At the Paris Court of Justice,
Catherine Leclerc is a casting director almost like any other. This mother worked for the company of Jean-Marc Morandini, “Ne zappez pas! production “. In this capacity, she was responsible for recruiting young actors for the Web-series entitled “Les Faucons”, which the 57-year-old host of CNews produced in 2015. This 40-year-old insisted that actors barely out of their teens send videos of them naked, pubis shaved, or scenes of masturbation, sometimes with ejaculation. Catherine Leclerc had even asked one of them if he was ready to perform oral sex on Jean-Marc Morandini. But behind this reassuring and encouraging maternal figure, who signed her e-mails with a “mom”, was actually hiding this star of the small screen and the radio.
Six months after a conviction for corruption of minors on three teenagers between 2009 and 2016 (he appealed), Jean-Marc Morandini is tried, Tuesday and Wednesday, for “sexual harassment” against Gabriel, one of these young actors whom he seemed to appreciate more than the others. His production company, of which he is the sole manager, is being prosecuted for the “concealed work” of five plaintiffs.
“The journalist got in their heads”
Because the actors, who were to play in this series, were neither paid nor declared to social organizations when they had shot a few episodes. “They were volunteers on these shoots”, assures the defendant at the bar, black jacket, white shirt, blue jeans and Berluti sneakers. They were only to receive money once the series was profitable, he continues. Some were given from hand to hand a few 50 euro notes, “for their annex that they could have”.
“Why, if it was planned not to pay them, to have done so in August 2016? asks the magistrate. “Perhaps because there was a scandal,” replies the host who has been very smug since the start of the hearing. “Given the media frenzy, my lawyer told me to pay people. » In July 2016, the magazine The Inrocks has indeed published a long in-depth investigation “on the practices of Jean-Marc Morandini”. In her article, journalist Fanny Marlier reveals the dubious practices surrounding the casting of young actors. “From this article, there were problems with all the actors. The journalist got in their heads, ”defends the star of the PAF.
“To sell on the Web, you needed nudity”
The series was to tell the story of a suburban football team, more on the locker room side than on the pitch. “Nudity is the basic concept”, claims the one who produced it and who reread the scenarios. “To sell on the Web, you needed nudity,” he argues. Two versions were considered: one prohibited for children under 12, in which “there is no sex”, and another prohibited for children under 16.
To respond to applications, he had created the character of Catherine Leclerc. Morandini had even randomly retrieved a photo from the Internet of a 40-year-old woman. “I didn’t want people to respond because it was me,” he justifies himself today. The aspiring actors had to send him several photos and videos of themselves naked. “We don’t ask them for nude photos for fun, it’s part of the role they will play”, assures the defendant who seems annoyed by the questions of the president.
Why did they have to shave their private areas? The idea, replies the host, was to “get closer to the calendar of the gods of the stadium”, in which famous rugby players pose. The magistrate wonders if the facilitator did not in fact want to recruit “young beardless minors and try to pass them off as minors”. “It’s your hypothesis,” retorts the defendant, who assures that it was only a request for “aesthetic” purposes.
“Do you feel like giving a blowjob to Jean-Marc Morandini? »
Morandini, pretending to be Catherine Leclerc, had insisted that one of them, Gabriel, send him videos of him, erect or ejaculating. “We wanted to see what he wanted to do, could do, what his limits were, what he felt like doing,” proclaims the defendant. The president evokes the email sent by the fake casting director, considered the most problematic: “Do you feel like giving a blowjob to Jean-Marc Morandini, who is not just anyone? At the helm, the host smiled. On at least three occasions, he revived the civil party during the months that followed. “We have the impression that we have been talking about fellatio for six months, the defendant gets carried away. It was, he said, a simple “question”.
“It’s an exchange, there is no demand, nothing is imposed. Gabriel is “an intelligent, interesting boy who had the possibility of progressing”. But he swears that he has no physical attraction for this young man whom he says he “protected”. “I can find that he has charm and seduction, without falling for him. One of the assessors has “difficulty understanding how performing oral sex on someone you barely know would improve your acting skills”.
“Psychological influence”
In her emails, which she signs “mom”, the imaginary casting director tries to reassure Gabriel “who asks himself a lot of questions”, especially about nudity. She asks him for more and more daring photos and videos, not to say unhealthy. To convince him, she even talks to him… about the size of her son’s penis. The defendant assures that the young actor “suspected” that he was the author of the messages and that he “always had very good relations, until the publication of the article”. The young man, who says he was under the “psychological influence” of Jean-Marc Morandini, claims never to have “made the link” between Catherine and the host, even if he had some “doubts”. “I didn’t think anyone could fabricate a fake profile to get their way. »
The series eventually ended quickly. “No one paid anymore” to watch it, regrets Jean-Marc Morandini. Some scenes even ended up on porn sites. “However, this series had nothing to do with porn,” breathes the defendant. The trial continues on Wednesday with the prosecution’s requisitions and the defense lawyers’ pleadings.