We no longer introduce Balthazar, the handsome medical examiner who speaks with the dead in the successful detective series from TF1 . Tomer Sisley, his interpreter, currently in the United States, where he is touring Don’t Look Up, a film for Netflix by Adam McKay with – excuse a little – Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Lawrence, Meryl Streep and Cate Blanchett, looks back on his character.
How do you feel about the success of the series?
I say it every year and it’s the truth: the scores, I end up taking an interest in them, because they interest me, but, what matters to me is the artistic. If an episode that I like moderately – like the first one, which I find below the level of the others – hits the mark, that will not necessarily reconcile me with it! Success keeps us going, it maybe means that we are not all wrong. But it’s more important for the chain and the producer.
Do you easily get back into character?
He is very close to me, when I resume shooting for a new season, it takes me twenty-four hours before I can let go of the horses! I don’t have a lot of work to do to identify with him, to understand him. I always collaborate a lot with the writers, from the start. They also kindly credited me as an artistic collaborator. I’m not talking about surveys, but about my character, his driving force, his fears. They sometimes write entire scenes at my request.
Could this series last longer?
If you listen TF1 and the producers, we could sign for ten more seasons! To be more serious, I think Balthazar has bright days ahead, because we can still renew ourselves. As long as we manage to have fun, to have the feeling of doing new things, that’s fine with me.
“Balthazar” at 9:05 pm on TF1
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