Now that's a scenery change! French police thriller films in N.L. after South America
About 80 actors, producers and technicians have been criss-crossing the Avalon Peninsula this week filming a French TV cop thriller.
Paris-based production company Frenchkiss has teamed up with Newfoundland's Take the Shot Productions to film the second season of Maroni, a series broadcast in France on ARTE.
After filming the show's first season in the heat and humidity of French Guyana, the snow and sleet of an East Coast winter came as a real shock for the Parisian crew, said makeup artist Carine Cabral.
"It was hot, we were in the Amazonian forest. It's my first time in Newfoundland and it's really cold, but the scenery is beautiful," Cabral said. "But we do have to stay, all day, out on the set, in the cold, without moving."
About 40 French crew members had already spent more than a month in St-Pierre-Miquelon before arriving in St. John's.
In the second season of Maroni, police officer Chloé Bresson returns home to the French overseas territory to investigate her mother's murder.
But part of the intrigue involves a young girl Bresson follows to Newfoundland — a plot twist that required 10 days of shooting in the St. John's area and on the southern shore of the Avalon.
Tors Cove transformed
On their first day of filming, last Friday, Tors Cove transformed — for a few hours — into a fictional Indigenous reserve called Roots River. Later in the week, downtown St. John's became the backdrop for a police shootout.
Take the Shot's co-producer Rob Blackie, who also helped produce TV drama Frontier, which aired on Discovery Channel and Netflix, said unexpected weather can wreak havoc during winter shoots.
The days are shorter, he said, and wind and snow can arrive at any moment.
Weather issues closed the access road to the Tors Cove set the night before the first day of shooting. The team was almost forced to move the morning's scene to Avondale, a town 50 kilometres away.
"TV and film projects are always very technical, they're always complex," said Blackie, who added planning for the Newfoundland shoot began months ago.
2 teams, 2 languages
Differences in language and workflow also added production challenges for the French and Canadian teams.
"In one way, it's really cool to work with a Canadian team, to do things the American way. We have two very different ways of working.… We met today and now we have to figure out how to work together," said Cabral.
"There has to be communication problems, but it's normal. The language and the culture is different," she said.
French producer Noor Sadar agreed.
"The first couple days, there will be a bit of work to adapt and learn how each team works," Sadar said.
But that process that has to happen as quickly as possible, he said.
"We have some busy days and a lot of things to film."
Taking advantage of the landscape
Despite the conditions, Sadar says his team is happy to have chosen Newfoundland as one of its shoot locations.
"We had asked ourselves, 'Should we just shoot this in Montreal? There are more teams there, more equipment, it'll be easier.' But when we came here to scope out the area with Olivier (Abbou, the director), we realized, 'Wow, it's beautiful,'" he said.
"We'll be taking advantage of the landscape."
After filming in Newfoundland, the Paris crew returns to French Guyana for a final week of filming.
Season 2 of Maroni is set for broadcast in February 2021.
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