Nahéma Ricci and Stéphane Gagnon form a duo as formidable as it is improbable in Paradise Motel. Their characters have “nothing to get along with” and yet they join forces to solve a deep mystery. In interviews, on the other hand, the actors agree on several things, including the spectacular state of the motel in which they shot several scenes, the respect they have for the author and director Sophie Deraspe and, above all, their difficulty to describe the series.
Posted at 8:00 a.m.
In an interview, when we confess to the duo how much we struggle to put words to Paradise Motel Since we wolfed down its first two episodes, a dazed silence has invaded the room. “We too,” Nahéma Ricci replies after a few seconds. “It’s a special object,” adds Stéphane Gagnon.
PHOTO MARCO CAMPANOZZI, THE PRESS
Nahéma Ricci and Stéphane Gagnon star in Paradise Motel.
At the Festival du nouveau cinema (FNC) earlier in October, where Paradise Motel was the subject of a special screening before its planned landing on Club illico, the vice-president of original content of Quebecor Media, Denis Dubois, spoke of a series of authors, “unique but accessible”. A “signature” series, like Raspberry time by Philippe Falardeau, or even The night Laurier Gaudreault woke up by Xavier Dolan, expected in November.
Nahema Ricci nods.
With Sophia [Deraspe]it’s sure that Paradise Motel wasn’t going to be a traditional thriller. She plays with different codes. It revolutionizes the genre a bit. We are no longer in the classic detective story. New investigative mechanisms are employed.
Nahema Ricci
PHOTO MARCO CAMPANOZZI, THE PRESS
Nahema Ricci
Paradise Motel chronicles the investigation led by Jen (Nahéma Ricci) who, after having had a near-death experience, firmly believes that her sister, who disappeared three years earlier, did not commit suicide, as the police had initially concluded. Determined to elucidate this nebulous affair once and for all, the young woman convinces a retired investigator (Stéphane Gagnon) to help her by accompanying her to Val-Paradis, her childhood hometown, which contains as many well-kept secrets as ‘slightly shifted inhabitants.
“For Jen, it’s like a second chance,” explains Nahéma Ricci. Because she feels guilty for everything that happened. She therefore becomes completely obsessed with this idea that her sister would not have ended her life, that she might have been killed. She thinks of nothing else. It is his only focus. She wants to know. »
For his part, the former cop Alain, who has been beaten up for misconduct, agrees to support Jen not because he particularly believes in the esoteric reasons behind his initiative, but because in the midst of an existential crisis, he is looking for a reason to continue.
PHOTO MARCO CAMPANOZZI, THE PRESS
Stephane Gagnon
“If Jen had come to see Alain 12 months before, he would have turned her around in three and a quarter minutes, believes Stéphane Gagnon. He would have said: “You bugs, go fix them.” He’s a policeman. He conducts investigations. He wants facts, not visions. He has no time to waste on this. But today, he is all lost. Everything he’s built crumbles, and Jen offers him an opening he never imagined, a door he never dared to walk through. »
In trust
The filming of Paradise Motel was not easy. It not only took place last fall, in the midst of a pandemic, but it happened during a labor shortage, largely in a “pretty ole olé” motel located in Sorel-Tracy, like the pointed out Sophie Deraspe at the FNC.
Nahéma Ricci and Stéphane Gagnon agree that the establishment “a bit all crooked”, and whose name they keep silent, made them see all the colors.
There are scenes where I was like, “Wow! The decor, you went hard!” And the team [de Motel Paradis] said, “We haven’t touched anything. It is as is.”
Nahema Ricci
Dilapidated or not, the famous motel has never shaken the confidence of the actors in Sophie Deraspe, with whom they had already worked before: Nahéma Ricci in Antigone (2019) and Stéphane Gagnon in Black beast (2021), among others. The pair salute the Olympian calm of the author, director and cinematographer.
“Shooting requires mind-blowing mental gymnastics, but Sophie always remains in control,” says Nahéma Ricci. Working with someone like that is super reassuring…”
“…especially in television, continues Stéphane Gagnon. Because God knows it’s destabilizing, the days we work. When you have a captain like her at the end of the ship, it reassures everyone. »
“His calm gives him a natural authority,” adds Nahéma Ricci. I don’t know how much she realizes it, but she has great authority. People want to work with her. That’s the effect she has on her team. »
Paradise Motel lands on Club illico on Thursday.