“Vortex”, the series worn by Tomer Sisley and Camille Claris, is it plagiarism? In any case, this is what director Tony Chaslas said.
On January 2, France 2 launched its event mini-series Vortex. Worn by Tomer Sisley and Camille Claris, the series won over a wide audience with its unique universe and impossible love story. A daring bet which attracted 4.3 million curious people for its first two episodes.
And if this thriller unlike any other is much talked about for its visual and scriptwriting qualities, it has also recently been targeted by an accusation of plagiarism from director Tony Chaslas.
According to him, the production company Quad Drama, at the origin of Vortex, would have plagiarized a project called Gods Game that he would have proposed to them several years ago.
On this subject, Tony Chaslas declared on January 4, two days after the launch of the series, in a long publication on Twitter: “I have just discovered the France Télé series entitled Vortex produced by Quad Drama with Tomer Sisley which seems to have been strongly inspired by our Gods Game / Rêve et Réalité project. “.
And the director adds: “By chance, I submitted my series twice to the French production Quad Drama. In 2019 and then in 2020. The first time, they wanted more details. The second time, I had a confirmation of receipt and no more news. Vortex was filmed in 2021.“
Filmed in March 2019, Gods Game did not, however, go unnoticed according to Tony Chaslas since the pilot episode had won around fifteen distinctions in 2020.
In addition, he believes that there are many similarities between his project and the France 2 series. “Among all the similarities, (with modifications so that it doesn’t look too copy/paste), there is the use of a magic/tech tool related to the symbolism of the eye to go back in time. In #GodsGame, it’s the eye of Horus. In Vortex, it’s VR glasses.”
But that’s not all, “In Gods Game, the hero investigates with his policeman brother to prevent the death of a person in the past / In Vortex, the hero is a policeman and investigates to prevent the death of a person in the past.“
To sum up, the director specifies:I didn’t invent back in time, magic, rescuing a dead person in the past, police investigations, using an artifact to go back in time, the year 98 and victory of France in the World Cup…to look like a madman in the present, the use of the glitch for the poster, but all that put together…that’s a lot.
Obviously, the story of #GodsGame pleased them. So why didn’t you contact me instead of changing it?”
FRANCE 2 REACTS TO ACCUSATIONS OF PLAGIARISM
Contacted by our colleagues from Télé Loisirs, France 2 obviously reacted to these accusations. “Vortex’s design and development dates are earlier.“.
During the press conference on November 30, 2022, Iris Bucher, the president of Quad Drama, had thus indicated that the idea for the series had been brought by the novelist Franck Thilliez in 2015.
Originally, “the story took place in 2015, in a police station, with a cop who realized that his old computer allowed him to communicate with a colleague who was in the same place as him in 1995. Franck’s idea was great but he had to modernize it.”
Franck Thilliez, being no longer available at the time of the project, it was finally Camille Couasse and Sarah Farkas who were entrusted with writing the screenplay for Vortex.