Rome Snowboard Design Syndicate

What’s Up With Those Guys (Girl) – Marie-France Roy

Jan 27, 2010 - 03:28 PM EST

Marie-France Roy or MFR or Mofo or Mary or whatever it is she’s being called these days is one of the most unassuming people you will ever meet. Her laid back easy style, and friendly outlook on almost everything she comes into contact with make her a joy to be around. Don’t let this fool you however, behind the smile and ever-present laugh is a calculated killer who along with her partner in crime Annie Boulanger is redefining how we look at women’s snowboarding. Gone are the days of the token girl shot and the lifestyle ad, Marie is leading the charge of women who are filming legit shit right alongside the guys, she’s doing it quietly, with style and with a sense of humor that make her a sought after member of any film crew both male or female. I caught up with her on the world wide web while she was preparing to head down to Colorado for the Transworld Riders Poll for which she is nominated for three awards and picked her brain a bit about life with the Absinthe crew and just what the hell she has been up to this year.

John Cavan - Yo hippy
Marie-France Roy: hehro? oui allo??
JC: U jawhanna do dis
MFR: you no dis!
JC: how has your season been goin so far
MFR: good! had the best trip to start with in Retallack with Oakley girls where we got such good pow. It was honestly some of the best runs of my whole life. Now I’m going up a bit in Whistler to film with Annie and Romain and DCP for Absinthe. It’s been fun. We built a few jumps and I didnt land shit yet :) ha! It’ll come
JC: yeah I saw some photos from Retallack, looked epic, where have you been hanging mostly
MFR: After Retallack, I came back to whistler but it rained for like a week. Since it wasn’t really good anywhere else, I went to the island (Vancouver Island) and surfed a bit. I had never surfed in the winter! it was really stormy and one day, every wave was a barrel. Didn’t catch much that day, but the next day was epic.
JC: Awesome
MFR: Yessssss

Yep!

JC: How is the island in the winter? Is there anyone even there?
MFR: yeah there is. Mainly local surfers that don’t care about getting brain freeze every time you go surf. It rains sooooo much there. But I love it. It’s like this lost wild place but with really awesome people livin there
JC: how is your house coming?
MFR: goood!! My brother will go redo the bathroom for me during the Olympics. I went and bought a bunch of tiles and a new bathtub and stuff... I’m learning a lot and its so fun. I’m lucky to have my handyman brother to do most of it for me!
JC: Have you been playing scrabble at all?
MFR: hells yeah!! I played in Retallack against G-Baby ( skier chick grete eliassen) Liesl (my oakley TM) and John Roderick (the filmer) and I beat them all! ha! they were pissed since English is my second language... Then I came home and told the story to my boyfriend and he played against me and focused so hard and wasn’t letting me any chance and he beat me! by not much but he did! he got lucky...ha! no he killed it
JC: Yeah you don't have much of a chance against me ma friend, but it will still be fun ha I kid I kid. Have you got a chance to ride Whistler much this year
MFR: I cant wait to play you! its gonna be a fierce competition. Yeah I’ve been in Whistler a lot. So many sick pow days. I got some park days at the beginning but then it was always snowing so even better!
JC: What's your go to run at Whistler when you are cruising around for fun
MFR: hmmm, there’s a lot. On a good pow day, peak to creek runs are a safe bet. If it hasn’t snowed in a while, hit runs like orange peel on whistler (theres a sweet hidden boardercross in the woods) or rock and roll laps on blackcomb. The black park has some big jumps too. Haven’t been in a while.
JC: Tell me a funny story about filming with Absinthe
MFR: hmmm, one time last year me and Annie built this jump and we couldn’t land anything and were eating shit... Then we told the guys as a joke that they should wear our outfits and go hit the jump so we could have shots. Romain was stoked so he took my jacket, beanie, goggles, even my board! (153 Lofi) and he went up and hit the jump and landed a front 7 second try ! ha! we laughed so hard..
JC: HA HA that is awesome!

This looks like fun

JC: Who has been riding well this year that you've seen or heard
MFR: I don’t really know. I heard that Shaun White did a quadruple backflip in the pipe right? crazy shit!
MFR: ha!
JC: yeah I heard something about that......I heard you were 720ing on to handrails now too
MFR: Ha actually, its a 630
JC: What has been the hardest part for you about filming with the Absinthe crew
MFR: there’s no hard part really. It’s really mellow and awesome.
JC: Cool....well my next question was gonna be really original...I was gonna ask you the best part of filming with them...I'm such a good interviewer like that, but instead I'll ask you what you for did Christmas and what you got
MFR: ha! good one! well, Christmas was awesome. My boyfriend came out and and spent a lot of time with my brother and friends also. I gave my boyfriend a whole brand new Rome set-up (Thank you!) he was stoked. He got me a surfboard bag and an all girls surf vid that’s really cool : Dear and yonder its called I think. We went snowboarding a lot and one day we went sledding with my bro and boytoy and he said it was is best day of snowboarding ever! Awesome. Then we made traditional food and drank punch and danced like animals
JC: Awesome, sounds sick. Ok so music questions now what are you listening to in the following times: in the car.......on the hill..........on the island..........and never
MFR: LADY GAGA ALL THE TIME!! hahah! I seriously do listen to a lot of lady gaga.. ha! But i also listen to Chromeo these days, a lot of surf movies soundtracks, Fleetwood mac...
JC: cool listen to all the Lady Gaga you want right now....I'm pretty sure once we start filming the new movie that will be high on the NO PLAY list...Ha Ha I kid I kid
MFR: Hahah! I know but you’ll hear me sing it before I drop in on everything anyways!

The MFR Gloves

JC: So you designed a glove last year the MFR......What went into the designs for your new glove this year
MFR: I just told them stuff I like and they designed something cool by doing like a montage of all that stuff. There’s Patsy cline on there, Dylan, the Canadian leaf I think and some other stuff. It looks rad.
JC: Yeah it's pretty bad ass good work, What's with all the "One life" stuff you and all of your friends are always saying.....I even saw it written on one of the new LoFi's
MFR: Ha! well its just that last year while traveling with Chanelle Sladics and Kjersti Buass we started just saying that when trying to motivate each other for whatever reason, hitting a jump, drinking, stopping to complain... It just a saying that makes me realise how lucky I am to live this life and there’s only one so might as well take full advantage of it on every aspect
JC: Cool......you guys don't seem to bitch as much as most people so it seems like it's working........speaking of bitching, the TWS tv show from our Team shootout movie is about to hit, how much you wanna bet they play your step up crash over an over again.....for people that don't know what I'm talking about you wanna explain it
MFR: oh I forgot that were doin a tv show... yeah i bet they’ll show my bails a lot! That sucked... I knew I probably shouldn’t hit that thing as I thought the tranny was really quick but then i felt like I was being a pussy the whole time so I forced myself to try it. I even dropped in from higher than the guys to make sure I’d clear it but then I don’t know what happened on the lip, I couldn’t handle the tranny and I think I also digged in the jump a lil as well but yeah, I didn’t clear it and landed on a rock. My back hurt for a month after that. It could have been a lot worse though.
JC: So you are heading to CO for the Tws awards are you stoked for that? and than what do you have planned after that
MFR: yeah that will be fun. Then I come back to Whistler to keep filming as much as possible hopefully it will be sunny a bunch. I leave on the 8th until the 12th to northern Bc for a Redbull Heli Trip with Spencer Obrien and Mikey Renzc. Then more filming and then I leave on a trip With Chanelle, Kjersti, Jamie Anderson, Bevy and Sarka somewhere cool, I don’t know where yet! I’ll be at Loon mountain on March 6th and 7th I think for an Oakley clinic and then Im hoping to get back into precious filming time.

Marie hard at work

JC: So lastly, you just resigned with Rome for another 2 years, although that means I have to deal with your French Canadian snideness for another two whole years we couldn't be more stoked on you and working with you, Your definitely part of the family here woman. Care to say anything about re upping with us for a few more years...
MFR: Well thanks ma friend! I’m definitely stoked! I’ve been with Rome since the beginning and couldn’t imagine it any different. Thanks for the huge support and I’ll be filming with you guys soon. I need some stickers! for real... ha!
JC: HA HA I sent a sticker pack with your friend Runke to Colorado.....Teach me another French Canadian swear to use on LNP and lets end this intergeekerweberview
MFR: You can call him Tronche de Cac ! Thanks

Marie has a lot of fun, so should you