Visions on TF1: Was the film a sixth sense of inspiration for the series’ screenwriters?

The TV series Visions, in which Luan plays Sarah, a young psychologist trying to find out whether the visions of eight-year-old little Diego (Leon Durier) and the strange drawings of a little girl’s disappearance, continues tonight. TF1 with two new episodes.

Jeanne Le Gilo and Bruno Degas (they were 10 years old, Le Tueur du lac), the creators of this fantasy thriller, told us more about how they envisioned Visions, their four-way writing, and their collaboration on production. And directed by Akim Isker.

AlloCiné: How did the idea for Visions and this reduction come about, trying to solve children’s secrets like no other?

Bruno Dega : It all started with a discussion with the producer. They wanted to do something about the mediums and we were very interested in the topic of paranormal. But it was clear to us that we should not have done what had already been done, especially in the series Medium with Patricia Arquette, i.e. the staging of a policeman or a psychic investigator who was going to investigate an episode after episode. , Season. After the season.

And so the idea of ​​starting from childhood arose. And that really intrigued us. Because it also allows us to deal with the difference in a child. What does this mean for him? And what does it mean to have a child different from a parent?

Even if the series is very different when you read the pitch, Diego’s character will clearly remind you of a child with a sixth sense from the movie. Was it a source of inspiration for you?

Jeanne LeGuillou : I know you refuse, everyone laughs, but it’s true (laughs).

Bruno Dega: We both saw the movie, but we never thought about it while writing the series. It was during the casting that we were told “it really feels like the sixth feeling”, and we called ourselves “shit”. But in the end it does not look like the sixth sense at all. There is a child who sees the dead, yes, but the story is very different. This is not the same weaving at all.

How did you create your main characters? Was it obvious to you that the heroine must have had a relationship with a slightly more “skeptical” policeman?

Bruno Degas: We wanted the audience, those who do not believe in the medium, to be represented in this story. Because we believe in it. We want to think he exists. But most do not believe it. So it was hard to tell a story where everyone thinks it’s perfectly normal. It was interesting to create a pair in which two characters are not on the same wavelength.

And you very quickly came up with the idea of ​​Sarah’s past in these gray areas, which her connection to Diego would help us clarify?

Jeanne Le Guillou: Yes, it happened almost immediately. We immediately came up with the idea of ​​such a relationship between this little one and this little boy as the other. We even asked ourselves, “What better way to involve this guy in Sarah’s life and in her past? Because if she sees something, she sees it as well.”

This creates instant attachment and instant strangeness in their relationship. And a very strong connection that goes beyond Sarah’s work. We wanted Luan’s character to go beyond his activities and be almost “in danger” in relation to his profession, standards and distance rules. That it crosses a certain boundary.

Bruno Dega: It is true that at some point he finds that he is questioning Diego more in his own interests than in the interests of the child.

The success of such a series is also based on its casting and the child’s choice to embody a Diego-like character so as not to fall into ridicule. Did you participate in the casting?

Bruno Dega: We knew that if the child was not good, the series would fail. So yes, we were involved in all stages. There was a real producer-director-screenwriter trio who worked very well on Visions, we worked hand in hand. We got along perfectly.

In terms of casting, we saw all the little boy essays that went through the casting. And at the same time, to be honest, there has been no debate for a long time. Leon Durie charged himself with evidence.

Jeanne Le Guillou: She is even more stunning in the series than in the essays. He is a very mature child and who has a passion for this profession, so he loved being on the set. He immediately established a connection Akim IskerWith director and Luan. He was very happy on this set, with a desire to do good and constant concentration. He gave up more than we thought he would give us.

Bruno Degas: There is always fear with a child. We tell ourselves that it will make him happy for a week or ten days and then, after a while, he will say: “Now I’m going home, playing an actor, I’m tired, that ‘s enough.” He did not, he was just as professional as the others, if not more so. 50 days later he still wanted to continue and be on the set on time.

We imagine that TF1 must have wanted to work with Luan for some time. Was the TV series written for him?

Bruno Degas: No, not at all. We wrote the TV series without thinking about casting. And Luan’s idea came up later.

Jeanne Le Guillou: In any case, it is always difficult to write for a particular actor. Especially one like Luana who has a very busy schedule. You can never count the dates on the report and the cast. And then the actor has to be able to do it based on the text. This is the smallest. So we have to write earlier.

One of the strengths of the series is also its very sophisticated aesthetics, close to the image of cinema. How did Akim work with Isker? Did you talk to him a lot about the TV series and his vision?

Jeanne Le Guillou: Everything went perfectly with Akim. As we like to go to the TV series every time. We asked time around all three texts.

The sequence showed one by one his vision of the scene, from his point of view as a director. And we worked with him to stay on stage with him, sometimes changing the direction of the stage so that we could shoot the scenes best. Sometimes it happens that we combine two sequences into one. And all three of us did all this work together. So Akim came to the set with a script that he fully confirmed. And that meant filming and editing was incredibly liquid.

Isn’t such an optimal collaboration between a director and a screenwriter so common?

Jeanne Le Guillou: Absolutely. This happened to us for the first time. We do not know how to react to it (laughs).

Bruno Degas: Directors often come in and say, “I like it very much, I like it less.” And instead of asking us to make changes, they take the script and rewrite it when it’s not their business and their history and characters know less than we do. But it does not just happen to us, 99% of screenwriters have already experienced it.

Jeanne Le Guillou: I think if this series is so consistent and accomplished in its genre, it’s because it was an agreement in the production-directing-script. As well as in the United States, where the producer often participates in the show.

Bruno Degas: If I take Sasha, the example of an autistic teenager. The character is obviously written that way and Akim bet that he would take on a real autistic person for Sacha and not an actor who would play an autistic person. Because we work on trust and because we have a brave director.

Jeanne Le Guillou: Akim has a sense of risk. And he is a man who is humanly distinguished. What it takes to turn a child into an autistic teenager and get things from him or her. With the speed typical of a TV series.

Akim has resumed our work and this is not always the case. Often we do not get there because there is a seizure of power, the taking of a director hostage who takes the series elsewhere. And going elsewhere is not always a good idea. It shows some series where you think you are watching strange things on the screen.

As in any good thriller, there are obviously false anchors, a few potential suspects. Did you know from the beginning who would be to blame or did it develop at the time of writing?

Jeanne Le Guillou: No, we knew where we were going. We generally leave out the knowledge of where we are going. The evolutions that can occur at the time of writing relate to more false bullets. Because certain characters, in writing, rise or fall. Will impose themselves. And suddenly they can lead us to reduce or increase some counterfeit bullets. But we always know where we are going.

There, at Visions, we did the first job, which was to unfold the story as a treatment, for six episodes. And then we went straight to the dialogues because we had a solid base.

You have been writing together for years, this is your strength. Do you always agree with what you want to say? Or is there sometimes a heated argument between you?

Jeanne Le Guillou: Of course we laughed at each other regularly (laughs). But very relaxed, because we know from experience that something will come out of the computer that we will have to confirm and agree on.

Bruno Degas: Usually there is always one who manages to convince the other. But if unfortunately this is not the case, we throw everything in the bin.

Jeanne Le Guillou: It can put us in a bad mood, it’s a pretty unpleasant time to live. Besides, we are a couple too, so everything is mixed up, we take all this very seriously. But on the other hand, nothing changes the happiness of agreeing. The moment we say “this is it”, it is doubly considered in relation to everything. It is very nice to know that this is good and we will be able to gladly write the series together.

Last year you wrote a screenplay for Gloria on TF1. The original series continued through seasons 2 and 3. Did not want to adapt the extension?

Jeanne Le Guillou: We did not want to write a sequel that was offered to us. We were less inspired by what the Welsh did with the characters in Season 2 of the original Keeping Faith series.

Bruno Degas: It was a very big adaptation. Beyond the first episode, we got very far from the original series. So it got complicated to get back on my feet for a possible 2nd season. It had to start from scratch. Also, in general, we do not like adaptation very much. Except when it’s Les Dix Petits Nègres, because we could not refuse it.

Jeanne Le Guillou: We are one of the few screenwriters today who work mostly on original ideas. It is important to say this, even if the adaptation fashion will definitely pass. We have always loved writing original ideas. But the character on Gloria was crazy, so it was fun to work on this series.

Do you have any other upcoming projects you can talk about?

Jeanne Le Guillou: We are currently working on projects for the channels, but nothing has been signed, we are waiting for answers. And we write a lot for the theater too. We do other things. We have a play, Snow Therapy, which just came out of a three-month tour and performances in Paris in April, at the Teatre du Rond-Point with Alex Lutz and Julie Depardieu. We are lucky that he has two Moliere nominations. We have other theatrical projects as well.

We do these two things in parallel: theater and television. But because we live together, working together is our daily life. We are often said to be hardworking, but we love what we do. It never feels like a job. We get bored when we are not working, when we have no thoughts. It also allows us to escape the world. Especially in today’s world. Writing fiction is almost a salvation for us.