Asterix, animation, comics and spider-man: Alain Chabat’s interview
The old draw comes back into the magic potion with Asterix and Obelix: the fight of the chefs. A new successful adaptation of the adventures of the little Gauls. Faithful and free at the same time, funny and moving, this mini-series is a box. For first, the filmmaker returns to this crazy project, more than 20 years after his mission Cleopatra.
First: why this comic book? Why did you choose to adapt The fight of the chiefs in the serial ?
Alain Chabat : It is very intuitive. I love this album which is part of the golden age of the series for me. But what was particularly interested in me is that the plot is essentially happening in the village. With Cleopatra missionI had made a travel album; The Gauls leave Gaul – which we hardly see – and crisscross the world. Adapt The fight forced us to focus on the characters; We could no longer hide behind exoticism.
This is one of the reproaches that we could make to Cleopatra mission : you put Asterix and Obelix in the background …
I never understood that because, honestly, Asterix and Obelix were also there. Admittedly, it was no longer a duo, but a trio with the character of Jamel, Numélis…
And that of Otis …
Yes, Baer too, it’s true. But the two Gauls remained at the heart of the action anyway. It is true that the life of the village, the relationships between the recurring characters, the particular atmosphere of this community, it attracted me.
It has always been thought of as a series rather than a feature film like Cleopatra mission ?
No way. By discussing with Netflix, Dominique Baze, who takes care of animation at Netflix, very quickly made me understand that I was free. It was, at the beginning, a film. But the idea of a feature film that we are going to watch on a phone … good. And one day, she said to me: “If you want to do it on another format, we follow you. Tells the story you want to tell in the format that best suits the story.” By developing history with Benoît Ouillon and Piano, the project took shape and we thought there was something to do a mini-series.
“Mission Cleopatra is an adventure that traces its route: they have three months to make the palace, and there are tons of pitfalls. There, each character has a bow and a path to do ”
You said, there is emotion and tenderness in The fight of the chiefs. And you focus on the characters. More than twenty years later Cleopatra missionwhat has changed in your way of approaching this universe?
The difference is in my opinion visual and literary. As I said, it had nothing to do in writing. Cleopatra mission is an adventure that traces its route: they have three months to make the palace, and there are tons of pitfalls. There, each character has an arc and a path to do. And there is a problem to settle: who is the chef. Who is the chief between Asterix and Obelix? Who is the leader between Abraracoucix and his rival? Who is the chief between Caesar and his mother? But it is mainly visual that we had fun. Even if we watched a lot of Uderzo’s drawings during the prep of Cleopatra mission To try to be as faithful as possible, we worked with human actors, with skins, hair, mouths … sometimes we said to ourselves: “It is not at all this costume.”, But it was not serious. There we were really with the drawing of Uderzo. We had our noses on his boards until the last week. I could ask myself: “But where does this blue come from? How did he do it? And this dynamism, what is the secret?”
The trait of Uderzo is legendary. How did you manage to translate your energy into 3D without betraying its specificity?
Netflix introduced me to absolutely incredible people, whether Fabrice Joubert or Aurélien Predal who made the artistic direction. The designers who made the character design are really very great artists. And we worked in the American thing, with a sculptor who modeled the characters in clay. I wanted to go in a very dynamic direction. Spider-man: across the spider-verse had really amazed me and I wanted to use all the recent revolutions of contemporary animation. But all of this had to pay tribute to the trait of Uderzo, its roundness, its energy and its specificity. It is a magical period. This is a time when albums really have a cartoon style, with a mind -blowing graphic potato – let’s say it runs to Olympic Games Where, afterwards, Obélix develops and becomes more slender for example. We had to make this power and this movement with 3D tools, keep this 2D energy at the Chuck Jones or Fritz Freleng, this ultra energetic cartoon aspect. I admit that I was well supported in terms of technique. Especially since it was the first time that I thought “animation”.
“Spider-man: Across The Spider-Ver really amazed me and I wanted to use all the recent revolutions of contemporary animation”
So it’s been two adaptations … Now you need to know: what defines Asterix’s essence? Why is this little Gauls crossing generations and continues to fascinate?
I believe that it is really this alchemy between deeply human characters, with their faults, their qualities, and a universe that speaks of resistance, friendship, community. These themes are timeless. And then there is this magic between the trait of Uderzo and the writing of Goscinny, this perfect mixture between the visual and narrative aspect. It is as if each box contained several levels of reading – the child sees the adventure, the adolescent discovers satire, and the adult appreciates all the historical and cultural references. This is what makes the almost sacred character of this saga.
Asterix and Obélix: the fight of chefs, mini-series in 5 episodes to see on Netflix since April 30.
