by CHRIS BARRY

Sure, you may not know her entire body of work just yet, but to Quebec's other solitude, Anne-Marie Losique is a bona fide sex vedette. As host of syndicated movie magazine show Box-office for the past nine years, the effervescent and downright bubbly Madame Losique has evolved from just another flirtatious cable TV personality into a globe-trotting media mogul.

Her production company, Image Diffusion International, now produces no less than 150 hours of television every year. And we're talking fine, quality productions here. Programs like SeXstar, which features in-depth, up close and personal interviews with the always-insightful players of the adult film industry. Or her latest pay-per-view venture, Hot-parade, the first francophone show in Canada to be broadcast live in high-def and chock full o' nudity the way TV was always meant to be. A Québécoise singing sensation working under the handle of AML, a sex symbol and an extremely pleasant, almost giddy personality to interview, Anne-Marie Losique (the daughter of World Film Festival magnate Serge Losique) has recently started to make a name for herself in English Canada as well, with several of her television productions having found homes in the glorious 500-channel universe.

The Mirror spoke with this glamorous cable TV icon while she was vacationing in Marseille, France, last week. This is what she had to say.

Mirror: How did you wind up doing TV to begin with?

Anne-Marie Losique: It wasn't like it was a big dream of mine when I was a kid. But life presents opportunities. I was more into movies, writing scripts, doing short features. That's why I first started doing Box-office and how I discovered the medium of television - on the spot like that. I originally didn't really like TV very much. But I've since discovered it as a medium.

M: Yeah, well, I suppose that's helpful - considering you've got about 3,000 shows in production at any given time. So Box-office was your first TV gig?

AML: I had done a bit of community television prior to that, producing my own stuff with no money for a year or two before doing Box-office. I pretty well learned everything on the spot. I'm not ashamed of doing anything in public, in front of everybody, I don't care.

M: Yeah, well, you gotta keep it real, baby.

AML: I'm very real (starts laughing).

M: Do people often come up to you marvelling at how lucky you are to be able to spend 15 minutes in some room interviewing the likes of, uh, I dunno, let's say a great mind like… uh, Charisma Carpenter?

AML: (laughing) Well, some people I interview are less interesting than others. But I'm aware many people think along those lines. Not because I spend 15 minutes in a room with a celebrity, but they think that I hang out with them, go out to dinner with them, make love with Ben Affleck and all that, but it's not the reality.

Quebec's Robyn Bird?

M: As it turns out I was at a taping of Hot-parade over at the MusiquePlus studio a couple of weeks ago.

AML: You should have come up and said hi.

M: Well, uh, Anne-Marie, outside of the fact that we don't know each other, you were working, on camera interviewing some blonde chick with huge tits. I believe the discourse revolved around whether her big ol' bazoombas were fake or not. I did see her lift one of 'em up so the camera could scour her breast for scars. That was some compelling television, I tell you. Damn!

AML: A blonde girl, hmmm, with big boobs, that's not so easy to pinpoint, there have been a quite a few of them on the show. (laughs)

M: Would you like to take this golden opportunity to tell the legions of curious Mirror readers what goes down exactly on Hot-parade?

AML: No, that's okay. (pause) All right, it's just a big Friday night party where we all get loose. It's really in that spirit, a big party. And we try and get guests who are in the news, like Mary Carey, who ran against Arnold in the California recall. She's really neurotic but it's fun to have her, or guests like that. The show has a local angle but we also go around the world to find stuff that's hot. A hot club, or a hot strip, a hot duo somewhere in Barcelona, it's just always got to be hot.

M: So it's not just like the Robyn Bird show but in French?

AML: (laughing) No.

M: I'm sure you must appreciate being compared to an icon of her magnitude.

AML: Oh yes, I'm flattered.

Lunatic quotient low

M: Given the sexual overtones of much of your work, have you had any problems with lunatic stalker types yet? Hunting you down, calling you up at home and doing the sorts of things that lunatics like to do?

AML: You know, I find it absolutely incredible that I've never had a lunatic after me. Not one, in how many years now? Given what I do, I would expect it. I mean, I have plenty of guys asking for naked pictures of me, but they are always super nice, super polite. I should stop talking about this, because I don't want to jinx things.

M: Could you direct me to any Web sites where I can download nude photos of you?

AML: (laughing)

M: Yeah, well, you think I'm kidding, but uh, are there no sultry photos of you circulating anywhere? Do you always keep your clothes on when you shoot these shows?

AML: Well, of course I do. A lot of people say I should take them off like my guests but it's not my place to do that. I think I show enough.

Intellectually flirtatious

M: Did some people start treating you differently once you started doing more overtly sexual shows like Hot-parade? Like, "Oh yeah, Anne-Marie Losique, she's horny, she'll do anything. She's one fine sexy slut."

AML: Well, you know, even when I was just doing Box-office people said I was a flirt. So it's always sort of been there. But I'm sure many people think I often go with 20 partners at a time.

M: Right, when it's only every once in awhile.

AML: (laughing) Ah, well, I don't really give a shit about the image thing anyway. But I'm sure when people look at me they think all sorts of things. But you know, in straight places - like if I'm at the passport office or something - I don't necessarily feel the same way as I do on the set of Hot-parade. I feel all shy and self-conscious when people are looking at me in a place like that. Maybe I'll have fun and kiss a girl on TV because I feel like it at that moment, within the spirit of the party and the show. But the next morning, well, I may not feel like that anymore. A personality is much more complex than what can be presented on TV. I think this is something a lot of people have difficulty comprehending. They always want to simplify and say a person is like this or like that but this isn't the way it is at all. I can be very kinky and all that but the next day I might feel very shy. It's normal.

M: Well, yeah, of course people are more complex than seen through the limitations of televi…

AML: I read Le Monde diplomatique, I watch EuroNews. It's not because I have fun on TV that I'm not intellectual. People have problems understanding that. Not people so much, but broadcasters. They just put you in a box and that's it. And they can't get past that. I have a lot of serious projects and I'm sure because of my image they have problems going through. And it's stupid, you know? I read L'Express, Le Point, everything that comes out, but they just can't see me like that. And, in 2004, that gets on my nerves a little bit.

Hot-parade will air in English on Viewer's Choice pay-per-view starting Feb. 20 at 10pm ($6.99+tax)