Orelsan: “With Yoroi we want to prove that we are legitimate in cinema”
With Yoroi, Orelsan and director David Tomaszewski create an epic combining action, humor and introspection. The rapper confronts his inner demons between fatherhood, pop culture and Japanese mythology.
The first is one of the most popular French rappers, the second a man in the shadows, more comfortable behind the camera than in front. One has just broken records with a surprise tour concluded with ten Bercys in a row, while the other defines himself, with a smirk, as a guy “no one is waiting for”. The two have known each other for years and, after several videos shot together, decided to take the next step: a first feature. Orelsan and David Tomaszewski approach this new challenge with the seriousness of old accomplices. From this rigor was born Yoroiin which a fictional version of the rapper finds himself equipped with magical armor to fight yokai (demons from Japanese folklore) while learning to come to terms with his impending fatherhood. A hybrid project, between catharsis and pop culture, crossed influences and fear of failure.
How did you get started on this project?
ORELSAN: The idea dates back to 2012. I had just finished the album Civilization when David told me about a pitch: Orelsan in Japan, a pregnant woman, armor and yokai. David is a real movie buff, he knows IMDb by heart. A project like this is a four-year commitment, we had to be sure of ourselves. I consider my albums as a continuity, and the film fits naturally into it. We remade clips together, as a preparation before starting to work together again.
DAVID TOMASZEWSKI: It all started with a clip in Knight of the Zodiac, both a joke and a fantasy. We thought a whole film would be incredible. We talked about it again in 2020. My revelation was My Neighbor Totoro : I discovered Ghibli through my son’s eyes. I combined this rediscovery with the idea of an armor film, wrote a first pitch, then dove into Japanese mythology. The stakes were much higher this time: production, expectations, rhythm… A music video is a sprint; a feature film, a marathon. In 2012, the hero was entirely fictional, but as Orel built his own universe, it was logical that he played his role. In the meantime, I had two children, he was going to become a father: the story naturally turned towards fatherhood and how to put order in one’s life.
O: I was writing about fatherhood without having experienced it. When it happened, I was able to be specific. After How Far Is It, I read books on screenwriting, listened to podcasts on writing, worked on Blocked… We achieved what we dreamed of doing ten years ago, but this time we were ready. At the heart of the film, there is Japan but seen by Westerners.
The film very quickly acts as a valve to defuse the risk of appropriation
cultural.
O: Yes. (Laughs.) You have to be respectful. It was important to have a Franco-Japanese lead actress. But it remains the story of a man who flees, takes refuge in a country he fantasizes about, doesn’t speak the language, keeps a foreign gaze. Japan is a setting, not a postcard. It is neither Lost in Translationnor a tourist vlog. And we weren’t going to ape Perfect Days : the country is above all a pretext to tell something else.
DT: I did a lot of research, it was essential to be faithful. Late in life, I became passionate about Japan. Where some attack this culture through manga, for me it is through mythology. If there were Raijin and Fujin figurines, I would have an entire collection! Japan is not our culture: the danger is obviously appropriation. We chose to respond with humor, without ever being disrespectful.
There are Orelsan-style punchlines in the dialogue, but not that many.
O: They sometimes got in the way of the narration. It was necessary to balance it so as not to lose the story. The film combines humor, action, dreaminess and gravity. A lot of things were decided during rehearsals and editing: we removed jokes, but also action sequences. The balance was found through experimentation.
DT: The advantage is our difference. If one of us doesn’t like a scene, it disappears. Everything is approved on an equal basis. I also noticed during filming that several shots cited Kubrick, even though I’m the first to say that we shouldn’t touch it! Sometimes it’s unconscious, sometimes assumed. The beginning of the film, I almost copied it from My Neighbor Totoro. If Miyazaki comes across me, I’ll understand. (Laughs.) Stravinsky said: “You must not be inspired, you must copy.” We must take responsibility for borrowing from those who made us grow.
How did you work on the fight scenes?
O: It was an old dream. Eight years ago, I spoke about it to Olivier Alfonso, a visual effects specialist and collaborator on our clips for ten years. He introduced me to Manu Lanzi, stuntman and choreographer, who asked me to come and train. I went there, Alban Lenoir was training for Lost balland I started going twice a week. It became a passion. Then, I followed a two-month course in Japan with Koji Kawamoto, whom Anthony Pho, one of our stuntmen, had met on John Wick. Koji is a stunt adjuster that we admire: he worked on One Piece, Kenshin… My apprenticeship was long: I had no basis. In the end, the stuntmen even accompanied me on tour, slept at my house, we did mini-seminars.
DT: Clara (Choï) took up MMA, gained muscle, became a real fighter in a few months. We worked on action as much as humor. If you look Ricky Bobby: King of the circuitit’s a pure comedy, but the races are almost better than in Thunder days.
We think a lot about Scott Pilgrim…
O: It’s one of my bedside films. I looked Hot Fuzz And Shaun of the Dead in a loop. It wasn’t conscious, but the symbolism of exes can remind us of our monsters. On the other hand, we wanted a more raw style: few fast motions, few slow motions, no cables.
DT: We love this film. We have common references, sometimes unconscious. During the writing, we analyzed a lot Edge of Tomorrow, Matrixthe Miyazaki, Ghostbusters, Gremlins Or Jumanji. Visually, I wanted an artisanal look, a bit 80s.
Did you abandon yokai as you wrote?
O: Yes, a lot. One of our references was The Curse of the Yokaiwhere there are a hundred of them on the screen! But at one hour forty-five… impossible. So we had to merge some. Or remove some, like the yokai of depression. This is what happened on Vice Versa. Pixar originally had too many emotions and they took some away. It’s a classic script: when you have too many characters, you group them together.
DT: Each demon materializes an Orel problem. Our yokai are played by stuntmen or dancers, I found that stronger than 3D. And we didn’t have the budget for Gollum. (Laughs.) One of them is a modern version of the well-known rokurokubi. The political yokai is one of the most complex: we imagined an animatronic creature, a two-headed monster, blue white red, which symbolizes the left, the center and the right. For others, sometimes it’s just makeup and masks and the synthesis makes it all better. It’s like in Max and the Maximons. Spike Jonze took this tale and made it real, with flesh, and that hand-held camera style. It’s a fantasy but with a realistic basis. It’s like the photo: I wanted a retro look, not too smooth…
O: Jonze, we ate all his clips and films…
And you didn’t use a lyric censor yokai: a great proof of maturity.
O: I hadn’t even thought about it! But the yokai of social networks is already a compilation of reviews. It remains fiction, but it allows me to address themes already present in my albums. Yoroi is not “the moods of Orelsan”. Taking my character allows us to have a basis known to the public, but the Orel of the film remains fictitious. When I write him, he speaks like me, but I accentuate everything: the faults, the naivety, the reactions. There is as much of me in this Orelsan as in his wife Nanako, for example. And as much of David as of me in the film. Starting from a pseudo “real” character gives strength to the point, as in All That Jazz, In the shoes of John Malkovich Or Severe Fatigue. Michel Blanc who plays Michel Blanc in a fictional story: it’s great.
DT: I love celebrity as a cinematic subject and I love it when this theme nourishes a hybrid work. When Bob Fosse, who is one of the greatest choreographers in Hollywood, directs All That Jazzhe portrays his own neuroses through totally crazy dance sequences. This was our goal with Yoroi. Orel has a rhythm of its own. He wrote the best punchlines in the film, and when he performs them, it produces something unique. Some actors always play their own role a little, like Raphaël Quenard, with his phrasing and his signature. That said, our character goes through a real evolution which allows him to play completely differently in the third act. We had a lot of fun with this satirical aspect.
O: He’s a caricature of a populist leader: he denounces everything, he’s angry, but he doesn’t provide any solutions. Some people love this type of figure because she says what she wants, without filter; it’s enjoyable, even though the speech is absurd. Our society is complex, and an individual who simplifies everything necessarily appeals to the baser instincts.
Orelsan, your fanbase is massive, is that a bonus or a pressure?
O: Both. I’m super excited, but stressed! A lot of people don’t like seeing singers in the movies, you have to prove that you’re legitimate. I hope that the public will understand the project, halfway between special and mainstream.
DT: I have nothing to lose. Even if it’s my first feature, I come from music videos, no one expects me. The real challenge is to make a universal film, which speaks to the child, the teenager and the parent in me. I have already experienced canceled projects, so I am vaccinated, and above all grateful.
