“That damn gun was driving me crazy!”  : How Danny Boone Transformed to Play Goats!

“That damn gun was driving me crazy!” : How Danny Boone Transformed to Play Goats!

What is it about? Did you know that animals could be tried for crimes in the 17th century? Laughed at in a bar, Maitre Pompignac thinks he has found his life’s work: defending the young and innocent Josette, wrongly accused of murdering the Marshal… but without the hope of his adversary, the powerful and famous. Maître Valvert and especially Josette, who turns out to be none other than… a goat!

“That damn gun was driving me crazy!”

Maître Pompignac is a rather poor lawyer for whom hygiene is a very vague concept. His interpreter, Danny Boone, with the help of costume designers, had to ensure that this character appeared on screen as dirty. He says: “I’m glad we all came out, it was one of my wishes. I’ve got really bad teeth and my hair is falling out and greasy. I let it happen because the costume, hair teams and make-up were already great. Work on Pompiniac, Same with the other characters. The only thing that bothered me was the constant dirty fingernails, the hypochondriac in me hates that!”

“However, with the fakes getting my fingers dirty, I couldn’t clean everything after the shoot. The grime was driving me crazy! It was all a long day of preparation, and nothing compares to that. Jerome, who single-handedly embodies the renaissance in appearance… It’s like a traveling showroom of dryers at the Saint-Pierre fair. !”

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Animals before the judge…

The fact that animals could be tried for crimes in the 17th century is a historical fact that Fred Kawai orchestrated for the film’s humor…hence the small sentence shown in the opening credits: “Based on a true story…or almost”. The filmmaker confides: “At one time, in France, we could try animals, in every court with lawyers, judges, juries… and if they were found guilty, they were sentenced to the same punishment as humans: hanging, quartering, impalement. …”

“It lasted for a century and a half, from 1610 to 1760! The incredible thing is that the owners of the animals were also tried and risked death. We saw people hanged next to their animals!”

Claire Chast, Jerome Commandeur and Danny Boone

Court scenes

For the trial part, it was very difficult to find a real location that would be easy to “shoot” from a logistical point of view. Fred Cavae recalls: “All these scenes took us about twenty days, sometimes with 200 people on the screen, without technicians on the set. We created everything in the studio of Bray-sur-Marne for the provincial court, with everything “we imagine: a kind of village hall, which (historically) must also be used For cattle fairs and village festivals, with straw, barrels, etc.’

“For the trial that takes place in Paris at the beginning of the film, we went to Melun’s courthouse because it kept our storytelling style. We were lucky to be able to shoot in two days there. That’s a real luxury in a place like this where the justice system is overloaded with work…”

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Paris/province report

When writing the role of Valverte, a very vain star lawyer, Fred Cavae was thinking of Jérôme Commander. By developing the character’s flaws, the director also enriched the theme of the Paris/province relationship: “He wears extremely rich and colorful costumes (the exact opposite of Pompignac) and arrives in this small mud village, which is very far from his habits in the capital. So I imagine that throughout the film, Jerome never sets foot. Grind it because he thinks it’s too dirty!”

“So it’s his assistants who carry him as soon as he leaves the court… This idea comes to me because Jerome inspires me: it’s actually an exchange of good practice, each enriching the inspiration of the other.”

Natural decorations

The scenes taking place in the natural environment were shot in Dordogne and Périgord. After going to the Sarlat festival to present Adieu Monsieur Haffmann, Fred Cavae had a pretty clear idea of ​​what he was looking for: “I especially remembered the great square in that city, but it was actually very large, so we expanded our search to the surrounding area. Finally, in Montpasier, we also found what I call a magic cinema: from several places, you. Make one!”

“The village in the film is made up of scenes shot in Montpasie, as well as in Saint-Cirque-Lapopie, a wonderful place suspended above the lot. It was important that it was a river, because it tells the story of the ‘old border’ in the film. With Savoy and the Savoys, the sworn enemies of the inhabitants of our village. .. Finally we played with 3D effects, for example to add mountains…”

Source: Allocine

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