They come back ! The merry band ofUFO(s), an unidentified television object dedicated to the golden age of ufology, returns this Monday at 9:10 p.m. on Canal+. The plot picks up a year after the events of season 1 when Didier Mathure ((Melvil Poupaud), ex-director of Gepan, the UFO investigation office, criss-crosses France aboard a Volkswagen combi at the is looking for new witnesses to unexplained phenomena. At her side, we find with jubilation the irresistible and lunar Véra (Daphné Patakia), ex-gepan switchboard operator. In this new burst of episodes as brilliant as they are hilarious, the troupe will try to understand the appearance of a 500 kg cotton candy in the middle of a nuclear power plant… Not enough to disturb the singular Véra, the alien to whom Daphné Patakia lends her delicacy, her fantasy and her poetry. kindly agreed to play (pun) the alien interview of 20 minutes.
Is the success of season 1 of “Ovni(s)” an inexplicable phenomenon?
I was surprised by the impact of the series on people and, above all, by the fact that it touched all generations and people with very different profiles. She spoke to everyone, for various reasons. There is a return to childhood side that we can savor, a very benevolent humor, a mixture of genres that goes from fantastic to comic via burlesque, as well as all the references to the 1970s that people know. who lived at that time.
Initially, what did you like about Vera, this somewhat lunar character?
I just like that she’s quirky. She believes in everything, nothing seems odd to her. She is very open. She succeeds in solving UFO cases because she is really attentive to people. I like his listening, his benevolence, his way of communicating with others, his desire to understand. It feels like all of his senses are constantly being sharpened. She does not judge anything and understands everything. I appreciate his desire to reach out to others and understand them instinctively. She has immense empathy, it touches me. His relationship to childhood also touches me a lot.
According to you, what makes “Ovni(s)” a bit apart in the PAF?
The authors wrote UFO(s)) with sitcom references. I feel it especially when we shoot the scenes at Gepan. And at the same time, the plot is very complex, which is not the case in sitcoms. There are also plenty of references to SF, Encounter of the 3rd kind at AND Passing by X Files. Even if you don’t follow the plot, you can enjoy the comedy, the music of Thylacine or the winks of Antony Cordier [le réalisateur] in the cinema of the 1970s. It is this mixture that makes it a fantastic series.
When do you feel the most extraterrestrial: when you are filming with a flamingo or a pig?
With the flamingo, it was much harder, even if the pig often howled! It was very complicated for the sound engineer. I’m not good with animals and this experience of filming with them revealed something. I got very attached to the first little pig, but as he was gaining a kilo a day, we had to change for a second, just as endearing. Flamingos are more independent, it is more difficult to bond with them.
Would you have liked to work at Gepan like your character?
I think so, I find it super interesting. I immersed myself in this universe for the preparation of the series. Space is a fascinating field. Véra’s job, a sort of Gepan switchboard operator who tries to understand people and go beyond the rational, is brilliant. Even though there’s no rational explanation for UFOs, it goes into something that’s almost existential quest. It’s very deep even if it doesn’t necessarily seem like it at first glance. There is a real vulnerability among these people who call on Gepan for help.
Regarding extraterrestrial life, are you more “they exist” or “scientific method”?
I like to tell myself that there is a possibility of extraterrestrial life. Not necessarily in the form of little green men. That another form of life exists, I tell myself why not. It seems very egocentric to me to think that we are the only ones in the universe and that could scare the hell out of me. The idea of fantasizing about it suits me well. Afterwards, I am Cartesian.
If, like NASA, you had the possibility of sending a “Golden Record”, a disc containing sounds and images of the Earth, to the confines of the solar system, what would you put on it?
It’s a tough choice! I tend to agree with the list of what was put on the Golden Records. Personally, I will add the novel The heart catcher by JD Salinger, but I’m not sure why. Perhaps because he is an antihero who represents human complexity well. He is really touching, endearing but, at the same time, while understanding his psychology, one can have doubts about his ethics.
Your first contact with comedy?
I was doing theater with my parents. Both are Greek. I did all my education in Greek in a Greek school in Brussels (Belgium). They looked after an amateur troupe which had an annex for children. We put on plays for young audiences. Families came and played… We played with our parents and it was a lot of fun. My first comedy was The Women’s Assembly of Aristophanes. Otherwise, I love it too Friends. Just to say that I’m a fan of sitcoms, I know some episodes almost by heart.
You grew up in Belgium, cut your teeth in Greece, and you work in Paris. As an actress, what do these culture circles bring you?
On the issue of membership, I’m not sure. In Belgium, I don’t really feel Belgian, in Greece, yes, I’m more Greek… But in reality, I think I feel more European.
If you don’t know Klingon, do you prefer to shoot in French, Greek or Esperanto, this universal language that Vera loves?
I am lucky enough to be able to speak three languages, and I hope to be able to learn others, perhaps Italian. The fact of being able to work in Greece, in France… it’s a chance. I like being able to overcome the language barrier. I have traveled a lot and I would like to immerse myself even more in other cultures. As I don’t understand Esperanto, I discovered the freedom of having no attachment to words. With Greek, my mother tongue, I have a lot of ties, it’s concrete, each word is like a Proust madeleine for me. I do not have this link with French. It’s funny: when I learn a text in French, there are often words that I don’t know, for which I have no emotional memory, so there is great freedom.
In cinema or on TV, which stars inspire you?
I would have loved to know Gena Rowlands so much! I like his freedom. She is not afraid, she goes all out. During the filming ofUFO(s), I was afraid of doing too much so I thought of this actress who, even if she is not in a register of comedy, is not afraid of ridicule. Suddenly, she never is and she is just very touching. That would be my role model.
When you climb the stairs in Cannes to present a film by Paul Verhoeven (“Benedetta”), when you are pre-selected for the Césars, do you feel like a star or are you afraid of being a comet?
I don’t ask myself these questions because they are too scary and too big. I’m just happy to be part of the cinematic galaxy. I try to integrate your puns! I realize every day how lucky I am to have been part of this world – and I hope to continue to be part of it. Benedetta and UFO(s) are such different things, which have nothing to do with each other… I try to immerse myself in these universes each time. It’s incredibly rich.
Your future horizon?
I shot a film by Léa Mysius, entitled The Five Devils, which will be released this year. It’s a brilliant film and I loved shooting with Adèle Exarchopoulos. I already loved her as an actress and I found her so generous… I also loved Ava, the previous feature film by Léa Mysius. We have become very good friends, close and accomplices. His universe pleases me a lot. What she writes and the stories she creates and the way she spins them are really interesting. I would also love to find Véra for a season 3 ofUFO(s). We know each other so well with the other actors and the whole team. We spent eight months over the two seasons together. Confidence has been established so we can go even further and dare to push the limits. I would very much like to resemble Vera in her free side. And since the characters we play rub off a bit on our lives during filming… I was really happy during the filming of this season!