Game, set and match. Éric Bruneau will play a tormented tennis player in Turn – Double Faulta series he wrote with Louis Morissette and Marie-Hélène Lebeau-Taschereau.
Posted at 6:00 a.m.
Directed by Rafael Ouellet (Fatale-Station, New address), this psychological drama will be shot next summer and will air on Noovo in 2023. Divided into eight one-hour episodes, it will succeed the first part of Turnbroadcast last fall, in which Charlotte Aubin camped a speed skater freely (but largely) inspired by Marianne St-Gelais.
For its part, the scenario of Double fault is based on several paths. “We used the testimonies of many athletes”, specifies Éric Bruneau, reached by telephone.
Produced by KOTV (Plan B, Between two sheets) in collaboration with Bell Media, this new season of Turn will paint the portrait of Charles, a Quebec tennis player, however talented, who has never managed to shine on the world stage. Still dedicated to the sport despite injuries, lack of money and the performance anxiety he experiences, the veteran lives on at 187and ranking rank.
“In the National Hockey League, when you’re 150and, you are a multi-millionaire, says Éric Bruneau. In tennis, when you’re 150and, you make a decent living, nothing more. You gotta be in the top 10 to really [rouler sur l’or]. It’s crazy, the pressure they have. And they are all alone. All balls are important. All the choices they make are important. »
The series will also focus on the character of Sylvain, who will be defended by Louis Morissette, a Tennis Canada coach who wants to carve out a place in the sun in a sport where the entourage of players takes up a lot of space.
Anyone who watches tennis at all on RDS or TVA Sports knows how ubiquitous the families of the best racquets in the world are. We need only think of the parents of the Williams sisters, of Denis Shapovalov, of Leylah Fernandez, of Bianca Andreescu, of Stefanos Tsitsipas or of Alexander Zverev, who we see constantly around the courts.
Often the parents have coached the children and afterwards they hire the coaches themselves. They invest a lot in their children. They are involved.
Eric Bruneau
“It creates special family dynamics. It’s different from hockey. Martin St-Louis does not have to manage the parents of Carey Price, whereas in tennis, it is frequent. The parent-coach relationship can quickly become conflicting. »
The more you talk to the actor and author, the more you realize that he knows his tennis scene very well. Every year, he attends the Montreal tournament. He himself plays regularly (he mentions in passing that he beats Louis Morissette) and for six months he has been training seriously to be able to play each of the match sequences of Turn – Double Fault.
“The goal is to be as credible as possible without having a double. I’m going all in. »
The transmission
It is in January 2021, in his hotel in Toronto, while filming in Coronera detective series from the English-Canadian network CBC, which Éric Bruneau came up with the idea of Turn – Double Fault.
According to him, this is a direct consequence of a role he has recently assumed: that of father. In 2018, his spouse, author Kim Lévesque Lizotte, gave birth to a little girl named Marguerite.
“I wanted to discuss transmission, explains the actor. One time I was with my daughter in the kitchen, and I just had flashes of me when I was her age. Because when you raise a child, you are never alone with him. There are always your parents and even your grandparents who are not far behind. »
The call of writing
With Turn – Double Fault, Éric Bruneau continues to explore screenwriting. Last month, we learned of the start of construction at Radio-Canada ofBefore the crasha series that he signs with Kim Lévesque Lizotte on the world of investment bankers.
The 38-year-old comedian says the writing call came after his 30and birthday.
When I stopped playing All the truth, after five seasons, I started to think: “Am I going to continue to exist like this all my life, in the desire of the other, waiting to get a job, hoping for a telephone ?” Waiting is not my style. It never looked like me.
Eric Bruneau
Wishing to take his destiny into his own hands, he began to write, while keeping his aspirations secret.
As luck would have it, in the space of a few weeks, the two series he had been working on (for five years for Before the crash) get the green light from broadcasters.
“Artistically, it’s exciting to develop something else”, declares the one we will see next fall in The night Laurier Gaudreault woke up, Xavier Dolan’s first TV series. “It’s been 15 years since I graduated from the National Theater School. It feels good to be at the heart of the projects. I feel like I’m rediscovering my job. »
Éric Bruneau believes that Turn – Double Fault will arrive at the right time on the small screen. With the rise of players like Félix Auger-Aliassime, the popularity of tennis seems to have never been so strong in Quebec.
“I feel that there is a real enthusiasm from the public to watch tennis. That’s good. »
Starring Charlotte Aubin and Sylvain Marcel, the first season of Turn gained an average of 355,000 viewers on Noovo last fall, according to confirmed data from Numéris.