Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/1197255
62 W I N T E R 2 0 2 0 C A S Q U A R T E R L Y English-language series. This latest series, Possession, will be airing on Canal Plus in France in 2020. To better communicate his artistic approach and vision, I sat down with Thomas on a recent Saturday afternoon. When you read the script for Possession with its French, Hebrew, and Arab characters, did you think about shooting in one language or was your intent to shoot in the native language of each character? The only language they could have spoken altogether would have been English. Other options [such as actors speaking languages they did not know] made no sense to me. The most interesting option was for everyone to shoot in their own language; knowing that this came with a few specific difficulties. Did you consider this an artistic choice? Having each actor speak their own language made sense for this particular show because it's about being a foreigner; being an outsider—or an insider. Do you think it is more acceptable for certain types of projects? I remember being disturbed, for instance, when I saw Julian Schnabel's Miral (about an orphaned Palestinian girl growing up in the wake of the Arab-Israeli War), since everyone spoke English. When you're trying to convey a realistic, contemporary story with everybody speaking another language, it can get a little dodgy. Possession [is intended] to be rooted in reality, so people need to speak their own language. However, when I worked on [the Franco- Canadian historical fiction TV series] Versailles, all of the characters spoke English which, at first, was a challenge but [in the end] I don't think really shocked anyone since it's a version of reality we're depicting. Was the casting for Possession challenging since you don't speak Hebrew? We felt it was much more important to have a good actor than an actor that spoke the language. A great performer is always better no matter what [since] you can always find your way through it. On the other hand, a bad performer is always [damaging the scene]. For instance, Noa Koler, who played the character Esti, was less gifted in French—which was needed for one particular scene— but clearly the best actress we met. What lets a director direct a language that is not his or her own is what is beneath the language. However, I did have a Hebrew advisor with me [since I do not speak Hebrew] to let me know if anything was spoken incorrectly, which did happen on occasion. Was Noa not speaking French natively a problem for that scene? Her acting was excellent, which was the focus. We'll use nearly all of her direct sound but will [ADR] a word or two here and there to make sure the rhythm of a word or a pronunciation is more accurate. Was directing difficult? We used English as our common work language. It would be much more difficult if we didn't have that to help communicate Top to bottom: Sam Cohen at his sound cart; director Thomas Vincent (right) talking in English with an Israeli cast whose scenes are in Hebrew; Reda Kateb as "The Man from the French Embassy" in Israel, speaks French, English, and some lines in Hebrew and Arab.