Hold the kissing and fighting, please
Quebec TV shoots set to resume but must maintain social distancing
QUEBEC — The Quebec government has given the green light for film and TV shoots to resume as of Monday, June 8, but screenwriters may have to cut out any scenes involving kissing or fighting.
Culture Minister Nathalie Roy made it clear when making the announcement that producers will have to respect the province’s rules regarding social distancing, which means actors will have to remain at least two metres apart at all times.
The cop drama District 31, one of the most popular shows on Quebec TV, shut down production on March 16 when cast and crew became worried because they were shooting in a small, cramped Montreal restaurant. When they shut down production, the producers still had eight episodes to shoot for the fourth season.
District 31 producer Fabienne Larouche confirms filming will resume July 13. She admitted tlove scenes will be problematic but suggested one novel way in which an onscreen kiss could be shown.
“Take the love story between Patrick and Noélie,” said Larouche. “Patrick is played by the actor Vincentguillaume Otis. His girlfriend in real life is Éveline Gélinas. They live together, so they don’t have to observe social distancing. If push comes to shove, we could hire Éveline, put a wig on her head and have her kiss Patrick, and we can shoot the scene from behind her and it will look like it’s Noélie who is kissing Patrick.”
Catherine St-laurent plays Noélie in the series, which runs nightly on Radio-canada and garnered an average audience of 1.8 million viewers this past season.
Larouche will take every precaution on the set of District
31 to make sure the cast and crew are safe. Technicians will wear face shields, masks and gloves, and the majority of them will be gone from the set when the actors arrive. Even the director will not be on set. There will be one full-time person on staff there just to make sure all the COVID-19 regulations are followed to the letter.
“What we want is that when you watch the series, it doesn’t look different from before,” said Larouche. “We don’t want to change the fundamental nature of the series.”
Larouche normally produces several TV shows at the same time, but she is not going ahead with any of the other projects until the COVID-19 rules are relaxed. Her series Sans rendez-vous, set in a sexual-health clinic, would be difficult to shoot while respecting social-distancing rules.