© Les Armateurs/ France 2/France 3/ Tooncan.

AT: Belphégor, the title character, who has supernatural powers, is the bad guy. That's unusual compared to superheroes like Superman. Was the objective to show that children shouldn't idolize superheroes just because they possess supernatural powers?

GD: Belphégor doesn't have supernatural powers. His ring transfixes and temporary neutralizes people. But this already exists in military lab and is not very sophisticated. It was mostly added to emphasize the spectacular aspect, to make him more frightening. Belphégor's real weapons are his strength and his cleverness, which -- I'll grant you that -- is totally unusual in superhero stories. Indeed, he is a "bad" hero, but his elusiveness makes him quite threatening. This, plus the fact he is facing two positive and very endearing people (Sarah, one of the two journalists, most specifically), should prevent children from identifying with him and make them identify with his pursuers instead. It was interesting for us to see how Sarah stood out as we were working on the character development. She is the most impulsive and the most daring of the duo, and I believe children, especially girls, will strongly identify with her.

AT: How close did you stay to the book and the original TV series? In your script, the connection between the "old" Belphégor and today's is made through his reappearance, 30 years later. Did you play with that aspect -- the time lag -- in the script?

GD: Our Belphégor is quite different from the book character or the previous TV series. Plus, the story takes place in this day and age. I think that if we are true to something, it is to the atmosphere, to a character that is elusive -- physically and in his motivations -- unsettling, unpredictable. We devoted a lot of time to the writing. As opposed to the book -- where Belphégor's sole goal is to run off with a Merovingian treasure hidden in the Louvre museum -- our goal was to tell not one but twenty-six stories! And for each of them, to find a motivation which was not based on greed or the need for power, and did not portray him as capricious or pusillanimous. The writers, Marc Larmigny, together with Sébastien Viaud and Séverine Vuillaume, were able to invent stories which didn't look like we'd seen it all before, while integrating all the existing constraints.

From one episode to another, one will notice that Belphégor challenges people and situations all the time; one will conclude that he is a player, or a manipulator; or maybe that he behaves like an entomologist. He fits in with the history, with who Belphégor is, way before the book. He is a diabolical character who is also an enlightener of people's personalities. By provoking them, he makes them experience things that help them to grow, like in real life!

One episode, "La Vengeance de l'Etoile Bleue," [The Revenge of the Blue Star] gives away another essential trait of his personality. It was not possible to explain it literally, because the viewing audience is mostly children. However, we understand that Belphégor has suffered a bereavement that took away his reason for living. And instead of overcoming his mourning, or becoming insane, or an alcoholic, he steps aside and settles on the edge between life and death. He is constantly provoking life, as if he is waiting for a sign from her that might provoke an emotion within himself. Naturally, we could not translate these complex feelings in the film. So, we merely acknowledge the effects of the distance he puts between himself and rest of the world.

Belphégor's mark, the tanit sign is seen in the design of the floor. © Les Armateurs/ France 2/France 3/ Tooncan.

AT: Is it true that, in the antiquity, Belphégor was pictured in two quite different fashions: "as a beautiful naked woman and as a monstrous, bearded demon with an open mouth, horns, and sharply pointed nails. Belphégor was Hell's ambassador to France"?

GD: I don't know where this citation comes from. What's for sure is that, from the antiquity, the name, Belphégor [Baal-peor] refers to one of the avatars of the God Baal. And quite a few authors, including Machiavel, have portrayed him. At the beginning, Belphégor was a demon from an ancient civilization in the Middle East, and his name means "Demon of the mountain." Then, we track him to Carthage, hence the Tanit sign, which is Belphégor's mark. This is not clarified in the series, however the Tanit sign can be compared to that of Belphégor's imploring doll, with her arms up in the air, and to his music box. If both of them are superposed, their shape matches the Tanit sign. This doll is part of Belphégor's mystery. Obviously, it is a relic from the time when his frosty desperation arose.