In the credits of the film, she is named under the title “role distribution and collaborator on the Islands”. We could have added an actress and jack-of-all-trades so much Kloé Jiangzhu Arseneau spent months preparing the ground for the shoot and was at the heart of the action during it.
“I recruited over 200 people,” she said proudly in a telephone interview. Having my own business in event services and production of shows, that opens up many possibilities to me. Sometimes I am a production assistant. But this is the first time that I was doing casting, under the supervision of the company GrosPlan. ”
On her company’s Facebook page, we find “calls for candidates” that she has posted. On one of them, we read that the production of the film is looking for a chef, a photographer, a fishmonger, a couple in their fifties and many others.
PHOTO PROVIDED BY KLOÉ JIANGZHU ARSENEAU
Mme Jiangzhu Arseneau on the film set
Due to COVID-19, more people from the Islands were needed than usual. And we had to work within the sanitary restrictions. So, when we were looking for a couple, we needed a real one so that people could kiss each other.
Kloé Jiangzhu Arseneau
Born 27 years ago in the People’s Republic of China, Kloé Jiangzhu Arseneau was 10 months old when she became the daughter of Madelinot parents. “I am the first Chinese adopted in the Islands,” she says with the singular accent of this part of the country. And today, we are ten! As I have always been in the entertainment business, everyone knows me here. ”
Younger, Kloé Jiangzhu Arseneau tried her luck as an actress in Montreal. She had a few roles in 30 lives, Blue moon and even in an edition of Bye Bye. But he missed the Islands and his family too much. She went back there and started her business.
PHOTO PROVIDED BY KLOÉ JIANGZHU ARSENEAU
Kloé Jiangzhu Arseneau devoted months of work to the film Goodbye happiness by Ken Scott.
Over the years, the young woman has worked on several productions, fiction or documentaries, which have passed through the Magdalen Islands. The first time goes back to the shooting of Fear of water by Gabriel Pelletier, released in 2011. She also worked on the documentary series A man of the sea dedicated to diving specialist Mario Cyr.
” But with Goodbye happiness, this is the first time that I was doing casting and I loved it, ”she says.
PHOTO PROVIDED BY VÉRONIQUE ST-ONGE
Director Ken Scott with, from left to right, Laurent Martinet, Tom Gaudet, Anthony Nadeau-Arseneau and Laurent Gabriel Thériault, young Madelinots recruited to play in Goodbye happiness.
Children speak
The biggest distribution challenge to overcome was that of the children, she emphasizes. They were numerous in audition and she had to choose different ages to represent the four main characters, namely Nicolas (François Arnaud), Thomas (Antoine Bertrand), William (Patrice Robitaille) and Charles-Alexandre (Louis Morissette), at different stages of their life.
Through a few short scenes of the film, we see the four very young brothers, of school age and teenagers. Press had the opportunity to speak with four young Madelinots who lived a day on the set. They had silent roles, but found themselves for a few moments in the heart of a scene.
Tom Gaudet, 11, performed two scenes, including one where he is seen alone in a close-up in a car, before making an ellipse towards the character of Thomas today.
PHOTO PROVIDED BY VÉRONIQUE ST-ONGE, MOTHER OF TOM GAUDET
Tom Gaudet played the character of Thomas (Antoine Bertrand) as a child.
We got there early in the morning, got ready and then we went to the filming site… and it went really well. I stayed there all morning and part of the afternoon.
Tom gaudet
His comrades Laurent Martinet, Anthony Nadeau-Arseneau and Laurent Gabriel Thériault played Charles-Alexandre, William and Nicolas.
“I really enjoyed my day,” says 11-year-old Laurent Martinet. I found it fun and I met an actor, Blaise Tardif, whom I had seen a couple of times on television. He played the taxi driver in the movie. ”
“During the film, it was fun. I didn’t think it was going to take so long to shoot a little scene of barely 30 seconds, ”remarks Anthony Nadeau-Arseneau, who is in second secondary.
As for Laurent Gabriel Thériault, 6 years old, he sums up his day as follows: “It was true… ment… loooooong! ”
What he liked the most? “The photo”, sums up the 6-year-old. His mother Ariane points out that at the end of the day, the children had the chance to pose with Ken Scott.
And Kloé Jiangzhu Arseneau? “I make a small appearance with my family, my parents and my boyfriend in a scene at the restaurant,” she laughs. I wanted to give them this experience. ”
Goodbye happiness, in theaters on December 17