{"id":846925,"date":"2026-08-05T11:48:11","date_gmt":"2026-08-05T11:48:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/846925\/"},"modified":"2026-08-05T11:48:11","modified_gmt":"2026-08-05T11:48:11","slug":"francois-arnaud-on-heated-rivalry-under-armour-and-his-broadway-debut","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/846925\/","title":{"rendered":"Fran\u00e7ois Arnaud on \u2018Heated Rivalry,\u2019 Under Armour and His Broadway Debut"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tIt\u2019s amazing what a tight shirt can do.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI\u2019d never given compression shirts a thought beforehand,\u201d says Fran\u00e7ois Arnaud<\/a>, seated in a dressing room in Manhattan, his dog Simon at his feet.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tThe \u201cbeforehand\u201d is now a distant memory: Arnaud is part of \u201cthis little show called \u2018Heated Rivalry,\u2019\u201d which catapulted the actor into a new level of fame since its arrival late last year. In his portrayal of hockey player Scott Hunter, Arnaud shot several scenes running in Under Armour<\/a> compression shirts \u2014 and the brand took notice. Within weeks, a deal was being ironed out, and the Canadian actor was unveiled as a global ambassador for the brand<\/a> in late July.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe knew that that moment of where Scott keeps walking into that smoothie shop with the sort of see-through, skin-tight Under Armour<\/a> compression shirt, that it was a thing,\u201d Arnaud says.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tThe 41-year-old never imagined himself becoming the face of an athletic brand prior to the call, however.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI was like a grungy kid and it took a long time for me to think that working out could be cool,\u201d he says. \u201cI always did it, but wouldn\u2019t talk about it to my friends. There\u2019s something embarrassing about taking care of yourself. I think the culture has changed a little bit. But yeah, it\u2019s certainly an internal fight within myself. And so it took me a long time to just actually commit to it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Loro<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tLoro Piana cashmere coat; Acne Studios leather jacket; Under Armour HeatGear compression T-shirt, nylon trackpants and sneakers.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tJenna Greene for WWD<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Under Armour campaign, just like his press video, needed to be \u201cwhimsical\u201d and \u201ctongue-in-cheek\u201d in order for it to feel authentic to Arnaud.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI work out, but my form isn\u2019t perfect. I can\u2019t take myself seriously. Balance, I think, is the right word,\u201d he says. \u201cI\u2019m not monastic about my fitness. I work out, but also sometimes I just sleep in and I drink and I eat and I want to live my life, and fitness is a way to support that. It is an accessory to the rest of my well-being,\u201d he adds. \u201cI did a thing for Men\u2019s Health a few months ago, and I\u2019d seen a lot of these videos before and I don\u2019t necessarily reach for them because there\u2019s a self-seriousness about dudes working out. It makes me cringe so much.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Under Armour campaign video was shot by directing duo Mat+Kat, who made the Jeremy Allen White ad for Calvin Klein such a sensation. Arnaud may not take himself too seriously, but he does want things to feel elevated \u2014 in addition to Under Armour, he is a newly minted Saint Laurent ambassador after all.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tIt\u2019s all part of a rather head-spinning year for the actor, who was the most well-established of the \u201cHeated Rivalry\u201d cast prior to its release.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt\u2019s been a crazy ride, but I\u2019m finding my footing \u2014 not that I feel like I lost it ever,\u201d he says. \u201cThe good definitely outweighs the bad. I\u2019m so proud to be part of that show and that it reached so many people. And I\u2019m trying to be smart and make the most of it for the rest of my life. It\u2019s not even something that I dreamed of. Fame for me was always kind of a tool to actually get the work that I want to do. And so I\u2019m trying to do that and make the most of the opportunities that I have and keep pursuing the ones that I don\u2019t, and be present and not let any of that noise affect me too much. I want to take the opportunity to do things that I wasn\u2019t able to do before, like this, for instance. But also to keep doing what I\u2019ve actually been doing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Under<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tUnder Armour HeatGear compression T-shirts (layered); Armedangels denim jeans; Thom Browne shoes.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tJenna Greene for WWD<\/p>\n

\n\tThat included an independent film called \u201cGodstar\u201d that he just wrapped, a Hulu series adaptation of the book \u201cCount My Lies,\u201d alongside Lindsay Lohan<\/a>, Kit Harington and Shailene Woodley, and theater \u2014 although that\u2019s now on a bigger stage.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tArnaud plans to spend the next few weeks at his \u201cplace in the woods\u201d in Canada, where the objective is relaxation, but he predicts that he might be tempted to work through the script for \u201cThree Days of Rain,\u201d which will be his Broadway debut come February 2027. The production, which also stars David Corenswet and Yvonne Strahovski, is a revival of the Richard Greenberg play, which first opened on Broadway in 2006 with Julia Roberts, Bradley Cooper and Paul Rudd.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI can\u2019t believe it,\u201d Arnaud says of the show. \u201cIt\u2019s like my dream Broadway debut, with the director and the cast and the play and the role. I couldn\u2019t have dreamt up something better.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tMore \u201cHeated Rivalry\u201d has been confirmed, and Arnaud will return to the role of Scott Hunter, though he is tight-lipped on the details.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI can tell you that there\u2019s more of Scott, but I can\u2019t tell you in what capacity. There are various things at play,\u201d he says. \u201cBut there\u2019s definitely more of Scott and Kip.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tWhen the time does come to head back to set, there will surely be a box of compression shirts eagerly awaiting him.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Lacoste<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tLacoste polyester windbreaker; Under Armour HeatGear compression T-shirts (layered); Armedangels denim jeans; Thom Browne shoes.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tJenna Greene for WWD<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s amazing what a tight shirt can do. \u201cI\u2019d never given compression shirts a thought beforehand,\u201d says Fran\u00e7ois…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":846926,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[49,48,75,294930,5862,148682,294931],"class_list":["post-846925","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-entertainment","tag-eye-interview","tag-hbo","tag-under-armour","tag-wwd-weekend-arts-culture"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/846925","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=846925"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/846925\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/846926"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=846925"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=846925"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=846925"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}