Awaited for a decade by its fans, the science fiction comedy The visitor from the future, based on the successful web-series by François Descraques, which has accumulated close to 50 million views on the Internet, will be released in theaters this Wednesday. Starring a new heroine, the film is inspired by the codes of the original work to offer an original story, imagined to satisfy fans and neophytes.
The plot begins in 2555. In a devastated future, the last hope rests on a man (Florent Dorin) capable of time travel. His mission: go back in time to prevent Gilbert (Arnaud Ducret) from building the nuclear power plant that will cause a nuclear cataclysm. But the Time Brigade is on his trail and he has no choice but to take Gilbert and his daughter Alice (Enya Baroux) with them…
“My Secret Weapon”
The result of almost seven years of work by the videographer François Descraques, The visitor from the future it has been repeatedly pushed back before landing on the big screen. “It took me three years to get a proper version of the script,” explains the director. “The hardest thing was creating a script so that everyone could jump into the movie without having seen the series. It forced me to take a step back from the series.”
For the needs of the film, François Descraques has imagined a new heroine, Alice, an environmental activist who will oppose her father’s power plant project. “I wanted to separate the story from Raph’s character [le héros de la web-série, incarné par Raphaël Descraques, NDLR] and center it on a young woman, because at conventions I saw a lot of girls dressed up as Visitors.”
The director is very happy with the result: “Enya Baroux is my secret weapon. We sell a film The visitor from the future to fans We are selling a film with Arnaud Ducret to the general public. But really, the secret of the film is that it is Enya Baroux’s film.” Over the course of the adventure, her character embarks on a future where she will take charge of the destiny of humanity, as a French Sarah Connor.
“The end of the world is getting closer”
The story of the film, a conflict of generations between a father and a daughter, at odds over the importance that should be given to nuclear energy in our society, was imagined by François Descraques with the aim of “taking a step towards the general public”. He is inspired by “the discussions we can have at family meals when we talk about politics or ecology”.
These themes were present from the beginning of the series, but “more in the form of jokes”, specifies François Descraques. “The more time passed, the less of a joke it became, because what was science fiction in 2009 is now in the news. The end of the world is getting closer in people’s minds.” The director, however, wanted to avoid being “too naive”:
“It’s still a comedy. I don’t want the movie to give too many lessons. The important thing is to highlight that conflict of generations, to see how each one positions itself in the long term. The film can speak to a lot of people.”
François Descraques also took special care in his story, to avoid certain tics typical of YouTube short films. “Sometimes during the editing, it was funny, because there were times when I thought it was a bit too web. But, in fact, if the joke works, it works. You don’t have to limit yourself. The important thing is that the story and about everything that each scene works”.
Saved by Carlito
Despite a low budget, estimated at 4 million euros (“not even that of a Marvel scene!”), François Descraques does not skimp on special effects. The first scene, therefore, is produced entirely digitally. A bold choice: if the effect doesn’t work, the audience may not believe the rest of the story. “At first, the special effects box wasn’t sure they could do it with our budget…” he slides.
But François Descraques, a good internet cameraman, was able to make his ideas come true despite a reduced economy. “Since there was going to be smoke, particles, light effects in the scene in this scene, we don’t see everything and in the end it works 100%! All the savings I made in certain scenes allowed me to finance the close-up.”
Despite the success of the web series, it is thanks to popular YouTubers McFly and Carlito that The visitor from the future was born, reveals François Descraques: “It was they who motivated Arnaud Ducret on the set of divorce club – and without Arnaud Ducret, the film could not have been made. To thank them, I gave them a piece of paper.”
The comic duo briefly play two employees at a nuclear power plant, which explodes. Is the idea of blaming McFly and Carlito for the nuclear holocaust a way to take revenge for their controversial interview with Emmanuel Macron?
“If we like them, we are happy to see them. And if we don’t like them, we’re glad to see them die”, avoids the director.
Now that the film is complete and about to be released, François Descraques realizes how far he has come since the first Dailymotion videos. He has no plans at this time to obtain the license. “For me, this movie is already a miracle. I didn’t write a trilogy of movies.” What to do now? “I have many other cards. But Covid has taught me to stop planning everything. For the rest, we’ll see what comes out.”
Source: BFM TV
