Everyone lies on France 2: anatomy of a thriller

Another fleece! Yes, but not just any thriller. A story built for the public service channel by the writer, screenwriter and ex-cop Olivier Norek, driven by the ambition to offer viewers a work that is necessarily classic, but also accomplished, innovative and entertaining. Maintenance.

TV MAGAZINE. – Does this kind of brigade actually exist in the ranks of the French police?

Olivier NOREK. – The starting postulate was the establishment of a detective fiction carried by characters as far removed as possible from those we are used to seeing, particularly on the small screen. However, it had to speak and be liked. And I was trying to find out what today is likely to arouse people’s interest. So the idea came to me that a certain section of society, by its very condition, very generally escapes all sanctions, whatever its misdeeds. And this fringe are those people – politicians, business leaders, media stars, big investment bankers – whose excesses we know and whom we almost never manage to touch because they -protect. I said to myself that the alliance of an honest prosecutor and a cop obsessed with the truth could be a good narrative lever to tackle this question which is a real question for society. Obviously, this kind of service, in France, does not exist.

Is the fiction inspired by real facts?

It very clearly alludes to Carlos Ghosn and all the scandals that have affected the automotive industry in recent years, including engine trafficking. The investigation by Verner and his team is sufficiently substantiated to be credible. It stems from a desire to build plots of extreme clarity. By avoiding of course the pitfall of conspiracy which would totally ruin the interest of the program.

Everybody liescould therefore become a collection?

Absolutely ! The grammar is in place. The characters are set. So as to make it a series, if the viewers like it. For my part. I would love that. And to tell you the truth, we are writing episode 2.

A few words about Vincent Verner?

Knowing that we were going to develop delicate investigations, carried out by a brigade subject to all forms of discredit, we needed someone who was incapable of saying anything other than the truth, a dog without a leash, a little neurotic, a little obsessive , a little indelicate, a little lanky, a little ostracized, but very remarkable for his intuitions and his ability to not let go. Verner goes to the end of each of his leads, buffers himself from his hierarchy and only leaves the ring when the light is on. He is stuck with more or less wobbly, more or less cracked collaborators, who will come together to better reveal themselves.

Does he hold a bit of Colombo?

The entire fiction is a tribute to the thriller. Verner takes after Colombo because he is not afraid to attack the big bourgeoisie. It also takes after Maigret. He works in a bookstore specializing in thrillers. All the characters, cops, thugs, lawyers, bear the name of a French thriller author. The ending in flashback and backwards is a reference to Usual Suspects. The use of the ellipse is one of the narrative springs of which the authors of whodunits are generally very fond…

Was Vincent Elbaz the ideal actor?

He is perfect.

And Nicolas Marié in the role of the villain…

If I could have the same villain in each fiction… It’s simple, as soon as he is on the screen, as soon as he opens his mouth, as soon as he moves an arm, we delight as we delighted to see a Patrick Dewaere, a Jean Yanne or a Gérard Depardieu. His way of being unbearable is staggering.

She’s a formidable villain, but couldn’t she have been a formidable villain as well?

The heroines, whichever side they are on, hold a large place in my novels and I quite like giving them the wrong roles, in that they allow a naturally wider range of acting and emotions to be deployed.

It is often said that too many thrillers kill the thriller…

This is why it was absolutely necessary to develop something new…