A new name in French action cinema
With his first feature film AKAwho co-wrote with Alban Lenoir on an original idea they’ve been working on together for nearly 15 years, Morgan S. Dalibert delivers a show where everything isn’t perfect, but where the brutality of the blows is felt hard and where we feel a sincere pleasure to see Alban Lenoir destroy the bad guys. The actor and director, longtime friends and collaborators, are particularly on the need to a realistic actionalso on the desire to propose a difference, not to do like the others, like animal musculature of the actor for this film. We caught up with the director, who gave us a behind-the-scenes lookAKA.
Encounter
AKA it’s a project you’ve been carrying on for some time together with Alban Lenoir, what was the trigger?
Morgan S. Dalibert : After Lost bullet, I meet Rémi Léautier, the producer. We get along. We have the same references. He says “I’m looking for my next film, don’t you and Alban have anything? I know you write…” I reply that we have a project, we rewrite a version and send it to him. He sees the potential right away, with the rewrite all the same. The project had been there for a long time. Our first email exchanges on AKA with Alban we go back more than 14 years. At that time, we would be shooting fight scenes with stuntmen in the afternoon, and we thought about a project that would grow out of these action scenes. It comes from the desire to work together and have fun doing action.
We love the energy of an action movie set, but we didn’t know how to write a script. So our story was a little bloated, but with potential. Initially we thought about a series, because there were many characters. We wrote it. But the development didn’t go well, so we abandoned that format. We focused on a unit, to leave the project aside again. Then we met a production, which tried to get it financed for the theatres, without success…
At one point the project is still there but I say to myself: “Okay, we’ve been working on it for 10 years, it doesn’t take us, so it’s a pity…” But Alban didn’t give up, he told me “Don’t worry, one day we will”, I replied “yes yes…”. And then Rémi arrived. For example, you should never let it go, you can shove a project in a drawer and pull it out five years later. This is what happened with AKA.
AKA it is very rich, with several action sequences, one main story and sub-plots, many characters. Is there a sequence, an idea that you remember in particular?
Morgan S. Dalibert : Lots of things… I think I especially remember the introductory sequence. Because it’s a scene that we did the way we wanted, we took the time to rehearse it, to fix everything beforehand. It was our first day of shooting. I remember it as something very pleasant, because when you have time, when everything is ready, you arrive on the set almost as a spectator. When you take a sequential shot, on the “motor!”, it’s like the whole team is holding hands and holding their breath. Everything must be in tune. We did seven takes, I think we kept the fifth.
In the end, when we see that everything has gone as planned, it is a rare communion. In this one, unlike other sequences where we didn’t do exactly what we imagined, it’s exactly what we wanted to achieve. From the idea to its realization, there was no frustration. It all worked out.
Technical article. The action scenes are very realistic, brutal, the sensations are there. For shooting, for example, how many real detonations for how many special effects?
Morgan S. Dalibert : We made sure everything was printed in white. For example, in terms of lighting, when we’re in a cellar and the character is filming, I want the shot to illuminate his face. For the actors, when you have a gun, shooting blanks makes noise, there’s a little recoil, so for the feel it’s a real plus. We don’t handle a gun the same way if it’s a toy or if it shoots. I wanted it. There must be a set or two where, due to clearance reasons, we couldn’t shoot. We then added special effects. Later, even if we shoot with real explosions and blanks, for example for shots after the robbery, it is daylight and depending on the camera settings, we will not necessarily see the flames on the screen, so we can put in a little more post production .
For me it is always important to mix the two. If, for example, there are four cars to strafe, we will mainly charge one of them, with real impacts, explosions, so that we believe in everything. If all four are digital, it does a lot less.
This is what Alban Lenoir also says, the need for you to have realistic action, with a minimum of artifice.
Morgan S. Dalibert : We watched action scenes with Alban, including some of The gray man, and it’s a bit of a shame, because it’s porridge… It takes you out of the movie. It may sound silly, but with fake explosions you have less fear for the character. You see that he is wrong. When Alban ducks his head because a bullet explodes next to him, if he doesn’t, he’ll get hurt. These are important details. In The gray manthere are sequences that are great, but so are the scenes where they are impostor… as in Fast & Furious now, cars that do mega-flips in 3D, we believe them less and less… Realism is key, so that we can feel the action.
Contrary therefore to what can be reproached, for example, to the last ones John Wicka spectacular action but unrealistic in its sensations?
Morgan S. Dalibert : John Wick 4However, Keanu is going slower than before. The stuntmen make unnecessary moves to give him time. Too bad because the strong point of this saga, especially in the first film, is definitely the surreal action, the gun-fu, but it’s done with a straight line. Today we have the impression that they don’t care one bit.
It’s the kind of thing that really irritates our stunt boss, the unrealistic side of taking four potatoes, standing up and waiting for your opponent to be in front to attack you… We tried to be very careful with that. Everywhere in the frame, you have to believe it. always inside John Wick 4the scene in the discotheque, the guys are arguing inches away from the people who continue to dance… It’s still very stupid!
There are some very strong images AKA, which impress the retina well. Particularly a beautiful impaling one’s head on a piece of metal…
Morgan S. Dalibert : I wanted to do this, I had this idea of a bit of a chaotic fight on the stairs, with at one point a guy rolling into the wall and getting caught on something. A piece of stone, a sharp thing, I didn’t know exactly. We thought about the decoration and came up with the idea of a rusty shelf element. Great ! It is then the manufacture of this element that allows it to be transformed “in real life”. It’s a stick of foam that curves when you press it, with a little digital work behind it to add some blood, erase what’s left of the item shattering.
Also, the stuntman almost gouged out our eye. He’s soft, but there’s still some stiffness. If you get it right on axis, there’s a risk. And so the stuntman, instead of hitting it on the head, he hit it right next to the nose… That kind of detail, the idea of having something a little bit special for every scene, we always keep in mind.
There are some great inspirations that were there at the time of making it AKA ?
Morgan S. Dalibert : There are shadows hanging in the balance, of course, including the film series Bourne. There is A bittersweet lifeThere is man on fire too, as well. Otherwise, I grew up with Luc Besson a lot. These are my first sensations of cinema. Nikitathe soundtrack of Lion… It was fire. And she is leaving the Fifth element that I realized that was what I wanted to do in life. Closer to my heart, there is also the whole wave of Mexican fantasy, even more than action cinema. Next, the action codes, that’s what I learned really fast, I must have seen it 40 times bad guys.
For AKAAlban Lenoir has passed a new level of musculature, which gives a particular aesthetic bias.
Morgan S. Dalibert : It was a bit of a fantasy on his side, I think, and I really wanted him to be a bull. We had these pictures from Matthias Schoenaerts Bullhead, which had really marked me. Schoenaerts’ first picture, from behind, one gets the impression of a human bull. That alone tells the character. And then we wanted to see Alban with a different head, a different look, to mess it up a bit. Great job by him. When you walk on a set like that, you release something, it helps you become the character.
If we were to stop making movies again AKAI would be happy for this physique to remain unique, because it will have brought a real singularity to the film. When the film’s two Netflix producers walked out of the first screening, they were glad the character didn’t look alike lost bullet, and I also had to see him more.
So is a sequel planned?
Morgan S. Dalibert : We wrote it without thinking about other stories, I wanted it to be a closed film. But if there is a desire, on the part of the Netflix audience, to see more Adam Franco, we know that there is something to do in his past and after the story ofAKA. Then there is material. Then you also need the desire to be in this world. Do we want to dive into so much violence and darkness again? In any case, what is certain is that I love the character and I love working with Alban…
Source: Cine Serie
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