He also used a supporting character ("a fashion photographer who dabbles in documentaries") to shoot black-and-white film of Tina for another stylistic look that runs through the movie. This part was played by fellow director Robert Lepage, from Quebec.

Stardom's "reality" or, specifically, its stark depiction of the vulnerability of fame, is something Arcand is very familiar with. For a while in the late 1980s and early 1990s, after the one-two punch of The Decline Of The American Empire (1986) and Jesus Of Montreal (1989), he was flavour of the month, with talk of Jane Fonda remaking the former movie (although this never came to fruition) and numerous offers to work in LA.

Arcand, however, chose to stay put in Canada for personal reasons, including a girlfriend who did not want to make the move to LA. "I was too old to move," he says simply. "After Jesus, I was 47 years old. If I was 30, maybe I would have made it to LA." But isn't the flip side of settling for the quiet life in Canada a loss of potential work? "By staying in Canada, you cut yourself off from most of the interesting offers," he agrees. "Canada doesn't produce a lot of films. There are not a lot of dynamic producers around. The offers stopped coming, and I did commercials. Fame is a fleeting thing. After three or four years, people tend to forget ­ not so much the film people, but people in the street, the taxi drivers."

Of course, his own work habits have a lot to do with his relatively small output of films (he's made less than a dozen features to date). "I'm the slowest writer in the universe," he laughs. "I take forever to write stuff. I get lost in the research, which I find fascinating. Half of it is not of any use but it's fun intellectually." For Stardom, Arcand travelled to the United Nations HQ to research the character and lifestyle of the UN diplomat (Frank Langella) whom Tina marries, and hung around for a week backstage in New York at various fashion shows for further inspiration.

But finding a lead actress for Stardom was not an easy task. "We needed someone who was believable as a fashion model and who could act," explains Arcand. "We looked at 300 girls in LA and I interviewed real fashion models. Except for a British actress who could not play Canadian, there was absolutely no one. Cameron Diaz would have been perfect, but she costs $10 million. Charlize Theron costs $3 million." Finding Paré, who makes her debut in Stardom, and who, like Arcand, is a native of Montreal, was a godsend. "She was perfect," he says. "There are no preconceptions about her. The audience can go with her as she ages from 18 to 26."

Likewise, Arcand won't form preconceptions about the potential audience for the film: "I have no idea and I wish I did. Stardom is very funny but it's a serious subject deep down. Some people may be put off by that."

Shlomo Schwartzberg