A savvy blend of black comedy and thriller, Knok is a series co-written and co-directed by Guillaume Duhesme and Bastien Ughetto, produced by Matthieu Marot (N22 Productions) and Matthieu Jean-Toscani (MIFA Pictures) for the 13ème Rue channel, and distributed internationally by Virginie Boireaux (Have A Good One). The team tells us about the birth of this unusual project, the inspirations that fueled it, and details its potential both in France and internationally.
Unifrance: In a world of increasing uberization, Knok goes so far as to imagine uberizing murder. How did this crazy idea come about?
Guillaume Duhesme: I had this idea when VTC applications first arrived in France. France was trying to introduce regulations to govern these new companies. But the apps were encouraging drivers to break the rules by telling them any fines they racked up would be covered. This situation lasted a few months. I thought we'd turned a corner. Young Silicon Valley start-up developers were sending messages to individuals saying, "don't worry, break the law, we'll cover the cost for you." It wasn't murder, admittedly, but it was pretty dizzying. If big multinationals can tell us "don't worry about morality, order, and legality, we'll make it our business, just go and make a profit," how far can we go?
I also wanted to explore comedy in a different way. In addition to the pleasure usually associated with it, I wanted it to be uncomfortable, to provoke reflection about the world. I had in mind British and Belgian comedies, such as Ricky Gervais' After Life, where you never know where you are in terms of emotion. I created an initial dossier and emailed it to Matthieu Marot… who, it turns out, reads spontaneous emails.
How did the team you form come together for this project?
Matthieu Marot: I was working at Canal+ in the offbeat creative department when Guillaume sent me his project. He'd also told me about his short films, notably The Teletraining. In it, I saw a world I really liked. But it didn't fit with Canal's editorial line at the time. By a twist of fate, I left Canal a few months later to go into production and, in particular, to initiate a wonderful collaboration with Matthieu Jean-Toscani. When we launched the MIFA Pictures label, Matthieu asked me if I had any projects or talent in mind, and I thought of Guillaume again. I contacted him again, and the project was born. Knok is the very first series we've optioned with the MIFA Pictures label.
Matthieu Jean-Toscani: It's a story of encounters. When we created MIFA Pictures, we wondered how we could position ourselves in the landscape of French fiction series producers. We then defined our DNA in terms of genre, with a focus on thrillers and offbeat thrillers. This dark-comedy project, a genre that isn't often explored in France, immediately struck a chord with us, and helped us find our positioning.
Symbolically, the project made sense, as Matthieu had in a way begun to incubate it at Canal. Guillaume's style, joined by Bastien Ughetto and Lucie Moreau on the writing front, is totally what we're all about. It's a bit like Quentin Dupieux meets the Coen brothers.
And this project, which found its genesis in the advent of uberization, now finds its climax in the recruitment of hitmen on Instagram for drug dealers in France. It's part of our society, and it puts the finger on fundamentals that are seriously shifting.
Bastien Ughetto: Guillaume and I had acted in a film together and we knew each other's work. He knew I wrote and directed too, he'd seen L'effondrement and I'd seen The Pure Bodies, which he'd directed. He thought of me and we started writing together. Basically, it was Guillaume's project, but he was very open to what Lucie Moreau and I could bring to the table.
Black humor plays an important role in the series, while at the same time being rooted in a very realistic universe. How did you find the tone for telling this story?
BU: We drew a lot of our inspiration from Anglo-Saxon humor, and the Coen brothers are the ultimate reference. Their deadpan approach, their offbeat situations that take the characters out of their everyday situations, lead them to play out their lives. At 13ème RUE, they were rather fond of a thriller that was a tad more classic than what we were aiming for. So it was very interesting to strike a balance between thriller and black comedy, what they call a "quirky thriller."
GD: We had Anglo-Saxon references, but also Korean and Belgian ones. There are a lot of countries developing fiction where mixing genres is part of the proposition, and where you find emotion, comedy, drama, horror... that's the case of The Host, for example, or Parasite recently. But we were also keen to have a European touch. We wanted to latch on to a reality of French society, to make people think, to make them feel uncomfortable, in a period of the yellow vests unrest in France, falling purchasing power, and inflation. We wanted to show this midwestern part of France, this suburban area where life is hard and making ends meet is difficult, and these much-vaunted apps that are uberizing the economy and dehumanizing interactions, so that Knok has a social dimension and takes a critical look at the world we live in.
How did you create these highly colorful, paradoxical characters?
GD: Bastien and I are mostly actors, so we're used to working on characters within the framework of a script, improvising and working on dialogue issues too. So we're also used to getting under the skin of a character to see how we can make him or her both complex and endearing. So we played all the characters in the series, writing them so that they all had their own identity, but also formed a surprising palette that could generate empathy.
BU: We also worked with the actors on how they could make the roles their own. Guillaume wanted to have a silhouette like Patrick Dewaere, with that rather disgusting raincoat. We needed this everyman, this wobbly figure, in order to see him crushed by the system and for this to work for audiences. Opposite him, we wanted someone who would create a radical contrast, more rock, but with this tormented soul aspect: the character of Blanche, played by Sylvie Testud. We also worked hard on the supporting roles, so that each scene brought something more to the story.
How did you go about bringing together the cast and artistic team for this project?
BU: Guillaume and I were in charge of casting. Matthieu and I had known Johann Cuny for a long time, so we knew it would work. The most complicated role was that of Sylvie Testud. We needed someone who would be recognized by the general public, to reassure 13ème RUE. But it wasn't easy to find someone willing to join this crazy project. We were lucky that Sylvie loved it!
MM: We realized that an unusual role like this aroused real interest among the actors we approached. It provides a bubble that allows them to venture into roles they're not often offered. There wasn't a single day during the shoot when I didn't get the impression that Sylvie was enjoying herself.
GD: In fact, despite a relatively modest budget, Sylvie was very keen to take part in a Season 2, which just goes to show how much fun she had playing this offbeat character! On another project, I had met the cinematographer Jérémie Attard with whom I absolutely wanted to work (cinematographer for Hafsia Herzi films in particular). He immediately agreed to take part, although I didn't know to what extent he might be tempted, as he tends to work on intimate films. As for the rest of the technical team, our production manager, Capucine Chappuis, also brought us a terrific mise en scène crew, quite diverse and young, with ultra-talented people who shared the same desire. The whole team was driven by the same recent and international references, such as Barry, Fargo, and C'est arrivé près de chez vous, which had fuelled what we want to achieve and our love of fiction.
Would you like to share any anecdotes?
BU: In the final continuous shot, we had two little glitches. Johann had just got his driving license, so he was a bit nervous for all the driving scenes. He had to really drive, and merge onto the highway.... Sometimes he played the scene very seriously, but you could hear from the engine that he had to be going 100 kilometers an hour in third gear.
MM: When we told Johann he'd got the part, he was delighted, but he told us he didn't have his license and hoped to get it before the shoot. He really did get his license for Knok!
BU: During that same continuous shot, he had to back up super abruptly with the car. He did it, but he smashed into the house's foundations and the car was completely unusable. Fortunately, the take was good. We had a great stage manager who was able to handle the emergency situation, and managed to find a junkyard, and get the same bumper, because we still needed the car.
GD: There were lots of scenes in the car when Johann had to be under a lot of stress. In particular, there was a scene in which Sylvie was bleeding in the back seat. As he'd just got his license, Johann was driving very slowly, whereas my instructions were to speed up, which made his stress levels even higher, so he played the scene perfectly. There were chances like this that really served the energy of the scenes.
Was the international and universal aspect important to you?
MM: There's a French aspect to the social side that can bring to mind Série noire or Stéphane Brizé on testosterone, but we also wanted to develop strong characters with universal appeal. The series wouldn't lose its meaning if it were set elsewhere. We wanted to play up the midwestern feel that can be found in every country, where ordinary people are plunged into situations that surpass them. This offers audiences a real power of identification. We very much hope that the series will exist elsewhere than in our territory.
Virginie Boireaux: Of all the series I distribute, there are few characters as far removed from my life as the one played by Johann. And yet I project myself because it's relentless, there's no escape. In TV series, I often get the impression that things just don't add up, that all you have to do is go to the cops and everything will come right. But with Knok, I think I would have reacted like Quentin. It's the writing and the acting that make it credible.
At the outset, I found the character almost unsympathetic: he gets pushed around too much by everyone, and you want to shake him up. But thanks to Johann's performance, we grow fond of him. He's one of those fake villains, like in Dexter or Breaking Bad. They do things they have no choice but to do, to save their lives or those of their family. We find ourselves wanting the killer to get away with it.
GD: This off-the-beaten-track series can only exist if a producer, a channel, and an international sales agents are on board. I thank them for following us on this oddball undertaking. It's a bit of a leap to follow writers into something they've never done before, but that kind of nerve brings a lot to fiction. It's a way of surprising viewers, renewing their attachment to different creations, and taking them elsewhere. Many recent series that have seduced international audiences are in fact peculiar, straddling several genres. Examples include Squid Game and White Lotus. Perhaps we need more series that explore tone and propose new things or a strong identity in this area, rather than focusing solely on the idea or theme.
MM: We also need to "educate" the audience about formats like this, which dare to go out on a limb. If broadcasters don't take the risk, they can't know whether it works or not. A case in point is the series recently released on Netflix, currently number 1: Baby Reindeer. The series mixes very heavy subjects, with both comedy and drama. It's a series that didn't benefit from any big marketing budget, there are no well-known actors in the cast, but it exploded thanks to word-of-mouth. It restores my faith in risk-taking and proves that there's room for it.
Why did you choose this project for 13ème RUE?
13ème RUE: At 13ème RUE, we're on the lookout for innovative projects to enhance our rich editorial range and affirm the channel's premium status. We were seduced by the boldness and originality of Knok's concept. The project was unlike anything we'd seen or done in the past. We liked the idea of a quirky thriller – referencing notably the series "Fargo" and "Barry" – with a subtext about the uberization of society. The project brought together everything we love about our original productions, namely strong stories with an ever-present promise of suspense and danger, carried along by characters that are not simplistic.
Why did you want to promote this project internationally?
VB: I really like what 13ème RUE does. The projects are very diverse and we have similar tastes. Hector Lavigne and Nicolas Robin make really interesting choices in terms of stories, producers, and talent. As for Knok's pitch, I immediately wondered how it couldn't already exist? It feels like it could almost exist in real life. We're not that far from it on the dark web. And the pitch is fun: we're following an average guy, who might at last rattle his cage a bit. It's also a format (6x45') that works well internationally, and a clever concept that arouses curiosity.
Personally, I'm having fun working on this project, I like the series, I want to see it for myself, and so do the people I talk to about it!
Do you have any initial sales to announce? What are your ambitions for the series internationally, in terms of broadcasters and territories?
VB: I've received several proposals which are currently being studied. The concept appeals to a lot of people, particularly Pay TV and platforms. In some countries, there's also interest from Free TV, which has more offbeat programming.
Everyone is targeted and we're not closing any doors, but it's a series that will speak more to the West, to the United States, Canada, and Europe. I think it would find its niche in Latin America, because it's a fun and original format, but the very realistic AD is less present in the DNA of their programs. The series could work in Scandinavia or Asia too, and I think Japan might be interested.
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