By dividing his time between radio and television, Francis Legault builds relationships of trust with the characters he highlights in simple and intimate concepts. These are implemented with great freedom, a certain shamelessness and a lot of authenticity in the projects he manages.
On television, he was the accomplice behind the camera for Daniel Pinard and Josée Di Stasio, directing Les pieds dans les dishes, À la Di Stasio and Du cœur au abdominal. We also owe him the documentary “A Taste of a Country”, which brings together Gilles Vigneault and Fred Pellerin.
Photo courtesy of Jean-Sébastien Desrosiers
Francis Legault
On radio, he collaborated with Marc Labrèche and Anne Dorval, made documentaries about Barbara and Robert Charlebois, and then created L’autre midi à la table d’à cote, which has been on the small screen for four seasons.
If, in the age of zapping, it was daring to produce a program where two people sit together and talk to each other, that proves the value of taking the time to listen to each other.
The guest duos often surprise. How do you decide on combinations?
It’s never the same. We have names in mind for each season, but sometimes it takes us a year to come up with the perfect name. My job is to organize speed dating. Pierre Foglia and Pierre Falardeau were the first radio guests. It was obvious to bring together two dedicated women, Julie Le Breton and Micheline Lanctôt. Sometimes we have a relationship, sometimes there are arguments. Janette Bertrand and Charles Lafortune have been crowd pleasers for two generations. I wanted to talk to Maripier Morin and France Castel about female consumption. Marie Laberge was part of a big sibling while Lise Dion is an adopted only child. Kim Lévesque-Lizotte and Pierre-Yves McSween have cartoonish public images: she, the bright feminist, and he, the accountant. They also enjoyed knowing who would foot the bill.
The episodes often start with the beginning of the conversation. Do you meet before?
Not until we get to the table. They always look forward to getting to know each other. We’re not on a talk show, so we allow ourselves to be different. We installed a Paris Match style paparazzi camera with blurs. We want to give the impression of guilty pleasure in spying on a conversation. Ninety percent of guests say they forget cameras and other customers. My biggest fear was also not being able to reproduce the intimacy of radio. The guests show great authenticity. We find ourselves in conversations where no one is in charge compared to the other. You know that these are human encounters, the content of which can be useful for many people.
Are they given a research assignment to stimulate the conversation?
We research each individual topic, talk to them and exchange topics. I come up to them a couple of times during the meal to make suggestions. Sometimes I do the “Purple” from “Talk to Talk”. It’s like talking to a ghost player, but we let him go. A meal lasts between two and two and a half hours. The goal is to take the time to tell their story.
Guests enjoy a meal. Does that force you to edit the episode chronologically so there aren’t any connection issues?
I’ll tell you a secret. I asked for soup plates so you never see where they are on the plate.
Do guests ever take the conversation where they didn’t expect it?
It’s an improvisation that we prepared. Guests are asked to be open to what each other brings. The episode with Varda and Virginie Fortin was about bipolarity. The first suffers from it and the second played it. In response to a question from Varda, Virginie spoke about her grandmother’s bipolarity. They also addressed the issue of suicide. I really didn’t think I would go there. Alexandre Jardin and Ricardo are both characterized by joie de vivre, love and dolce vita and are also very committed. As luck would have it, Jardin constructed Ricardo’s love universe. All episodes have their surprise.
The other lunch at the next table Sunday 8 p.m. on ICI Télé