“Without you, we wouldn’t be here”: at Midi Libre, the actors from “Here it all begins” met their fans

Selfies, autographs, one-on-one discussions… Sixty viewers of “Here it all begins” and readers of Midi Libre experienced a special moment on Tuesday in our premises. They spoke with seven actors from the series filmed in Saint-Laurent-d'Aigouze, in the Gard, and broadcast every evening of the week at 6:30 p.m. on TF1 since November 2020. Four years already, or 1,053 episodes that these fans have seen (almost) all of them, with the 1,054th playing at the same time.“You don’t know me, and yet you are in my living room every evening at aperitif time”Jean-Luc told them with humor.

“We have the chance to work on a project that has met its audience. We liked it from the start and it continues to please,” confirmed Vanessa Demouy who plays the central character of Rose, whose adventures are followed every evening by 3.5 million followers. Alongside him, Frédéric Diefenthal (Antoine), Marvin Pellegrino (Mehdi), Catherine Davydzenka (Hortense), Stéphane Blancafort (Marc), Lucien Belves (Lionel) and Margaux Aguilar (Billie) illustrated this special relationship with viewers. “We are very grateful. Without you, we wouldn’t be here”recalled Lucien Belves, also present since the start of the series.

Filming secrets

The recipe for success? “Perhaps a wonderful team, with many actors who enjoy playing out plots imagined by a team of authors who do their best to make it work”believes Vanessa Demouy.

There was obviously a lot of talk about recipes, the story taking place in the prestigious Camargue gastronomy institute Auguste Armand. Catherine Davydzenka explained that the actors started the series “with a five-day course to learn the right gestures and learn how to cut fish or meat.” “Chefs are there to support us, provide coaching for example on working with chocolate. We carry out most of the actions, and if it's too complicated, they take over as an understudy with a tight plan on their hands”added Marvin Pellegrino, when Margaux Aguilar specified that culinary specialists also ensured the relevance of the scenario, “especially so that cooked dishes (by students of the institute) conform to their level. For the record, it is the technicians who benefit from the meals, like vegetables from the vegetable garden, “whatever happens to me to take some at the end of the day”, admitted Catherine Davydzenka.

Two months behind

The back kitchen of the series also greatly interested viewers, particularly the ten or so students from Cours Florent and the Traveling school present on Tuesday. “We have a two-month gap between filming and broadcast. We produce the equivalent of 17 to 19 minutes every day, even if we don't necessarily shoot an episode in order; we accumulate the scenes from each setting”revealed Vanessa Demouy, before everyone described their way of learning their text. Frédéric Diefenthal, visibly the troublemaker of the gang, revealed that he read and reread the plot, but remains “free to adapt certain words”.

The pleasure of the exchange was shared, but like every evening on TV, there had to be an end. So, before parting, actors and viewers talked about… what’s next. “On a daily basis, we don't know what will happen to our character, but we often have nice surprises, we let ourselves be carried away”, replied Lucien Belvès to Enora. But can we get tired of our double? “In this case, we must stop. For Tandem (police series filmed in Montpellier, Editor’s note), We chose with Astrid Veillon to stop before the season too many”said Stéphane Blancafort. “We must not settle into a comfort zone. Afterwards, we must not forget that we are in the game. As Michel Serrault said, we certainly work, but we play”.

The final word was for Frédéric Diefenthal who had a hard time letting go of the microphone. He deserved, like his six comrades, a round of applause, like three years ago during a first meeting at Midi Libre. Here, everything continues.