From Quebec to Hollywood, the spectacular ascent of Jessica Lee Gagné

Jessica Lee Gagné was shopping for cleaning products in a hardware store in Notre-Dame, Montreal when she learned that her work on the series Severance was praised by the Emmy prices.

The famous American gala, who rewards excellence in the television industry, appointed the Quebecer in two categories: best photo director and best achievement. “I didn’t believe it, I was never named before,” she says on the phone.

She is aware that these appointments can change her life It is like a validation that people see youshe admits.

Ben Stiller invited her to work on the series Severance After recruiting her as a photo director for the series Escape at Dannemora (2018).

The first call of the actor and American director arrived just when she had made the decision to try her luck in Europe.

It is that after having worked with the French director Philippe Grandrieux on Despite the night (2015), Jessica Lee Gagné wished to settle in France at the time. There was a family spirit on the set and then he [le réalisateur] had a way of working that inspired me a lotshe underlines.

But the same day she is about to fly to Paris, she receives a message that will change everything. I had sold everything my things, I had sold my car, I had no more apartment, nothingrelate-t-elle. Then I receive an email from the producer of Ben Stiller who asks me if I am interested in working with him on the series Escape at Dannemora.

I became emotional, I felt that it was going to change my life.

She took the plane to Paris, and a first appointment on Skype with Ben Stiller.

The beginnings

It was in Quebec, where she is from, that it all started for Jessica Lee Gagné. A native of Cap-Rouge and raised in Sillery, she excelled in science and mathematics at school and considered her sister as the creative of the family, not her.

By inheriting the cameras of her aunt, a curiosity awakens and pushes her to explore. It develops skills. I took pictures for everyone, all the time, even at schoolshe said. I was like school photographer! she launches.

The photo books of her mother and the American films she discovered with her father, also owner of video clubs, were key elements in the awakening of her interest in cinema. It’s a big part of my lifeshe said, remembering films-especially blockbusters aMéricans – seen in the cinema with his father. I developed a love for the film, for listening indoors. For me, it’s super nostalgic and super importantshe says.

Her natural curiosity for the photo directs her to cinema. In high school, she jumps on all opportunities to make film projects with her friends. But it is at Cégep François-Xavier Garneau in Quebec that the click is made. I read Garneau’s cinema profile, it lit me so much. I said to myself, that’s where I want to go, that’s what I want to doexplains the filmmaker.

In Garneau with Chloé

Chance wanted her to find herself in the same cohort as Chloé Robichaud (Two golden women, Happy days, Sarah prefers the race). The need to create in people like Jessica or Chloé is obviousrecalls André Caron who taught them at Cégep.

Jessica obviously had a talent for technique. She immediately knew the camera before everyone else. She knew, she had read the manual she had almost learned by heart. It was quite surprising.

According to Jessica, the teachers of Cégep François-Xavier Garneau perceived his talent before she herself became aware of it. I just wanted to make films, it was my motivation. I said to myself, what can I do to improve my chances? relate-t-elle.

It’s really tripping to see the talent emerging. Chloé’s authority to direct the actors, then the camera angles, the photographic things that Jessica broughtunderlines André Caron. When you see after the films they make, you say to yourself “OK, it was already there, in emergence”underlines the one who formed hundreds of students during his 25 years in the Cinema program of Cégep Garneau.

The meeting between Chloé Robichaud and Jessica Lee Gagné was decisive in their respective career. They continued their studies in cinema at Concordia University and worked together on the first films in Chloé, of which Sarah prefers the race which experienced its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in 2013.

Although she was aiming for the realization, it was towards the photographic direction that Jessica Lee Gagné turned, because it is in this area that the opportunities arose. I knew, with not much, make picturesshe said. Many directors came to see me to ask me to make their film.

She loved her first years of work in Quebec. She made films with friends. She embarked on all projects. A community of young filmmakers has developed. These best friends remain, to date, in Quebec. The cinema of authors that she finds here is a force, according to her, which allows Quebec to stand out from the rest of the country. I’m not going to talk about Canada, but that’s why our films are on the world scene.

Paver his way in Hollywood

The second season of the series Severance, Who landed on the Apple TV+ platform last January, is at the top of the nominations at the Emmy prices galas with 27 appointments. Among the key elements that led to the success of this American dystopian series which takes place in the world of work, there is aesthetics, and it is the work of the Quebec filmmaker.

The decor of the offices of Lumon’s company is minimalist, with long white corridors and a development that is both futuristic and retro, creating an atmosphere that is both clinical and strange. This visual style, essential to history, reinforces the feeling of confinement and discomfort.

Despite high budgets and numerous resources, work remains demanding. You don’t work less hardshe said.

We have time and money, but it’s always intense. It doesn’t bother the budget you have, you always have 1000 problems. That’s the cinema.

Ben Stiller gave him his chance to the realization of the second season of Severance. It was she who managed the team and the actors Adam Scott and Dichen Lachman in episode 7 entitled Chika Bardoand which earned him an appointment for the excellence of his realization. She also chose to shoot part of the episode in the house she rented in New York.

The realization allowed her to understand that it is this path that she wants to follow now. There is a part of me that was not open before. It was not the realization that opened me to that, it was stuff in my personal life that happened, that made me understand why I was like that. This is what happened just before making the decision to make. Otherwise, I could not have made this decisionshe explains.

The actors force you to stay in the present moment. In DOPI could always go elsewhere. I could guarantee an aesthetic, it’s okay, but I was not present. For me, it’s really a form of healing, just allowing me to be there.

She admits bluntly that the profession of photo director is behind her. If I continued to be DOPI would not have time to develop my projects as a directorshe underlines. You have to stop working completely so that it leaves in another directionsaid the filmmaker.

When asked what kind of cinema or series she intends to do, we quickly understand that she likes a wide variety of genres. Science fiction, however, arrived first in his answers. There is a relationship with consciousness, with time, what is reality? These are things I am completely obsessed with in my personal lifeshe says.

Difficult not to think of Denis Villeneuve. I met him only onceshe answers when asked.

I respect him a lot, but I respect Jean-Marc Vallée a lot. For me, Jean-Marc Vallée was really an important influence. The way he made films, that he worked with his teams, I find it really inspiring.

Among other influences, she names Christopher Nolan or the Irish series Normal People. Its tastes are varied and multiple. Right now, I’m watching the cinema scenarios. I look at the scenarios of other writers. But on TV, I would like to writeshe said.

She knows it takes time and a lot of work, but she wants to immerse herself 100 %. I have a film that I am trying to develop at the moment which is like an erotic thriller, a little like 1990sshe mentions in passing.

His big dream would be to become director of television series, a showrunner, in English. It would be, like the ultimate dream, to become a showrunner. This is something that I would like to build in the coming years, even if it takes time.

At 37, Jessica Lee Gagné has both the time and talent for achieving her goals. The recognition of Emmy Awards has also confirmed that his dreams are within his reach.