MONTREAL – If there is anyone out there who does not yet have a selfie with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, they are in luck.
Montreal's Grévin Museum unveiled the world's first Justin Trudeau wax figure Tuesday, a lifelike rendering that took more than six months to complete.
"It's a work of art," said museum managing director Kathleen Payette, who adjusted an unruly lock of hair falling over the wax prime minister's forehead as photographers snapped images.
A jury of 10 Quebec media personalities chose Trudeau as the one Canadian addition this year to the museum's collection of 120 celebrities – the other 2017 arrival was American singer Katy Perry in a pop-art bodysuit.
Jury president Marc Laurendeau said the prime minister was an easy choice. "Justin Trudeau's charm, youth and charisma have given Canada a new image all over the world," Laurendeau said in a statement.
Payette said Trudeau's office co-operated in the creation of the figure, sending photos and approving the sculpture as it took shape. But he did not sit for any modeling sessions, and he was too busy to attend a reception Tuesday evening for the unveiling, she said.
The Trudeau figure is dressed in a blue suit with a maple leaf pin on the lapel, a white shirt and red tie and bright red maple leaf socks. On Tuesday he looked out on a room of show-business celebrities, flanked by Celine Dion and her late husband René Angelil.
But his permanent home will be in a room dedicated to a handful of political figures. He will stand next to Barack Obama and across from his father, the late Pierre Elliot Trudeau, and former Quebec premier René Lévesque. Also in the room are Nelson Mandela, Queen Elizabeth, former Montreal mayor Jean Drapeau and General Charles de Gaulle.
Trudeau is not the first Justin in the museum – that would be countryman Justin Bieber – but he is the first politician to be celebrated in the museum while still in office. Payette acknowledged that there is a risk people who disapprove of his policies will take exception to his presence, but she said there was nothing partisan about the selection.
"Prime Minister Trudeau was chosen because he is known and appreciated everywhere in the world," she said. "He put Canada on the map, whether you agree or not with his politics."
His father was not always well loved in his native Quebec, but his wax figure has never suffered any abuse. "René Lévesque is in the same room. Some visitors will prefer one, and some will prefer the other, but everything is always done with respect," she said.
Payette said she expects the Trudeau wax figure, like the original, to be a selfie magnet. "I already know that he is something of an ambassador for tourism, and I think tourists will relate to this figure," she said.
The making of the wax Trudeau would have been easier if he did not have such great hair. "What is especially time-consuming is implanting the hair. It's up to 500,000 hairs implanted one by one," Payette said. "The more hair a person has, the longer it takes to make." Trudeau's balding father posed less of a challenge.
The four-year-old private museum in a downtown Montreal shopping centre is a branch of a museum in Paris that opened in 1882. The Montreal site now features 41 Canadians in its collection.
• Email: ghamilton@nationalpost.com | Twitter: grayhamilton
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