Actor/director Xavier Dolan, popping up as Francis in his new film "Heartbeats."

Xavier Dolan is a film director based in Montreal. He’s 21 years old, and back in 2009 his debut film (written when he was 16; shot soon after) I Killed My Mother scored three awards at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival, opening to standing ovations, and subsequently playing festivals everywhere. It received a US theatrical release om 2010.

Dolan’s second film, Heartbeats (aka Les Amours Imaginaires), had its debut at 2010’s Cannes film fest, also opening to standing ovations, and snagging the top prize of the Official Competition at the Sydney Film Festival last June. And it screened to much acclaim last fall at the Toronto International Film Festival. This weekend, Heartbeats opens in NYC. Not bad for any emerging director, but also not bad for someone who just reached U.S. drinking age, eh?

Heartbeats stylishly chronicles the story of two good friends Francis (played by Dolan) and Marie (Monia Chokri), who both fall for a handsome and enigmatic new friend, Nicolas (Niels Schneider) who enters their social circle. The vibe of the film is lyrical and romantic. Montreal has never looked more stylish and lush, and the film’s protagonists are attractive romantic hipsters, muddling their way through life, parties, cafes all the while yearning to connect and fall in love.

Three's company: Francis, Nicolas and Marie hit the sack in "Heartbeats."

Dolan clearly has a gift for subtle storytelling and artful cinematography; and his sense of how to use music to amp up the emotional stakes is impressive.

With Heartbeats opening in Toronto, it seemed like a good time to talk to the candid, confident and openly gay Dolan about his work and his future plans.

After the jump, a full-on Q&A with Xavier Dolan.

Congratultions on Heartbeats. How did you get into to filmmaking?

XAVIER DOLAN: It's maybe a surprising answer, but I wanted to be sure I could play the role of Hubert in I Killed My Mother, and I thought, "I don't want to a director to be over me and saying "No, I'm thinking of that other actor or that big star..." I thought, "This is really my life and I'm going to direct it."

Meanwhile, I had just dropped out of college, and watching films I realized that I wanted to be part of this. To participate in the cinematic experience and be part of this universe; to be an artist... I was young; I was 17. And then it became obvious to me that I wanted to become a director as well.

What's your favorite part about making movies?

Shooting. It's just the adrenaline. Maybe it goes away with time, but I believe not. I'm going to shoot my third film this winter, and I'm already thinking about the first day; five in the morning, sunrise, drinking bad coffee outside in the cold with your Canada goose coat -- it's just a ritual.

Dolan (center) on the set with his costars Monia Chokri (left) and Niels Schneider (rear).

Are you a control freak -- is that part of it?

Do you have a press kit? The pink one? I designed that myself. So, that pretty much answers your question if I'm a control freak or not.

Where did the story of the three people in Heartbeats come from?

It was just a pretext to reunite the three of us—Monia, Niels and myself—professinally, because we're friends in real life. We had just gotten back from a road trip together in the U.S. that we enjoyed, and we thought "How could we be back together, but acting together?" and I thought, well... "I'm a movie director; I'm going to write a script!"

We brainstormed on a couple of ideas and explored a couple of avenues, but it was never fruitful. We thought about being brothers and sisters and having our dad die, and we thought of being students, but nothing worked best, then the love triangle came... But it's actually more of a love duo, because there's a dead angle in the triangle.

So there was never an idea of "Hey, we'll be buddy cops and she'll be our romantic interest, and..."

No, no, no... That's not my forte. I try to stay in my comfort zone, which is poetry and pretention.

No car chases, please. We're keeping it moody.

How's Montreal as a place to shoot and work?

Montreal is part of Quebec, and Quebec is part of Canada, so I guess that is a fact, and being part of Canada means having to deal with public funding. So, it's difficult to have your film financed. I Killed My Mother was turned down by public agencies, and I had to finance it myself, and then afterwords, before it went to Cannes, then people wanted to invest in the traveling and everything, just to be sure their logo would be in the credits.

But I do not hold grudges. If you're young and you're not famous, if you're not a star, you're just looked at from a despicable angle. People just won't consider you.

Making a movie with your friends—is that fun, or is it difficult?

Well, on the set they're not your friends anymore. They're colleagues. Monia is like a sister to me; we communicate by thought. So it's easy, and improv is fluid, and it's just part of our approach. With Niels and other friends -- because basically all the people in this film are my friends -- we're friends, but not on the set. I don't talk to them like they're strangers, of course, but we stick to professional codes and parameters to be sure that we don't slide into telling jokes or...

Do you look forward to things moving forward in your career and working with name actors?

Sure. My fourth film is definitely a movie that is going to be shot in the U.S. and I'm going to direct American actors in it. So first, I'm going to shoot my third film this winter, and then my fourth is going to be called "Letters to a Young Actor" or "Why the Red Carpet Is Red.” And yeah, I'm dreaming of the actors and actresses for this film.

Who?

Well, there are people I would dream of working with, not necessarily for that film but, people like Julianne Moore, Meryl Streep, Kate Winslet, Helen Mirren, James Franco -- these are all actors that I really admire.

It's just that thing like "What would it be like to direct him in a scene where he would have to do this?" or "In a scene where she would have to do this or that?" Because you quickly see actors' comfort zones and you start imagining them doing crazy things and you're like "Oooh, I would love to do this with her, she'd be soooo good."

And somebody like Julianne Moore, you figure "well, she can do anything."

Yeah, but you want to see her do it!

And more specifically about Heartbeats: What is the Nico character thinking? He's the big object of desire in the film, but what's going through his head?

He's not thinking anything. He's just a heartbreaker; he's a wolf. He's a womanizer, a Don Juan, a Casanova -- you want all the synonyms? He's not a mean person, and he's not unconscious, but he's not conscious of how much harm he can do to other people. He's a player, and when he's looking in other people's eyes, he needs to see this sparkle, and this look and feel that he is this dominant force, and that he's the reason for that sparkle.

And these people who want to be loved by everyone, but who can love anyone but themselves, he's one of those.

I think we've all known one or two of those.

Oh God... How much time do you have? [laughs]

Niels Schneider as Nicolas. Pretty... But not much else?

Monia Chokri, looking fabulous as Marie in "Heartbeats." Audrey Hepburn who?

There’s great music in the film—from The Knife and even the classic “Bang Bang” sung by Dalida. How did you choose it?

Monia helped me a lot actually. She pitched a couple of songs to me, and she has a very good ear. We both have a lot of admiration for filmmakers with great music taste.

Kubrick is unbeatable. He is the filmmaker with the best music choices ever. Tarantino has an unbeatable ear for music choices as well. I haven’t seen all of his films; they’re not my type of thing, but I really respect his ear. It is impeccable.

Sometimes you’re thinking of a scene, and then… Let’s put it this way: Would that scene work without this song? And if the answer is “Ummm, it would work, but it wouldn’t be the same thing…” or “It wouldn’t work.” Then it’s just because you cannot even think of not having it there.

And for Heartbeats we wanted every piece to fit. And for me, “Pass This On” from The Knife fits. And “Bang Bang” from Dalida fits. But what was interesting was to create a universe of various songs that come from all periods of time and different countries and different styles and different genres, and it was interesting to have this puzzle of music that would show how much the problem of love isn’t exclusive to any style or any genre or any sexes or era. It’s universal.

Does being gay play a role in any way in the art you create?

No, it doesn’t. Well, there’s no correlation to being heterosexual and shooting films either. We don’t talking about films as being “Jewish films” or “heterosexual films”… Generally, I am against labeling things. I think it is ghettoizing, and I hate these labels.

I would never think of Gus Van Sant as a gay filmmaker. I probably wouldn’t even think of My Own Private Idaho as a gay film. It’s just a film. Brokeback Mountain is a gay film. It’s a gay love story—and I love it. Jake Gyllenhaal is extraordinary in that film.

But yes, for now, unfortunately I would not say that being gay has influenced any of my work. And will probably not. I’m gay, but I also have brown hair and I’m nearsighted. It doesn’t really influence my work.

Finally, the look and vibe of Heartbeats is very romantic. Does that come easy to you, creating and sculpting that look and tone?

I’m not thinking about it too much. I realize a lot of stuff after we’ve shot a film. It’s not necessarily intentional, when I’m doing it. I couldn’t tell you how to mix sadness, humor, bitterness and cynicism; I couldn’t give you the recipe… We just all worked together as a team and try to create an atmosphere. And if it all works then fine, if it doesn’t then… Sh*t, you know?

Filmmaker Xavier Dolan: Expect much more from him...

Heartbeats will be released by IFC Films in U.S. theaters on Friday, Feb. 25th 2011. To get more info, sign up for the IFC Films newsletter at www.ifcfilms.com.