(Paris) Enterprise of the Capitol in the United States and rise of extremes in France, far from the ring roadreleased Friday on Netflix, has been “caught up” by the news of recent months, deplore the actors Omar Sy and Laurent Lafitte.
Posted yesterday at 12:24 p.m.
“The political dimension of the film, after a while, overtook us a little, in the sense that reality began to look more and more like it”, summarizes Laurent Lafitte during a round table on Friday at the Peninsula hotel in Paris.
Ten years after the other side of the ring-roadwhich had attracted more than 2 million spectators in theaters, Ousmane Diakité (Omar Sy) and François Monge (Laurent Lafitte), a duo of Parisian cops, reconnect in a 2and opus with the tunes of an American blockbuster.
For their reunion, the two acolytes are launched on the trail of a sordid crime in Isère, where a serious plot mixing politics and far-right terrorist militia is woven. Even if it means stacking up again, Omar Sy and Laurent Lafitte wanted to go “all the way”.
Under the direction of Louis Leterrier, Hollywood Frenchie at the helm of the next Fast & Furiousthe cocktail is more explosive, between “stunts”, “fighting” and racing in karts or aboard big 4x4s.
But this sequel took on an unexpected dimension after the invasion of the Capitol by supporters of Donald Trump on January 6, 2021.
” Frightening “
“We tried to have a little derision on this, because when the film was being written, the news joined our scenario more and more, which is quite frightening”, comments Omar Sy.
The film willingly “assumes” to “echo” this “unfortunate” reality, by representing certain figures of the assault on the American Congress. In the ranks of the “Sons of Clovis”, a fictional neo-Nazi band, we find “the guy with his helmet” with horns, a pastiche of the leader “QAnon” Jake Angeli.
Initially, the team far from the ring road rather imagined “a fairly organized army, with uniforms, which looked a bit like these far-right young people who intervene at the borders in the mountains”, develops Laurent Lafitte, in reference to the association Génération Identitaire, dissolved in March 2021.
“Afterwards, it became more of Mr. and Mrs. Everybody, who suddenly mobilized for a fascist ideal, and there, it looked a little more like those who intervened at the Capitol”, he continues.
What was not “anticipated” on the other hand, was this parallel between the extremist and anti-migrant discourse of a character in the film – the mayor of the village where the plot takes place -, and the ex-candidate in the presidential election Éric Zemmour.
“It was not so much his level of racism and xenophobia that was pushed (in the film), but the way he verbalized it without complex. We didn’t think it could go this far”, expresses Laurent Lafitte, “being so close to reality”, completes Omar Sy.
Despite the unexpected flavor of this sequel, the duo appreciates the high “visibility” that this French film will benefit from thanks to Netflix.
“It’s one of the things that I really like when you do something for Netflix,” says Omar Sy, hired for several years to play and produce films with the platform with 222 million subscribers.
“I hear Lupine pronounced in all possible ways, it’s quite funny, ”concludes the actor, who has had worldwide success with the series inspired by the character of Maurice Leblanc.