BigBug by Jean-Pierre Jeunet | Revenge of the Robots

The director of Fabulous destiny of Amélie Poulain has put his fertile imagination and unique style at the service of a futuristic farce, set in a world where humans rely on artificial intelligence to satisfy their every need and desire. This idea seduced Netflix. Interview.

Marc-Andre Lussier
The Press

Casually, it was still nine years since we had heard from Jean-Pierre Jeunet. Since The extravagant journey of the young and prodigious TS Spivetthe French filmmaker made a short animated film, was hired by Amazon to carry out the pilot of a series that never saw the light of day, took part in an exhibition devoted to the work of the tandem that he formed at one time with Marc Caro and stumbled on film projects for which he suffered successive refusals.

“I first wrote a screenplay about sex, a kind of contemporary variation of The man who loved womenby Truffaut, but no one wanted it because, I was told, it was too “Amelian”, explains Jean-Pierre Jeunet during a videoconference interview granted to The Press. “Excuse me, but if it could ever be a success, it is true that it would be a shame! “, he adds ironically.

A great interest from Netflix

In the impasse, the filmmaker threw himself into writing BigBug with Guillaume Laurant, a faithful accomplice for a long time, with whom he notably wrote the fabulous destiny of Amelie Poulain. Again, an end of inadmissibility awaited him from French producers.

“No one understood what I wanted to do. I was told that it was impossible to have robots in a French comedy. Robots are for American action movies, I was told. It was like in kindergarten where the circle must fit in a circle, not in a triangle. After having seen all the producers in France in vain, I ended up giving up. »

Then, one day, people from Netflix approached Jean-Pierre Jeunet asking him if, by chance, he didn’t have a film project in his drawers.

How did a filmmaker who left his mark on French cinema thanks to films like Delicatessen and A long engagement Sundaynot to mentionAmelie Poulain, explain the difficulties he faces when it comes time to set up a film project? It’s simple: the world is changing. And apparently not always for the best.

“Marketing has taken over. Previously, we sometimes had to deal with people who knew the cinema; today, we face reading committees made up of people who have just graduated from business school. They don’t care, don’t understand anything, and don’t care that you have achieved the greatest success in French language history on an international scale. When you remind them, they say ‘yes, but that was the exception’. This is not unique to cinema, mind you. It is now like that in all areas. »

One less stress

Jean-Pierre Jeunet is delighted that Netflix is ​​producing his new feature film. He even says he is relieved at the idea of ​​the very large audience that his new offering will perhaps reach.

“Before dying, Alain Corneau [Tous les matins du monde, Le cousin] said to me: “You will see, the older you get, the more afraid you will be when your films come out.” There, I got rid of that. »

In his eyes, the cinema in theaters is still here for good. In the same way that the big screen has never replaced theater and television has never replaced cinema, platforms will never replace theaters either.

“Things add up,” he argues. BigBug is a feature film that I shot in exactly the same way as the previous ones, without changing anything in my directing approach. You should also know that Netflix is ​​extremely picky about technique. We must shoot according to the highest technological standards to meet their requirements. »

Unexpected resonances

Developing the visual style of his film from the writing of the screenplay by drawing boards, the filmmaker had the idea, long before the planet was confined, of a story taking place behind closed doors. The story of BigBug takes place in the year 2045 and tells the story of a family in crisis, stuck in a house due to a robotic disorder. Strangely, the story has resonances with what humanity has been through for the past two years.

“It’s a coincidence, but we still added a joke or two to echo it. We also shot this film during confinement, with masks, very strict sanitary rules, etc. It was obviously painful, but we got used to it after a while. We were very lucky, because during the entire filming, only one case was declared. And it was the head of the COVID measures himself! »

Starring Elsa Zylberstein, Stéphane De Groodt and Isabelle Nanty as human characters; Claude Perron, Alban Lenoir and François Levantal on the side of those who are not (not to mention the voice of André Dussollier, lent to one of the robots), BigBug is above all an choral film.

“The actors were all there, at the same time, in a closed place. In the morning, I went around all the dressing rooms doing the shrink to be sure that everything was fine! I was also able to work upstream with them, especially with those who play the robots, to establish the voices, the ways of walking, of moving. I had great examples to follow too:artificial intelligenceby Steven Spielberg, in WALL-E, the Pixar movie. »

Affirming that as he gets older, he finds it more and more difficult to experience crushes himself, Jean-Pierre Jeunet has no idea of ​​the reception his new feature film will get. According to him, one certainty is nevertheless essential from the outset.

“I don’t pretend to say that this film is better than another, but I know that we all put the best of ourselves into it, in all departments. Those who like my work will love it, those who don’t like it will love to hate it. So, in the end, everyone will love it! »

BigBug will be available exclusively on Netflix on February 11.