Sophie Grégoire has done her homework. She confirms that she has prepared six pages of questions for Janette Bertrand, whom she will interview in a few moments for a total of 20 minutes. Excessive? Perhaps. But the former First Lady of Canada loves her subject. “Yes, I am passionate. Yes, I would like to have more time with her, but I'm also someone who knows how to respect a countdown,” she explains as she gets a few makeup touch-ups done.
Published at 12:56 am. Updated at 12:00 p.m.
Sophie Grégoire is not the only person who will enjoy a moment alone with Janette Bertrand on the evening of our appearance at the recording of a new For Once. Ricardo Larrivee, Élise Guilbault and Véronique Cloutier will also parade in front of the 98-year-old writer. And she has no idea what surprises await her.
Produced by Urbania (L'air d'aller, La fin des weak), this weekly meeting features “reverse” interviews. Each week, one guest answers questions one after the other from four surprise hosts they know well, little or not at all.
“Maybe she doesn't know who I am!” Sophie Grégoire exclaims as we arrive at Bakus, a reception room in Montreal's Sud-Ouest district, around 4 p.m., as the show's team gives the interviewers their final instructions.
PHOTO CHARLES WILLIAM PELLETIER, SPECIAL COLLABORATION
Sophie Grégoire, Ricardo Larrivee, Élise Guilbault and Véronique Cloutier take a selfie while recording For Once.
PHOTO CHARLES WILLIAM PELLETIER, SPECIAL COLLABORATION
Janette Bertrand holds the envelope with the name of the first interviewer on it.
PHOTO CHARLES WILLIAM PELLETIER, SPECIAL COLLABORATION
The show will be recorded in front of an audience at Bakus in Montreal.
PHOTO CHARLES WILLIAM PELLETIER, SPECIAL COLLABORATION
Absolute complicity between Janette Bertrand and Élise Guilbault. “If I hadn't been invited, I would have been really angry,” admits the actress.
PHOTO CHARLES WILLIAM PELLETIER, SPECIAL COLLABORATION
Like the best of her class, Sophie Grégoire arrived extremely well prepared. “I'm an only child. I like people. I'm always looking for that connection,” she tells us.
PHOTO CHARLES WILLIAM PELLETIER, SPECIAL COLLABORATION
During breaks, content producer Mireille Blouin comes to give guests instructions.
PHOTO CHARLES WILLIAM PELLETIER, SPECIAL COLLABORATION
Janette Bertrand reacts violently to the arrival of “ [son] handsome Ricardo.”
PHOTO CHARLES WILLIAM PELLETIER, SPECIAL COLLABORATION
Ricardo has a confidential conversation with Janette Bertrand. “She’s already seen me naked!” says the innkeeper and cook.
PHOTO CHARLES WILLIAM PELLETIER, SPECIAL COLLABORATION
Véronique Cloutier concludes the recording with an interview in which she asks Janette Bertrand how she manages “not to be in constant mourning” at 98 years old and after leaving so many loved ones.
![Janette Bertrand reacts violently to the arrival of “ [son] handsome Ricardo.”](https://www.spamchronicles.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/1704582540_179_Behind-the-scenes-of-For-Once-The-roles-are.jpg "Behind the scenes of For Once | The roles are reversed – La Presse 10")
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Only Véronique Cloutier, who is on the air at Rouge FM until 6 p.m. as usual, missed this meeting, which was attended by around ten people. Nobody seems to care too much. It seems that she is used to television sets.
For Élise Guilbault, the cameras no longer hold any secrets, but unlike the others, she was never the one who asked the questions. As we go over her notes and hear the crowd take over the studio, the actress still appears relaxed.
God knows I often spent 20 minutes talking to Janette. And it flowed. But in such a context we hope to be a little original. Because a lot has been said about her…
Elise Guilbault
Ricardo, for his part, admits to being “a little” nervous. We assume that he knows the interviewee well – personally. Despite everything, he feels the stress increasing. “I think it's worse when it's someone you really like. I repeated my questions in the shower this morning! »
Successful bet
“For Once” officially aired last September after a test episode in January. Télé-Québec tested the water temperature with a program in which Martin Matte was surprised by Lydia Bouchard, Dany Laferrière, Patrice Robitaille and Arnaud Soly.
PHOTO CHARLES WILLIAM PELLETIER, SPECIAL COLLABORATION
Nadine Dufour, vice president of content at Télé-Québec
“We wanted to test a new format, something we had never seen elsewhere,” explains Nadine Dufour, the channel’s vice president of content. At Télé-Québec we like to be bold. And this formula, which reverses the roles, allows us to show aspects of people that we haven't seen often. »
Nadine Dufour acknowledges the generosity of For Once participants. Not only because many of them have never had an interview before, but also because they seriously prepare for it weeks in advance. “You have to read a research file, form an opinion, choose your perspective… It's a lot of work. But when they're done, they're convinced. »
For Once's content producer, Mireille Blouin, confirms these statements.
PHOTO CHARLES WILLIAM PELLETIER, SPECIAL COLLABORATION
Mireille Blouin, show content producer
After their visit, the artists write to me that they had a wonderful evening. Receiving a small thank you message from Louis Morissette shocks me. People are really happy!
Mireille Blouin, show content producer
The Télé-Québec audience is also satisfied. In its original Saturday night slot at 8pm, For Once is the channel's most popular regular show, averaging 230,000 viewers, accounting for a 9.7% market share, Digitize data confirmed. For this reason, the channel recently ordered a second season.
“I get a lot of talk about it,” says producer Annie Bourdeau. People get on board. »
Here we go !
6:10 p.m. Check-in should begin soon. Janette Bertrand enters the studio and takes a seat in one of the two armchairs placed in the middle of the audience. “I can’t wait for it to get started!” she says as we adjust the lighting.
Janette Bertrand insists: She doesn't know who will sit in front of her. With humor she lists a few possibilities… “I had a crazy idea: They dug up Macaire! » (Macaire was his dog in Quelle famille!, a series that aired on Radio-Canada from 1969 to 1974.)
PHOTO CHARLES WILLIAM PELLETIER, SPECIAL COLLABORATION
The complicity between Janette Bertrand and Élise Guilbault is palpable.
First up is Élise Guilbault, who greets Janette Bertrand as usual with a kiss on the mouth and a few pats on the bottom. Despite the somewhat disjointed interview, the complicity between the two women is palpable.
The audience pays particular attention when the actress recounts how, in the early 1990s, before she played a doctor in “With a Capital A: Missionaries of AIDS,” the screenwriter took her to a death hall for men suffering from the disease .
Sophie Grégoire follows the actress with a series of questions that challenge her interlocutor, while Ricardo opts for a more intimate conversation. After the interview, during which you could hear a pin drop, an audience member not far away said: “I was scared the whole time!” »
PHOTO CHARLES WILLIAM PELLETIER, SPECIAL COLLABORATION
Janette Bertrand and Ricardo had a confidential discussion that greatly moved the audience.
The final interviewer of the evening, Véronique Cloutier, opens the conversation with one of the best questions of the show: “You denied Quebec, but who denied you? » Janette Bertrand unashamedly opens up to someone who has never interviewed her, even going so far as to describe her sexual desires at the start of her 100th year.
“I thought it was extraordinary! »
9:10 p.m. The recording is complete. Behind the scenes we discuss loudly about the last few hours. Véronique Cloutier says she really enjoyed her experience. While she waited her turn, she and her fellow interviewers were able to watch the other interviews in front of a giant television. “It's like watching TV with a gang and making comments!” I love that! »
The host obviously knew the format of the show. “It takes us away from traditional interviews where just one person comes in to talk about their company. »
As for Janette Bertrand, she recalls her previous appearance on the show a few months earlier as an interviewer for Éric Bruneau. Her time as a guest seems to have fulfilled her…and left her a little tired given the barrage of questions she's just endured. “I thought it was extraordinary! “It’s a fantastic concept,” she emphasizes before disappearing.
Télé-Québec presents For Once on Saturday at 8 p.m. (as an encore on Monday at 9 p.m.). With Louis Morissette on January 13th, Janette Bertrand on January 20th and Julie Le Breton on January 27th.