Prometheus on TF1: “A kind of French Stranger Things” according to Fantine Harduin, the revelation of the series


A true revelation of “Prométhée”, which starts tonight on TF1, actress Fantine Harduin tells us about the filming of this series like no other, the outlines of her enigmatic character and her love for genre cinema.

TF1 is broadcasting the first two episodes of Prometheus tonight, its new event fiction with Camille Lou, Odile Vuillemin and Thomas Jouannet. But the real star of this detective thriller which successfully ventures into fantasy is undoubtedly Fantine Harduin, the interpreter of the enigmatic amnesiac teenager endowed with superhuman powers who gives her name to the series.

Seen on television in Engrenages, Ennemi public and L’Absente, Fantine Harduin also made a name for herself in the cinema by taking leading roles in Le Voyage de Fanny, Adoration by Fabrice Du Welz, and Happy End by Michael Haneke, in which she gave the reply to Isabelle Huppert, Jean-Louis Trintignant and Mathieu Kassovitz. Just that.

From the height of her 18 years, this young Belgian actress bursts the screen in Prometheus which skilfully mixes crime fiction, fantasy, drama and adolescent stories. Met last September on the occasion of the La Rochelle Festival, where the series was presented in preview, she tells us about this daring bet, apart from the offer of French television fiction, her very special character, and her love for genre cinema, from Dario Argento to Pascal Laugier.

AlloCiné: Fantasy series remain very rare in France. Is that what intrigued you right away when you were offered the script for Prometheus?

Fantine Harduin: What I look at first in a screenplay is above all the story: is it interesting? Does she stand out? Is it challenging for me? Can I do something with the character that isn’t easy? And I think that, for once, we are not at all easy with Prometheus (laughs). It’s a really different series, and I obviously liked it right away.

I am a big fan of genre cinema. And French genre cinema too. So when I learned that a genre series was in preparation for TF1, a channel with a fairly large audience, not particularly accustomed to this kind of proposal, I said to myself that it was a great challenge to initiate this audience. to the fantastic.

And then, beyond the desire to go towards the genre, I immediately saw that I could do a lot of things with this Prometheus character. It has a lot of facets, I felt that I was going to be able to have fun. It is very rare that we are offered this kind of role in France. I really couldn’t say no.

T. Langro / UGC / TF1

Fantine Harduin is Prometheus in the TF1 series.

The more the season progresses, the more Prometheus tends towards the fantastic, which is therefore not just present in small touches in the story. Do you understand the reception of the public?

The series is very daring, that’s for sure. This is not the first French genre series, we have seen a few in recent years. I am thinking in particular of Para//èles on Disney+. But it’s quite rare that we leave so much room for the fantastic and the strange in a series on a channel like TF1, it’s true.

I would say make or break. Either the public will totally adhere and will love Prometheus. And it will be able to open the door to other series of this genre, which would be great. Either there will be a complete rejection of viewers, since it is different from what we see in general. Which we obviously don’t want (laughs).

Fortunately, there is still a polar aspect, especially at the beginning, which can make the public want to get carried away in this story…

It’s true. It was necessary to know how to find the balance between what the public knows and appreciates, and what is more astonishing and surprising. And I think we’ve done that pretty well.

You mentioned gender. What are your favorite series and genre films?

I really like Stranger Things and Dark. And we are a bit in there with Prometheus. The screenwriters wanted a kind of French Stranger Things, which mixes teenage stories, intrigues about parents, and fantasy. There is also Misfits which I really like.

But I’m more of a genre cinema. I’m a huge fan of Dario Argento. I love the giallo, it’s super interesting, just in the image and the cinematography which is magnificent. I can also mention, on the French cinema side, Pascal Laugier, whose Martyrs I loved. Alexandre Aja, who went to the United States where it’s easier to do gender. And Julia Ducournau, more recently, whose work I really like. Although I preferred Grave to Titanium.

Would you like to go more towards horror with your next projects?

Of course, horror movies is really what I want to do. When I was little I said I wanted to play a monster in a horror movie. Not a monster with lots of makeup or special effects, but a monster in his personality, a murderer or a psychopath. Or like the girl in The Ring for example, an enigmatic scary character. I think we have a lot of fun playing that.


T. Langro / UGC / TF1

What is Prometheus hiding?

Isn’t Prometheus, in a way, a first step towards that? After all, she is a very strange, very enigmatic character, who causes concern and about whom nothing is known, except that she has strange powers…

It’s true, but it’s complicated to approach the strangeness and the “monster” side of Prometheus without spoiling the series. I really don’t want to say too much. But it is a character who, over the course of the series, tends more and more towards the fantastic in any case. We are going to discover a lot of things about her, and she too, about herself, because she does not know who she is. She has powers, but there’s a whole universe and narrative around it that holds a lot of surprises for viewers.

Prometheus is surrounded by several very strong female characters, played by Camille Lou, Odile Vuillemin and Marie-Josee Croze, all of which are very important in this story. Are these women really there to help her, or should Prometheus be wary of the people around her?

All these women have a real desire to help Prometheus, there is something quite maternal in that. A need to protect her at all costs. They find themselves face to face with a totally lost girl, who no longer knows who she is, and that awakens a kind of empathy in them. And then, Caroline, the character played by Marie-Josée Croze, lost her daughter, so Prometheus necessarily comes to fill, in a certain way, a lack in her. This maternal aspect is very important in the series.

The powers of Prometheus give rise to successful special effects and a few stunt scenes. How did you experience these action sequences?

It was amazing to shoot. It’s a real challenge, because we get out of our comfort zone, but it’s very fun to do. After that, it’s not always easy. I had a little problem at the beginning of the filming of the series. I hurt my arm badly, I was immobilized for two weeks, and it happened on the very first shot of the series. Basically, from the first day, I fall and I break my arm (laughs).

It scared a lot of people. We had to put the filming on hold and review the work plan. But I came back and I continued to turn while having pain in the arm. It was a real theme on this shoot, moreover, because Odile also broke her arm just before starting the shoot.


T. Langro / UGC / TF1

Anthony Goffi (William) and Fantine Harduin in Prometheus.

The series features a very nice group of teenagers, of which Prometheus will gradually become part. Was a bond immediately created on the set between your acting partners and you?

Yes right now. I have the impression that fairly strong bonds are generally created on set anyway. But there, on Prometheus, I don’t know what happened, we became very, very good friends with Margot Heckmann, Aymeric Fougeron and Anthony Goffi, who play Vanessa, Hugo and William.

We see each other almost every week, we went on vacation together, a real friendship was created and lasted after filming, which is quite rare. Prometheus was really a pretty crazy human adventure, right from the start. It matched with everyone, from actors to technicians, including Christophe Campos, our director. It was really great.

We imagine that you are therefore all ready to return for a season 2?

Completely. I would love to, and we leave the possibility for a season 2 at the end. There is a cliffhanger, everything is made to open towards a sequel. We’ll see if that happens, but we all hope so anyway.

At just 18, you already have a fine filmography since you have worked with Isabelle Huppert, Mathieu Kassovitz, Romain Duris and Clotilde Courau. Did you have the desire to become an actress from an early age?

In fact, I started very young, at the age of seven, so I didn’t really know what acting was, I didn’t even know it existed. I arrived in this universe a bit by chance, and it was after having tasted cinema that I knew it was really what I wanted to do.

Obviously, I know it’s a very uncertain profession, especially as an actress. We can be in a great situation, with ten shoots a year, and then all of a sudden everything ends and we no longer have any calls. I know it may end one day, so for now I’m taking full advantage of what’s happening to me.

But, even if my acting career were to end, I know that I want to stay in the world of cinema, whether as a director, screenwriter or even manager. I want to be in that universe, I feel that’s what I have to do. It’s a real calling.

Do you have any other upcoming projects you can talk about?

I shot a Belgian film, C’est de famille, with Olivier Gourmet and Hélène Vincent, which should be released soon. And I’m also going to shoot a short film very soon, which looks like a giallo, a bit horrifying, I can’t wait.



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