Confronting the disease requires resilience and courage as shown by the seven young protagonists of the new series “The red bracelets”, presented on Tuesday at VAT.
Whether it is an ATV accident, a bad fall from a dive or a bone cancer requiring the amputation of a leg, young people did not have it easy in this Quebec adaptation of the Catalan series “Polseres Vermelles”. The home version, produced by Encore Television, in collaboration with Quebecor Content, is piloted by director Yan England.
Photo Courtesy, Encore Television and Quebecor Content
Anthony Therrien and Audrey Roger
The texts were transposed in today’s Quebec by Michel Brouillette and Stéphanie Perreault from the work of the Spanish screenwriter and engineer Albert Espinosa Puig, who stayed in the hospital during much of his youth.
“The red bracelets” is first and foremost a story of friendship and solidarity. The creators wanted a work that was at the same time luminous, funny and dramatic, but first and foremost authentic. The title is linked to the red “courage” bracelets that staff give to patients before each operation.
Photo Courtesy, Encore Television and Quebecor Content
“We found it interesting to have different personalities to have” clashes “between them, and also people who would not have been friends at the start, but there, taken together, it leads to understand the other”, said author and actor Michel Brouillette, who also plays a physiotherapist in the series.
Young people create a “family” at the hospital. “Friendship is stronger than anything, it is present, we also hope, in the Quebec version. It’s crazy how we find on the screen that there is an extraordinary bond between them, that’s the heart of the “show” in fact, “added the author Stéphanie Perreault.
Admitted to Hôpital de la Rive, in the Laurentians, to undergo the amputation of his left leg, Justin (Noah Parker), an athlete who was aiming for a career in the NHL, is supported by his new “roommate” Félix (Anthony Therrien). The latter has been hospitalized for nine months after having himself been amputated below the knee.
Photo Courtesy, Encore Television and Quebecor Content
During the 55 days of filming, the two actors had to wear a green stocking on one leg so that it could be more easily erased in post-production.
Noah said in a virtual panel discussion on Monday, after viewing two of the 10 episodes of the first season, that he did some research to prepare for the role.
“We had the chance to meet someone who had bone cancer, a young man who had experienced what we have to live in the series. It helped us a lot to know what it is to have phantom pain, how we live when we learn that we have cancer and that we are going to undergo an amputation, ”said the actor.
Yan England, who started acting at the age of eight and who has watched directors a lot on sets, enjoys working with the next generation as he did with the film “Sam”, available on Club illico.
“It’s because this gang has a bottomless talent. They are extremely talented and the other thing is, they are super hardworking. I knew that their dedication was going to lead me to discover things that I had not even suspected that they could give me as an actor and actress, then that’s why my confidence was total in this beautiful gang ” , he said.
Photo Courtesy, Encore Television and Quebecor Content
Leanne Desilets
The intrigues are carried with great talent, in addition to Noah Parker and Anthony Therrien, by Malick Babin, Milya Corbeil Gauvreau, Léanne Désilets, Étienne Galloy and Audrey Roger. Around them, we find parents and caregivers played by Éric Bernier, Isabelle Blais, Frédéric de Grandpré, Myriam De Verger, Sébastien Delorme, Marcel Leboeuf, Éric Paulhus, Marie-Chantal Perron, Catherine Renaud and David Savard.
It’s this Tuesday, at 8 p.m., at VAT, that is presented the first episode of the series “The red bracelets”.