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Telefilm Canada: Should U.S. stars be cast in lead roles?

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Michel Roy, the head of Canada's federal film agency, Telefilm, is urging the government to ease restrictions on allowing foreign stars in publicly funded movies.

Current tax rules require that the lead actor or the second lead be Canadian.

Roy says he believes including more U.S. movie stars would help Canadian movies at the box office, especially the ones from English Canada, which accounted for only one per cent of box office receipts in the country last year.

"We need to make changes -- in order to make those changes we will have to dare to do new things that at times might shock some people."

Roy understands some Canadians may question why their dollars are underwriting films with American stars, but if the movies do well, they would also give Canadian talent more exposure.

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