Terminal: “We will not forbid ourselves absolutely anything” … Jamel Debouzi and Mohamed Hamid talk about filming

Canal+ continues to broadcast Terminal Season 1 this Monday, May 6 at 9:10 p.m. Set in France and filmed in front of a live audience, this sitcom follows the crazy adventures of a flight crew from the (very) low-cost company Flywingz… Jack, the crippled captain, played by Ramsay Bedia, and his crew (also on purpose) clearly have more important things to worry about. , than the well-being of their passengers!

Mohamed Hamidi and Jamel Debuz (who explained how the series was inspired by friends) shared the creation of this project. During the CANNESERIES 2024 festival, AlloCiné spoke with the duo, who returned to our mic about the whole adventure…

AlloCiné: Why did you choose an airport arena for “Terminal”?

Mohammad Hamid: When you’re doing a sitcom, you need a place that’s a crossover, a crossover, and also where you can bring in some comedy and real-life situations. There are security zones at the airport, boarding areas, the plane, the crew’s suits… it’s very strong in characterization. So the airport is the perfect place to be as Hospital H. It’s a super efficient and super inspiring place!

Your humor is destructive and spares no one. Certain issues are not easy to deal with in our time, does that make you hold back?

Jamel Debuz: We didn’t remember anything. Obviously, we wrote according to the times we live in, everything implies that, but absolutely nothing forbids us. We did as usual. We tried to be as close to ourselves as possible, while also being respectful and subversive when we felt like it.

Did you approach this project differently compared to “H”?

MH: From a purely technical point of view, we shot with different cameras. We’ve also got a film team, which allows us to get involved in things that are a little bit better, let’s say.

But our big innovation in this set was the spinning, or rotating audience (…) For example, we did a sequence in front of the booth, played two or three times, then bam! The stands in which our spectators were sitting were spinning in place

People did not move and found themselves in front of the rest room, then in front of the departure hall, in front of the security room, etc. This is something completely new and much more effective in filming.

JD: For the terminal we were also only looking for stage people who we felt had the ease of adapting to the public. This was not necessarily the case in H, where only half the cast already had this relationship with the stage.

We only have actors there who are ready to improvise, who are ready to offer, who are always going. In addition to the rhythm set by the decor, there is a rhythm set by the actors! I want to tell you, in the end it was more rhythmic everywhere!

What was it like filming the episode of “Terminal”?

MH: Ideally, we would rehearse one day, then shoot two days later. We had shooting days that ran from 12pm to 6pm. From 6pm to 8pm we had to do scenes without an audience… the problem was that the audience didn’t want to go! Often, we would then add up to the total. We filmed almost 100% of the series in public.

You surrounded yourself with friends for this project. Did you audition?

JD: First a phone call, then a test session. We had to see if our texts would work, if our actors would stick to them, if the alchemy would pick up… We only called friends we had already played with or wanted to play with and whose effect we were sure of. in a certain way.

We almost wrote for them. Ramsay, it was an immediate yes. He really wanted to go on stage again, to do comedy. After that it was very easy to go find others.