy about it, and really honoured to be among that group of people."
They are nominated, along with Hollywood-based mixer Brendan Beebe, in the category for sound mixing for a limited series or movie.
Big Little Lies is a seven-episode miniseries about a homicide at an elementary school in Monterey, California starring Reese Witherspoon, Nicole Kidman and Shailene Woodley.
The show, based on the novel of the same name, was nominated for 16 Emmys, including best miniseries direction.
This isn't the first time Fernandes and Gignac have worked with Vallée; they all worked together on the 2013 film Dallas Buyers Club, which was nominated for best picture at the Academy Awards.
Fernandes said Montreal's film production scene is expanding, and known for fostering homegrown talent.
"The benefits of living in Montreal instead of other parts of Canada is that we have a very strong, proud and longstanding arts community," said Fernandes.
"Filmmaking, because the Quebec population inherently goes to see homegrown talent, we have an incredible star structure here they don't always have in English Canada."
He says that the local scene is "alive and well," with no end in sight.
"People in Quebec tend to want to see local stories with local stars."
The Emmy Awards show takes place Sept. 17 in Los Angeles.
With files from CBC Daybreak