Between the dimmed lights, the laughing audience and Étienne Galloy on the microphone who chained joke after joke, it almost felt like a Saturday night at the Bordel comedy club in Montreal. The comings and goings of the technicians, the directives of the director and the haggard looks of the extras quickly brought us back to reality, on the film set of High demolition.
Invited to meet the artisans of this series based on the novel by Jean-Philippe Baril Guérard and expected next winter on Series Plus, The duty was able to attend the filming of this short scene from the second episode on Monday. We see the main character, Raph (Étienne Galloy) doing a stand-up at the Tarmac, an imaginary scene where up-and-coming comedians try out new jokes. That evening, Raph especially wants to impress Laurie (Léane Labrèche-Dor), with whom he will develop a personal and professional relationship that will end in a painful breakup.
For the occasion, the Apt 200 bar, on rue Saint-Laurent, has been transformed into a comedy cabaret. Between two sound arrangements, the addition of lighting or the change of place for an extra, Étienne Galloy quietly repeats his text, imperturbable despite the ambient hubbub.
However, a few minutes earlier, he confided “hating to be alone on stage” and not understanding how comedians do it. “Even if it’s in the context of a role, it’s something that takes me out of my comfort zone. It takes a lot of letting go, it’s not natural for me. »
To better embody his character, he therefore tried the experiment last week, at the Bordel comedy club – the real one – in order to break in the numbers learned by heart for the series. On the set, he can also count on the help of comedian Erich Preach, who is part of the distribution.
“This is my biggest acting challenge to date. I’ve been seen a lot in comedies, but playing a comedian is something else. And when you play someone like Raph, it’s even more complex, he says. I must be the funniest of the gang. And at the same time, I have to be this character scarred by years of bullying in high school, who behaves whiny, whiny, angry, immature and toxic because he is not able to recover from a sentence of ‘love. »
#MeToo in the background
Because in High demolition, author Jean-Philippe Baril Guérard did not just want to dive into this quest for success for young comedians. “I wanted to put this romantic relationship between Laurie and Raph at the center of the story. Show how an artistic relationship can complicate a love relationship and lead to a difficult breakup when big egos are involved, ”explains the one who worked on the adaptation of his novel for the small screen with director Christian Laurence. The duo had already adapted their previous novel wildlife handbook on screen last year.
Through this relationship that is knitting and unraveling before our eyes, he tackles universal subjects such as competition, power relations, revenge and addiction to alcohol and drugs. He also takes the opportunity to talk about the #MeToo movement. “With what’s been happening in the news since 2017, I had an obligation to talk about #Metoo, it’s part of the humor world”, underlines the author.
Those who have already devoured his novel have certainly seen great similarities between the story invented by Jean-Philippe Baril Guérard and the very real ones of comedians like Julien Lacroix or, more recently, Philippe Bond who have been targeted by allegations of sexual misconduct.
“Sometimes I feel like the stories I invent go too far in exaggeration and, in the end, I realize that I can’t invent the worst”, notes the author, explaining how his fiction has been caught up by reality.
The director Christian Laurence makes a point of specifying: the idea to make a series of it is not surf on the popularity of the #MeToo movement. “As in the book, we evoke these behaviors, we imply them, without it being central, without it being graphic and frontal. We especially wanted to show this toxic masculinity which is anchored in our culture and not denounced enough. »
As for the actors met by The duty, they do not seem destabilized by the idea of embodying roles so close to reality and, on the contrary, consider it important to talk about these toxic behaviors that can be encountered on a daily basis. “I think seeing these stories in the news helps me. Julien Lacroix was one of my favorite comedians before all that. […] It shows that you shouldn’t trust appearances. And it helps me play my character. I try to make him endearing and charismatic, so that we wonder “why are you doing this or that” when he slips up. That even if we love him, we can see what he’s doing wrong. »