And she only wants to save her sister because she feels guilty.
Exactly. And it's because she feels guilty. And it's very human – it's just a tiny little thing that everybody will understand, you know? And I love the fact that she doesn't give a shit about the world. [Laughs]
Did you create the sister or is the sister in the later books?
No, the sister exists. And she's very mean. She's here and there in a couple of the books.
But the tennis accident is something you came up with?
Yeah.
Because she's so mean?
No. It's always like this, you have someone next to you like a sister or a brother and you fight, you fight all the time, because you're basically sharing the same bedroom when you're young. And then if one day this person disappears, it's terrible, you know? You regret so much - maybe not saying that you love them. And yes, she's tough and fragile at the same time, so it's a very human thing, in a big story, in fact. A tiny human thing in a big story.
How did you come to cast Louise Bourgoin?
I had a couple of ideas for actresses and she was the least known. But I met her and she was the part. And I was kind of happy to have a new face for a new character in the cinema. If we take another actress that people know for other characters, it's going to take you twelve minutes to forget them. At least here, a new character and a new face and it's her, you know? And I kind of liked that.
I thought she was amazing. Just extraordinary. But she was a weathergirl or something before, is that right?
Yeah, she was not really a weathergirl because it was more like a joke. She was making a little one-woman show every night of three or four minutes, pretending to say the weather, predicting snow in July and so on.
So one night it's the Pope, the day after it's Joan of Arc, the day after it's Madonna or the son of the President...
So she was always an actress, really?
Yeah and every night she made a different character, so one night it's the Pope, the day after it's Joan of Arc, the day after it's Madonna or the day after it's the son of the President, she put [on] a wig, pretended to be a man. And she was so good, every night. So I've seen her in 600 characters, for two years, every night. And you can tell the girl is amazing, she can do anything.
I assume she's on board for a potential sequel?
Yeah, we're thinking about it, but not yet. I mean, the film has to go around the world first and, you know, let's see. A sequel has to be wanted by the people who have seen the first one. I want the people to feel free to write to me and say, 'We want the sequel!'
Well, I want the sequel, please. So that's one.
Louise wants the sequel. She loved her character, so she begs me all the time, saying, 'Let's do the sequel!'
Do you know which books you would do in the next film? Or have you not thought that far ahead?
No, I have a couple of ideas, but the good thing with a sequel is what can you bring to make the second one even better? As long as you can't answer that question, don't do it. Otherwise people will see that you do it for money and then you're cheating.
I'd settle for “as good” ...
As good is okay, but [it] won't turn me on. [Laughs]
Did you cut anything out that you hated to lose?
No. There's probably like three minutes in the garbage. Have you seen the little sequence after the credits?
Yes, that was excellent. Do you have a favourite scene in the film?
When the first mummy wakes up and has a cup of tea and they talk.