The Quebec actor who plays Maurice "The Rocket" Richard in the upcoming big-screen movie says he took the role because the script gave the hockey legend justice.

"For me it was an important movie for two reasons -- because of the importance of the character itself, historically, (and) also because I met Maurice Richard while shooting the (1999) TV series," Roy Dupuis told CTV's Andria Case in an interview Monday.

"We met and became good friends, and he opened up to me, then he died," said the Quebec star, known for his roles in movies such as "Les États-Unis d'Albert" and "The Barbarian Invasions." Dupuis is best known in English-Canada for his television work in both parts of the "The Last Chapter" and "La Femme Nikita."

The film, titled "The Rocket," opens in theatres April 21. Moviegoers will see the picture not only embodies the Montreal Canadiens' most prolific player, but also captures the story of the social and political climate in Canada in the mid-1950s, director Charles Biname told CTV's Canada AM Monday.

"It is about a hockey player, a virtuoso, fire on ice, but it has a lot of resonance as to Quebec's sort of struggling with its identity and trying to come forward as a French-speaking nation in a time where culture, in terms of sport and industry, was English, mainly," the Canadian director said.

Biname said while Richard was a man of few words, people listened closely when he spoke. Richard carried the voice into the papers and wrote a column for a while "bringing forward the injustices," Biname said.

"You have to realize that in those days, for instance, French hockey players had to speak on the bench in English to each other because the coach couldn't understand them otherwise, so there was an unwritten rule, and there was a whole bunch of things like that that were sort of irritating for them," he said.

The film portrays the different "markers" in time that animated Richard and helped fans identify with him, Biname said.

"He was very humble about the whole thing, which makes (him) more of a hero."

A pivotal scene in the movie shows coach Dick Irvin (played by Nova Scotia-born Stephen McHattie) in the team's dressing room after winning the Stanley Cup and congratulating everybody, not just in English, but in French as well.

"One of the underlying things of the movie is about language," McHattie said, also appearing on Canada AM. "I love that scene."

"The Rocket" was filmed in Montreal and Quebec City and stars a Canadian cast.