“It’s a gift,” confides Guy A. Lepage, after the preview unveiling of three episodes from the very last season ofA boy a girl, which will be available from January 4 on Radio-Canada’s digital platform. “It’s been over 20 years, and we’ve had the best reviews ever, it’s been such a shock! We told ourselves that we hadn’t lost it! » he enthusiastically launched at a press conference in front of journalists, but, above all, in front of dozens of hand-picked fans.
He remembers in fact that the reactions were rave and were not long in coming last April following the broadcast of the special episodes, which ended, remember, with an open ending. “We know what it is, A boy a girl, so when we made the last episodes and saw them, we didn’t say to ourselves “the world is going to like this”, we said to ourselves “this is good”. »
“While we were filming, we had ideas that we had to leave aside because we only had four episodes,” adds Sylvie Léonard. And Guy A. Lepage adds: “With Sylvie, we know our protagonists so well that we know exactly how they would react in a given situation. » It is therefore quite natural that Quebecers’ favorite couple officially moves into their condo in the city and without children after having lived for 20 years with their family in the Montreal suburbs.
“There will be surprises in each new episode,” promises Guy A. Lepage, who, it should be noted, wears the hats of main author, script editor, co-director and co-producer here. To do this, he and his impressive screenwriting team — made up of Martin Perizzolo, Sylvie Bouchard, Sylvie Léonard, Pascal Lavoie, André Ducharme, Jean-François Mercier, Martin Petit, Marie-France Landry, Mélanie Campeau and Luc Provost — play each other notably the clash of generations between Guy and Sylvie as well as their offspring, now in their early twenties, Camille (Anyjeanne Savaria) and Charles (Jean-Christophe Leblanc), and their respective blondes, Mau (Camille Léonard) and Akalie (Éléonore Loiselle) . Let’s also not forget Guy’s younger brother, Anakin…
” It’s the fun to write, but it is above all the fun when others can answer you,” explains Guy A. Lepage. Environmental crisis, video games, conspiracy or even social networks: any event between parents and children becomes a pretext to provoke and make viewers laugh, only for the best. “Between each punch, each take, we watch. And when we find that it’s “so so”, we don’t put it in the show, because we can’t do anything in the editing since it’s just sequenced shots,” he mentions.
In the mood of time
According to Guy A. Lepage, the oppositions were essential for the continuation ofA boy a girl. “If it was just Guy or Sylvie who made a stand-up comically, we would only see their opinions, but there, it’s as if they were several shows responding to each other,” he says. It’s not always the same character who is ahead of his time and the other who is always next, “it just depends on the subjects”. As in life, in itself. The wide variety of roles also allows the treatment of an innumerable number of subjects. “There’s always someone who’s going to say something you think, but no one ever really has the absolute right,” he notes.
In fact, Guy and Sylvie sometimes seem slightly offbeat, perhaps comically anachronistic, even if the “girl” always keeps well informed of what is happening. “Twenty years after the last season, our societies have changed, and it’s as if we were starting from scratch, we were transported to another reality,” says Guy A. Lepage. Now, everyone wants to take a stand, on the left, on the right, the wokes, etc. » The presence of Luc Provost, who we also know as the famous Mado, in writing and in front of the camera (surprise!), also gives rise to hilarious scenes, very much in tune with the times. “We’re talking about drag queens: I find it cool because it’s fun, but at the same time, they experience a lot of things with controversy, which I won’t dwell on,” explains Sylvie Léonard.
Will the ultimate surprise be the arrival of new seasons ofA boy a girl ? “Current conflicts and strikes will be reflected in future episodes,” confirms Guy A. Lepage, while Sylvie Léonard cannot help but say, laughing: “One year at a time, like in couples! »