How did you corne up with fhe idea for Duo?

I hâve always been interested in mysterious people, people who are misunderstood by everyone. The harder that person is to figure out, thé more fascinating he/she becomes. That's why I chose to make a film based on my brother. l've lived with him for fourteen years, and I know a lot about him: his habits, his hobbies, his character, his life in school and at home... But somehow l've always felt that there was a lot about him that I can't figure out, things that belong to his own world and that no one might ever understand. I feel thé main reason for that aliénation is his struggle to communicate using words. Stéphane and I get along very well because we don't even need words anymore to communicate. Sometimes, a smile or a facial expression means more than any sentence. Some ideas though are impossible to communicate without words. Sometimes he asks me a question and repeats it many times, but I just can't understand what he is saying. When I see his frustration building, I just prétend that I understood. Sometimes he buys it, sometimes he doesn't and gets really upset. I wanted to convey that frustration in my film, as he tries to communicate with "Joan". My main goal was to find a way for him to be able to express his love to Joan without thé use of words.

One day, Stéphane played 'The Three Ténors in Los Angeles" on thé VCR (like he does everyday during breakfast). Then he picked up a pencil and started conducting thé orchestra, while singing at thé same time. He was right on thé beat at every point of thé concert, even when thé conductor was not on thé screen. I knew he was a music fanatic for a long time, since he listens to his walkman ail day long, but I never thought he had such a developed sensé of music. I understood that music was like a friend to him, since no one ever visits him. That's when I realized that music was going to be thé language he would learn in this film. It would be his own way to break thé barrier. I created "Joan" because I needed a character that would ignite his passion for music, a character who knows about music, that Stephan would want to impress and communicate with. It would hâve to be someone he loves.

Would you say that Duo is about language?

It is one thé main thèmes that drives thé story. Stephan tries constantly to find a way to communicate his love to Joan. He draws his feelings on a pièce of paper, or plays them on thé piano, because he cannot say them. Ironically, he's not thé only one who can't communicate: his parents hâve thé same problem. The only différence is that Stephan is trying.

I also tried to use as little dialogue in this film as possible. I wanted thé images and thé
music to speak for themselves. When Joan and Stephan are together, not much is being said.
Every word becomes more important, and at thé same time, more space is allowed for thé
music. When my other characters talk, they either fight or small talk. Those who are able to
speak are not necessarily those who say thé most...

How much of Duo is fiction?

There is definitely a lot of fiction in Duo, but it's ail within a very real context. The film was based on my own brother because I knew him very well. Down Syndrome is a very délicate subject, and I felt thé responsibility to represent it in a very realistic way. Since every Down Syndrome case is différent, I decided to focus on my brother. It is vital for a film like Duo to be authentic, or it loses ail credibility and interest. For example, thé scènes in school were shot in his own classroom, and ail of his classmates were his actual classmates in real life. I spent several days in his class trying to feel thé kind of ambiance that émerges from it. To my surprise I heard a lot more laughter that I expected. Thèse kids actually seemed to be having a good time. Were they really? I don't know.

Stephan's loneliness is also very real, unfortunately. l've never seen any frienas from
school visit him at home, and he ends up playing with his wrestling figures or listening to his
walkman by himself, every day. Ail thé attention and love he gets, he gets it from my parents.
This is why I had to invent new parents that would force him to look for love elsewhere.

I guess thé only part of thé film which is pure invention is Stephan's parents relationship.
My parents are nothing like thé ones in Duo! The film would hâve never been made without
their support, their trust, and their love. I could never thank them enough.

As for Stephan's relationship with Joan, well, her photograph is still on his night table...

Why does most of Duo fa/ce place at night?

l've always enjoyed thé night more than thé day. I feel oppressed by thé day: too much light, too much noise, too many people. The night is filled with silence and peace. It is thé best moment to think, meditate, work, or just dream. It is also a time of loneliness, but it becomes magical when two lonely people meet.

haf was yoursfy//sf/c approach with Duo?

As I just said, I wanted thé scènes with Stephan and/or Joan alone to be dark and preferably to take place at night. I wanted them to feel out of place when they are in a bright, noisy, and crowded environment such as thé party scène. But I wanted to make them connect in a silent and dark environment, one that they would feel comfortable in, one where thé only thing they could see is a piano, and thé only thing they could hear is music. I played with that thème with my mixer Alex Dorn. Every time music cornes up, ail thé other sound effects and ambiances slowly disappear.

The other main stylistic idea was thé use of dollies whenever music would be heard. I feel that dollies (and dissolves) hâve thé power to turn anything info a dream. I felt that somehow I could draw a connection between dream and reality, and bring them together at thé end.

I also felt that those dollies were in perfect harmony with thé créative energy that émanâtes from thé musical moments, thé feeling that something is finally happening for Stephan. Then I created thé contrast with still shots in class, and before music is introduced to him.

How d/d you work with your actors?

This was thé first time I had such a wide variety of actors to work with, and I quickly realized that I would hâve to use very différent methods with each one of them.

Working with Stephan remains my most fascinating expérience. As I said previously, no matter how much I know Stephan, there are always new things about him to be discovered. Before I even started to write thé script, I had to test his acting abilities. I had to know what he would be able to do before I could write his scènes. I was always aware of his gréât présence and energy. I also knew he had a wonderful sensé of humor. What I didn't know was if he could actually follow spécifie directions, and communicate his émotions on thé screen. So I wrote several short situations, without dialogue, and asked him to play them. One of thé scènes was "pick a CD from a shelf and play it on thé radio". Another one was "you're walking down a hallway and you hear music coming from a room. You open thé door and look inside.". I was really surprised to see how well Stephan played that little game. Then I pretended I was filming him using a small caméra. For a while, he could not take his eyes off of it, but he quickly learned that he should not do that. Slowly, we began to work on more complicated scènes. Stephan was making progress, and he felt very proud of it. We continued thèse little exercises for about a month, during Christmas break.

Once I got info pré-production, and thé script was written, I would corne back home every month for a week, to work with Stephan. I tried to explain thé scènes to him first, but that didn't work too well. Once again, thé language barrier became a problem. Then I remembered that he had a gift for imitation. So I played his part in every scène, and told him to do thé same. For conversations, I would play (or at least try to) thé other part. My goal was to prépare Stephan so that he would know exactly what to do when he starts working with Eden. By thé end of March, he had memorized every scène, to thé slightest détail. In a way, I felt that Stephan taught me something very important in that process: he taught me to know exactly what I want from an actor.

I started doing auditions for thé part of Joan as early as February. I remember using thé final scène between Michael and his shrink in Ord/na/y Peop/e. Of course, I had to change Michael to a female name. It was a very strong scène, centered around thé loss of Michael's brother and thé suicide of his friend. I wanted my actresses to read thé part of an older person. I needed one that could express strong and mature feelings. By thé end of March, after contacting every agency, school and theater company in New York and Washington, I was getting very worried. I could not find a single actress who could get into that character. I even remember one of them started laughing in thé middle of thé scène. I was beginning to think that maybe I was making a mistake by using that scène. Fortunately, Eden auditioned in mid-march and proved me wrong.

Working with Eden was a lot of fun. As I was explaining thé scènes to her, I felt that she already knew everything I said. Most of thé time she did, and I would only ask her to make a few adjustments. I tried to keep those adjustments minimal, though, because I realized that Eden was a very spontaneous actress. I had a very spécifie vision of Joan when I wrote thé script, but I decided to forget about it and try to create a new one with Eden. I didn't want her to hâve to remember a bunch of détails that would hurt her overall performance.

One week later, Stephan came to New York with my parents for a week end. I was very worried because Stephan had never played with anyone else but me. I was also hoping that Eden would understand Stephan and be patient enough with him. I think that's when Joan was thé most helpful. She was so confident about her own part, and so mature in général, that she immediately made Stephan comfortable. They were also getting along very well. After only half an hour of work, they were already best friends. By thé end of thé first rehearsal, they could play just about every scène together.

So thé next day, we started talking a little more in depth, even with Stephan, who was beginning to understand thé process better. By thé end of thé week end, I knew they were ready.

During thé shoot, I felt that both Stéphane and Eden were very comfortable with thé scènes. They knew exactly what they had to say and do. So I decided it was time to make them improvise a bit. Again, even though Duo is fiction, I wanted to give it a very real and spontaneous feel. So we would shoot thé scène as memorized one or two takes, for safety, and then we would try new things. I especially remember thé practice scène at Stephan's house. I didn't tell Eden what Stéphane would ask her, because I felt it was thé only way she would really try to understand what he was trying to tell her. I also remember that we never rehearsed thé scène where Joan kisses Stephan. I thought I would only get thé right reaction from Stephan if she had never kissed him before. It had to be right on thé first take.

I think working with kids is thé most wonderful expérience. I seem to identify a lot more with kids than with adults. I love their spontaneity, their energy, their enthusiasm, their innocence. My job is to plan everything out, so they know exactly what to do, and then take thé freedom to let them do what they feel like doing.

How d/d fhe shoof go?

I knew thé shoot would be hard, but not that hard. We just had too much to shoot in too little time. I had planned thé shoot to last 14 days. NYU gave me a caméra for five days, and I tried in vain to get an extension for nine days, thinking I would then rent another caméra for a couple of days. The caméras were available, sitting on shelves, but NYU never gave me any extension... So I had to corne back to New York in thé middle of thé shoot, return thé caméra, rent another one, and go back to Washington. In thé process, I had to lose one day of shoot. In addition, I would not be able to afford renting a caméra for thé time I needed. So I had to reduce thé number of shooting days to nine, and we had to shoot up to 18 hours a day. I had planned to shoot for fourteen days because I expected that working with handicapped kids would take a lot more time than with regular actors. I remember it took about one hour and ten takes to get that first dolly to Stephan in thé first classroom scène. We just couldn't get our extras not to look at thé caméra, and we only had about five hours to shoot ail thé scènes in thé classroom. The party turned out to be very hectic too. We only had four hours to set it up and shoot it, and most of thé guests were getting hungry... I had about fifteen différent dolly shots planned out for that scène, but I only got to shoot four.

After a couple of days, my main actors were getting really tired. Eden had to go back

to New York for an audition for Woody Allen in thé middle of thé shoot, then corne back thé

next day. In thé meantime, Stephan got upset because he thought she would not corne back.

The crew was also getting very tired. When we went back to New York to exchange thé

caméras, I lost my assistant director and my sound engineer.

Nevertheless, I felt that both my actors and my crew really believed in thé project. They would sometime wait hours before playing their part, but they were always ready to give it 100%. The sound engineer helped getting Stephan on thé set while Eden was gone. The assistant director helped a lot with thé extras. I really felt we were working like a family. The first day of shoot, we started at nine in thé morning. At one in thé morning, we were shooting thé last shot of thé day, Stephan's final dream. After two takes, every one (including me) was getting very tired, so we decided to wrap. Then Stephan said "one more!" with a big smile. He looked like he was ready to start ail over again. Every one started laughing. So we put thé caméra back on thé dolly and shot a third take. It was by far thé best one.

Whaf are your plans now?

Right now, I just want to send my film to festivals and supervise its world wide distribution.
Duo was just granted thé "Warner Bros. Production Award" and thé "Martin Scorcese Post-
Production Award", which is a good start.

I also wrote a feature-length version of Duo this summer, and I am now working on a
third draft. I would like to shoot it as soon as possible (maybe this summer or in thé fall) but I

don't want to start until I hâve a décent budget. I am counting on thé short film to help
finance thé feature. I also hâve several other ideas for screenplays in mind: one of them is a

fantasy film.