Jacques and Sarah, two journalists following the mysterious Belphégor. © Les Armateurs/ France 2/France 3/ Tooncan.

Once Pathé was convinced, we worked on a pilot, which was presented at the Cartoon Forum in Connemara [Ireland, 1996]. The day after the presentation, France 2 and France 3 announced they were willing to join the venture. Yet, the pilot was quite awful! I would like to say that our partners at France 2/3 have been fantastic, especially considering the particular nature of this series.

AT: From an artistic standpoint, did you feel that an animated version would bring some limitations -- to translate the mysterious aspect, among others -- or allow more creativity? And how did you choose the artistic director, who is extremely talented from my point of view?

GD: I have always felt that animation doesn't bring any constraints. On the opposite, it allows one to render a different vision of reality, to give more meaning to life by refining it and only keeping what is essential, and by playing with the time, etc. Of course, this is assuming one knows how to use it and has enough resources to reach the effect required. Films such as Jin Rô convinced me that animation has started to explore new roads that will become fabulous means of expression.

AT: Can you explain this?

GD: Jin Rô is Japanese director Hiroyuki Okiura's first feature. It is set in an imaginary post-war Japan, where a conspiracy threatens both police combat troopers and anti-government activists. Although, the technique is traditional, the style is very innovative in the way it uses a sharp, realistic graphic style to translate the atmosphere.

The city takes on an eerie character of its own in the stylish new animated series. © Les Armateurs/ France 2/France 3/ Tooncan.

But, back to Belphégor: I was getting nowhere with the graphic design. We were only receiving proposals with very classical character design. They all looked like Titan A.E. or characters from semi-realistic-type movies. How could we transform these characters into a consistent universe? Which backgrounds would fit in? This is when I suggested bringing in Frédéric Bézian, a comic book artist I really liked and considered one of the most bewitching artists, although he did not have many fans at the time. His style, and the atmosphere in his comic books seemed to match perfectly my idea of Belphégor. Luckily, Frédéric accepted my proposal and became the artistic director of the series. He has been fantastic. Not only did he successfully adapt his relatively complex drawing style to the simplification needed in animation, but he also appeared to be extremely painstaking in his work, and thoughtful of other people's work. He is an incredibly talented professional.