Teachers (TMC) – PEF: "Isabelle Nanty had initially turned down this eccentric teacher role."

Where did you get the idea to adapt the comic? teachers ?
Pierre-Francois Martin-Laval: My producer, Romain Rojtman, suggested that I adapt the portrait gallery of five comic professors. It was a good idea, even if I ran into a trap: Comics are jokes one after another, and I didn’t want to make a sketch movie.

An authentic French teacher would try to write the script. Approve ?
Yes. His name is Mathias Gavarry and for a long time he worked in one of the worst high schools in France, in the priority education district north of Paris. His experience in finding anecdotes for the screenplay was invaluable.

Why did you choose Isabelle Nanty to play the crazy English teacher Gladys?
Because Isabelle was my drama teacher. A friend of twenty years who made me laugh out loud. At first, she turned down the role of this eccentric teacher who mistreated her students. I insisted. She then suggested that I approach the character in the comic book. On set, the extras wept with laughter as he cut the tables with a chainsaw. They were still crying at the end of the shoot, but from sadness to the idea of ​​breaking up with him…

Christian Clavier wanted to play the manager. Why did you choose for him to take on the role of the lazy teacher Cutiro in surrealistic ways?
I wanted it to be successful in a counter use. Christian Clavier excels in tense roles in the De Funès style. Putting him in the place of a cool teacher, lying in a hammock smoking pot seemed original to me. Christian played the game and he’s a great guy. Kev Adams, Boulard, idiot and agitator.

Did you envision that he would become the comic book star he is today?
Yes. Back then, Kev Adams was less well known, but he established himself as the beloved teen star at court. As a true comedian from the stage, he has a great comic book instinct and gave me lines that felt good. With a little bit of empty hand, this entertainer helped me revive the beat.

You play as Polochon, the history teacher obsessed with Napoleon. Didn’t you find it difficult to be on both sides of the camera?
It was very tiring! The hardest part was playing in the middle of the seven players, then getting behind the camera. I no longer had time to sit down. I ate two plates and two desserts at the shoot’s canteen to get some energy. But I would give this character to someone else for nothing in the world.

You filmed at a college located in Longjumeau, Essonne. Wasn’t it hard to get a shooting permit?
Ah yes… The principal initially wouldn’t let us shoot at his school, which I admired for its 1970s architecture, toilets, and Clavier testing seals. He always refused. I had to remove all obstacles: on a rainy day, soaked, I knelt before him, begging! It cracked…

For the scene in chemistry class gone wrong, did you really fill an entire room with foam?
Yes. I didn’t ask for any digital numbers. Technicians installed a foam machine that filled the room in fifteen seconds. On the other hand, it requires a budget, I shot the scene only once. Then it took an entire night to clean the room!

Les Profs, Thursday, May 26 at 21:15 on TMC.

Interview with Jean-Baptiste Drouet