Daniel Grou (born August 19, 1967), frequently credited as Podz, is a

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

film and television director, director of six feature films as well as episodes in dozen TV series.

Biography

Daniel Grou was born in

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

. He has a bachelor's degree in film studies. He took the nickname "Podz" from the fact that his surname differs in spelling, but not in pronunciation, from the far more common French Canadian surname

Groulx Groulx is a provincial electoral district in the Laurentides region of Quebec, Canada, that elects members to the National Assembly of Quebec. It notably includes the city of Boisbriand as well as a few other small cities. It was created for th ...

, meaning that he was frequently forced to state his surname to people as "Grou, pas d'lx".

Career

Grou started his career directing rock videos and English-language TV shows, ''

Drop the Beat ''Drop the Beat'' is a Canadian television series produced by Back Alley Film Productions that aired on CBC Television in 2000 and 2001."TV show puts spotlight on hip-hop". ''Sudbury Star'', February 9, 2000. A short-run dramatic series, the show ...

'' was one of his first projects. He made more than 60 videoclips for various artists, including and

René Dupéré René Dupéré (born 1946) is a Canadian composer from Mont-Joli, Québec, Canada. Biography Dupéré is best known as the composer and arranger of music for contemporary circus productions by the Canadian entertainment company Cirque du Sol ...

. His credits include six feature films as well as episodes in dozen TV series.Rose, Alex, ''Mafia Inc. digs into the rich criminal history of Montreal'', Cult MTL, February 13th, 2020
consulted online
on February 14th, 2020. He directed all three seasons of Canadian French-language 19-2, and later was invited to direct the first episode of season two of the English version. Grou directed the first and the third seasons of ''

Cardinal Cardinal or The Cardinal most commonly refers to * Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds **''Cardinalis'', genus of three species in the family Cardinalidae ***Northern cardinal, ''Cardinalis cardinalis'', the common cardinal of ...

'', missing the second one due to a scheduling conflict. The series were adapted from

Giles Blunt Giles Blunt (born 1952) is a Canadian novelist, poet, and screenwriter. His first novel, ''Cold Eye'', was a psychological thriller set in the New York art world, which was made into the French movie ''Les Couleurs du diable'' (Allain Jessua, 1 ...

’s book ''Forty Words for Sorrow''. Grou feature film ''7 days'', a story about a father's revenge, was screened at Sundance festival and well-received by its audience that appreciated ‘reimagining of the horrors of torture porn’ and praised Grou for bringing moral complexity to the genre and balancing the violence with impeccable direction. However, some critics were sceptical and called the movie a ‘pseudo-artistic veneer’ that lacked catharsis and showed forgettable characters. Released in 2013, ''

Vikings Vikings were seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway, and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded, and settled throughout parts of Europe.Roesdahl, pp. 9� ...

'' became one of Grou's most popular projects. The showrunner Michael Hirst called Grou ‘a very gifted director’ and confessed that he was the only one to tackle the most challenging episodes. For ''Vikings'' he was nominated for DGC's award for outstanding directorial achievement in a dramatic series. In 2021, he released ''

Mafia Inc. ''Mafia Inc.'' is a 2019 Canadian crime drama film directed by Podz and scripted by Sylvain Guy. Based on the non-fiction book ''Mafia Inc: The Long, Bloody Reign of Canada's Sicilian Clan'' by journalists André Cédilot and André Noël, the f ...

'', a drama about the Canadian mafia based on a nonfiction book written by a former mob. Grou's film received high acclaim and he was complimented for a bold move into a genre completely dominated by Coppola's

The Godfather ''The Godfather'' is a 1972 American Epic film, epic crime film directed by Francis Ford Coppola, who co-wrote the screenplay with Mario Puzo, based on Puzo's best-selling The Godfather (novel), 1969 novel. The film stars an ensemble cast inc ...

. The film was premiered at

São Paulo International Film Festival The São Paulo International Film Festival (), also known internationally as Mostra, is an annual film festival held in the city of São Paulo, Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South Ame ...

before having its Canadian premiere in February 2020. In April 2023, Grou's upcoming project ''Kill Me Now'' was selected by Telefilm Canada for its Production Program.

Awards

Grou is a four-time Gémeaux Award winner for Best Direction in a Dramatic Television Series or Program, winning in 2003 for the television film ''Exils'', in 2006 and 2007 for ''Minuit, le soir'', and in 2011 for the French version of ''19-2''. He was a

Jutra Award Jutras may have several meanings : * Claude Jutra: an award-winning French Canadian filmmaker **Jutra Award: Film awards formerly given in the Canadian province of Quebec, named after the filmmaker and now known as Prix Iris **The Claude Jutra Awa ...

nominee for Best Director in 2011 for ''10½'' and in 2013 for ''L'Affaire Dumont'', a

Genie Award The Genie Awards were given out annually by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television to recognize the best of Canadian cinema from 1980–2012. They succeeded the Canadian Film Awards (1949–1978), known as the "Etrog Awards" for sculptor ...

nominee for

Best Director Best Director is the name of an award which is presented by various film, television and theatre organizations, festivals, and people's awards. It may refer to: Film awards * AACTA Award for Best Direction * Academy Award for Best Director * As ...

at the

31st Genie Awards The 31st Genie Awards ceremony was held on March 10, 2011 to honour films released in 2010.

in 2010 for ''10½'', and a

Canadian Screen Award The Canadian Screen Awards () are awards given for artistic and technical merit in the film industry recognizing excellence in Canadian film, English-language television, and digital media ( web series) productions. Given annually by the Academy ...

nominee for Best Direction in a Dramatic Television Series at the

4th Canadian Screen Awards The 4th Canadian Screen Awards was held on March 13, 2016, to honour achievements in Canadian film, television, and digital media production in 2015. Nominations were announced on January 19, 2016. Throughout the week before the main ceremony, aw ...

in 2016 for the '' 19-2'' episode "School".

Filmography

Cinema

* 2010 : '' 7 Days (Les 7 jours du Talion)'' * 2010 : '' 10½'' * 2012 : '' L'Affaire Dumont'' * 2014 : ''

Miraculum ''Miraculum'' is a Canadian drama film, directed by Daniel Grou and released on February 28, 2014. Synopsis The film follows the development of different stories at the same time. Simon (played by Gabriel Sabourin) finally returns to his hom ...

'' * 2015 : '' King Dave'' * 2020 : ''

TV

* 1999 : '' The Hunger'' (3 episodes) * 2000 : ''

'' I and II (4 episodes) * 2001-2002 : '' Vampire High'' (6 episodes) * 2001-2002 : ''

Big Wolf on Campus ''Big Wolf on Campus'' is a Canadian television series created by Peter A. Knight and Christopher Briggs that ran from 1999 to 2002. The central plot revolves around a teenage boy named Thomas "Tommy" P. Dawkins, who was bitten by a werewolf duri ...

'' (4 episodes) * 2002 : * 2003 : (13 episodes) * 2004 :

Les Bougon ''Les Bougon - c'est aussi ça la vie!'' is a Quebec sitcom broadcast by Radio-Canada from 2004 to 2006, written by François Avard and Jean-François Mercier and produced by Fabienne Larouche. The show won three Gémeaux in 2004. The show's ...

II (12 episodes) * 2004 : Au nom de la loi * 2005-2007 : Minuit, le soir I, II, III * 2006 : I, II * 2011 : 19-2 * 2011 : Xanadu * 2012 : * 2013 :

* 2017 :

* 2020 :

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Grou, Daniel 1967 births Canadian television directors Film directors from Quebec Living people Place of birth missing (living people) Canadian Screen Award winning directors