How did you develop the relationship between the characters of Zodi, Tehu and Julia in the film, and how did this relationship evolve in the course of the story?
Eric Barbier: It's a relationship that was already built into the script, I would say the script, the construction of the story, it was already the relationships, the story of this adventure, of this Berber child who is going to go through, in fact, everything, countries and many adventures to get to Abu Dhabi and who will be able to find a person who helped him, who is played by Alexandra, who has a veterinarian in a specialized dromedary clinic, which does exist, which is true. So that means, I would say, the relationship between Zodi, Dr. Sadoul, since that's the name of the character, and the dromedary, in fact, that was already inscribed, it was a bit the core, the structure of the film. So then, what happened, and this is only true, is one thing, I would say, that is the magic of films. It means that afterwards there is an encounter, there is Alexandra who meets Yassir, Yassir who meets Alexandra Yassir, who works with dromedaries so who did not necessarily know these animals. Alexandra The same. So after things evolve also according to the situations that Alexandra and Yassir will play and so the situations will obviously make things evolve, make the film move, especially a film for with animals. It's a film where the actors, it's complicated for them because an animal is not, we don't tell him... So they are obliged all the time to improvise, we tell them all the time to improvise, do that again, go there. So there is a kind of spontaneity where the actors have to react with the animal, to build themselves even when they play with two people, which makes it quite complicated. So we are, everyone is all the time a little bit... These are films where everyone is always a little bit on deck and always ready to shoot. In fact, these are not things that are very settled, they are things that have to be very flexible. And so on that point, I was really helped a lot by Alexandra and Yassir
More room for improvisation, I think like that.
E. B.: Yes yes, some scenes, yes very much yes
And on the story, it's a story that existed that.
E. B.: No, in fact, the story came from the producer who showed me documentaries on camel racing, which are races in Abu Dhabi where the camels are ridden by robots and where the robots, where there are whips that are directed by remote controls and where the trainers can talk to the camels with walkie-talkies, so it's a bit of a special thing, it's special camelodromes, it's things that are made for those races, specifically.
With specially trained camels
E. B.: With dromedaries that are great runners, that are as famous as the horses that will run at the Arc de Triomphe, that are worth a fortune. So that means that it is really particular. It's a world that we don't know at all. And so, it's true that entering this story through this way, I think that... I really wanted to make a film for children, for example, because I thought it was interesting, it's other codes, it's about the bad guy, the good guy, the allies,... But I had to find a subject that is very original. The film allowed me to do that. Here is
Alexandra Lamy: A film for children, and if I allow myself for a whole family? Because even the adults, it is precisely ... Yes, because it's true, it's not a children's film. I mean, you can go just with adults because it's still an adventure movie, there's a lot of stuff in there. It's not just a story about camel racing. There is that because first of all, the images are magnificent, and then there is also this race, but there is also everything that it tells beside, there is the landscapes, well, it is really. And in addition, I think it's really a film to go see in the cinema. Because for the blow, when we think that a film like that in the cinema, it has really its place because there are landscapes. Already, even the landscapes see even the light which is almost a character, I was going to say, it is very beautiful. So yes, but it's great because these are family films. You can go with your children, but even adults can go on their own, it's great too.
E. B.: But moreover, the story is really the story of an apprenticeship, it's the story of a child who leaves. And in fact, if we can say so, it is really, a child who grows up and as Alexandra said, in fact, he crosses several worlds, he crosses several stages and in fact each stage, it is true that it is adventures, it is a film of adventures, therefore there are full of decorations and it is true that the decorations, the universe in which the film takes place, it is rather magic.
It's a child who doesn't necessarily find his place in his community at first.
E. B.: Yes, because there is something special about it. It is Yassir who will say it, he is particular. Why is he special? No, but it's true that he's a child who goes to school because he's the only one in his tribe. So it's true that there is this relationship, but that's something you have to talk about, Yassir, your relationship with your friends and all that, you know.
Yassir Drief : For example. Yes, I like Zodi first of all because he is very similar to me, because he is courageous like me. But there is one thing that is not so much like me, and that is that he hates going to school. But I love going to school, I love it. So yes, and as Alexandra and Eric said, go see the movie in the theater because it's really nice and you'll really like it. There are beautiful landscapes and there is a lot, there is a lot of stuff, there is the race, there is the emotion, there is a lot of stuff. So yes, it's really nice.
Did you like making this film?
Y. D. : Yes.
Was it your first film?
Y. D.: Yes, and I really loved it. I had good memories. For example, I learned to ride the moped. Yes, I wanted to do that during the whole day because I liked it so much. But I couldn't. Because I had to do other scenes. The camel, it was really nice. At the beginning I was a little bit afraid, but then he became my best friend every time, when I saw him, we were hugging, kissing. And when it was the last day, well I was a little sad and so was he. So, yeah, there you go.
A. L.: By the way, I think it's great because it's his first film, it's great because you're in a crazy environment to have a story like that. It's rare to have a story like that. And as you said earlier, you went to see the film, I mean to be in a film like that for the first time, an adventure film. I mean, this friendship with this animal that in real life, you would never imagine a story with a dromedary, it's still... I mean for you, I mean earlier when you said, "When I saw the movie, I said..." But yeah, it's great for a first film to have a film like that!
E. B.: Plus, it's true that it's a movie where there's a lot of adventure. He goes into a storm, so he's been in a sandstorm. We did some of it, it's not all live action, but there's a lot of live action, so he's been through a sandstorm, and then he walks into a salt lake that almost collapses. Then he has to escape from an airport, so that means there's a lot... Then, there are the races because he races to earn some money to leave. So it means that all these elements were really for Yassir, the character goes through so many exceptional situations. It's really an adventure film. So it was very pleasant.
And the music too, which was directed by Mika and which brings a lot to the landscape.
E. B.: Well, that's true. On a film that we call a "family" film, because you don't want to say for children, a film for families, that is to say that we realize on the majority of the films that were made for children, in fact, that the music, it is an enormous part. When I say it's a huge part, it's in volume, it's 60% on average, and then, in terms of, I would say, the vector of emotion. I'm not just talking about emotion, sadness or whatever. I'm also talking about energy, strength, joy, music is always very important in children's films. And it's true that Mika, there was one thing that was really very interesting in the idea of working with him. First of all, it was his first music, he had never done that. He did a real film score. It's a real score, it's not just Mika songs. It's really a score, it's a score where there are moments where there's tension, where there's fear, where there has to be danger. So it really scored the film. And even if there are, there are two tracks that are very Mika. And it's true that he also brought to the film a color, which is a color that is a little different, I would say, from when you take people who are specialized in film music or who on this type of films can find a, I would say a musical scheme that is more classic. And it is true that Mika, he brings an originality in the music which is really very strong.
And what were the most important challenges you encountered during the shooting? The dromedaries? I think that was already a challenge.
E. B.: No, but that actually means the challenges. I come back to the actors a little bit, but it's true that I think for Yassir and Alexandra, it was difficult. It means that it is difficult. For example, we often talk about the scene, the first scene of Alexandra who finds herself in the middle of 30 dromedaries, then they are strong dromedaries because well, we are in Paris, it's okay, but when you're there, in the middle of the dromedaries, you find yourself with huge beasts. And the first scene that she has to play, it is in fact frankly, I said to myself, but... We had seen each other in Paris with Alexandra, we had done a little bit of stuff, but when she arrived there, it was in Ouarzazate and I said to myself "But tomorrow she's going to be there. I knew where she was going to end up. I said to myself, but maybe she will say to me "Oh no but Eric there, it does not go!". No, but also, what I didn't know was that she had seen things. That's what I didn't know!
A. L.: Yes, yes, I had gotten close to the dromedaries, if you can talk like that... No, I mean, I had informed myself before leaving anyway, because it is an animal that can even be frightening. I mean, it's an animal that is 2.5 meters long, so we think well, and we don't know what it can think, we don't know if it will bite. And what is great is that Eric, just before I shoot, he shows me an absolutely atrocious video. So just before I was facing 20 dromedaries, he said to me, you know, sometimes dromedaries can be a little bit tricky - he didn't do that to you? Luckily. - and he said "Look, I'll show you something" and there he showed me a guy with a dromedary. I don't know what he does to dromedaries, it must make him angry and the dromedary takes him by the head like this in the mouth and throws him. And he says to me "You see, it's funny, but still, you have to be careful! Come on, let's go?", I say to myself "But he is crazy! Why did he show me this? But it's atrocious." So I laughed, I said to myself, "Oh, my God".
E. B.: No, but it's a very good video.
A. L.: Very funny
It's true that this scene where she examines the dromedary, there is a technical gesture.
A. L.: Oh yes, yes of course, I saw the veterinarians before. I saw a young girl called Coralie, in Sète, who has dromedaries and who, it's true, transmitted to me her passion and her love for these animals because it's true that we wouldn't think of them, it's not an animal where we say to ourselves "Well, I would like a small dromedary at home".
E. B.: Now yes,
A. L.: Now, all the children will want dromedaries.
E. B.: She has a camel.
Well, Julia had one as a child in Australia.
A. L.: Ah, well, I'll say it right away, parents, excuse us, because this is going to be a catastrophe, the little cat is over, there are going to be dromedaries now! It's a disaster, it's much bigger. But to come back to what you were saying. Me, I find that there is a challenge, it is that I, when I read it, I said to myself "Wow to make a film of it" because it could almost, one could imagine it in cartoon, it would be almost simpler between quotation marks, because it is nevertheless an animal, it is nevertheless a child. A friendship, it's, I mean the races, et cetera. I said to myself, "Well, it's very ballsy to do that in film" because it's not easy to do it, to put it in images, that's ballsy, I was going to say. No but it's true, and it works very well because even until the end, well, even if I saw some images, but very few like that, when I saw the film, I say "Wow, it's very strong" and it's even stronger because it's not a cartoon, it has exactly the tenderness, the emotion, the adventure that we could find almost in a cartoon with a child, with an animal. And there, we have it in real life, so that gives it even something stronger, I think.
E. B.: And that's what was also difficult in relation to what you were saying, that is to say that the relationship between Yassir and the dromedary, that means to build what Alexandra says. In the cartoons, things are done a little naturally, well, they are constructed, they are drawn. And there, it is true that in the physical relationship with the animal, to manage to build a relationship where they are friends, where the dromedary listens to her, where the dromedary responds to her, it was really... That was really the challenge of the film, that is to say to make this relationship between a child and this animal which is rather unknown, and it is true that there is a little odd because we have an image a little, we say: "it is a camel". When we say of someone that he is not very nice, we say: "he is a camel", so there is, he has this image a little hard, but in fact to build this link, it was all the bet of the film and I think that it was really formidable. And what Yassir did with the animals, it was really a great job.
And yes, the differences in scenery between the desert, its people, its village and then the Qatars with lots of camels. Yes, it's something. There is a real epic, a real rise of a film.
E. B.: That's it, the subject of the film, it was also to go towards something which is the Berbers, therefore they are Berber people. Moreover, we worked with real tribes because at the beginning of the film, we gathered nomadic tribes who live in the Reg next to Ouarzazate and we grouped them together to make the village, so we had people who were used to living outside, who slept on the set, it was their tents and all that. And in fact, Alexandra and Yassir were embedded, if I may say so, with the nomads. So that means that Yassir, he had the tent with his mother, but around them, there were only people who were nomads who in the morning, when we arrived at 4 am to shoot, they woke up, they went to take care of the animals, they did their life, clean... So all the shots you see at the beginning of the film, when they clean the tent and all that, were shots that I filmed of them waking up. So it was also to integrate a certain history that we know little about. The nomadic Berbers, we don't know much about them, there are very few of them, so to have grouped them together and we made the dramatic movement of the film, it was to go towards something like that, of rather traditional I don't like the word, I don't like the word, but people who live in a rather austere way and to go towards the countries of the Gulf, thus in particular Dubai and all that, which are countries where it is the opposite, it is the luxury, the disproportionate buildings, the disproportionate camelodromes, he who in the film runs while mounting his dromedary. In fact, there is a robot who will ride his camel, he enters another world, the world of technology, it was also to go from a very traditional thing, to technology, to modernity. It was also the movement of the film.
