Anne Charrier & Romain Levi – The Walking Dead: Darly Dixon

By starrymag | September 29, 2024

By: Kelly Kearney

 

 

Q) The first thing I wanted to ask about this season, you got to work with Melissa [McBride], and I know you both were fans before starting on the show. So, what was that like for both of you?

Anne: It was great. We loved it. Well, I loved it. Romain?

Romain: Of course. Me too. I really loved it.

Anne: She’s a very good partner. She’s of course a very good actress. And she’s a good partner as well. I mean on the set, she’s really a great person.

Romain: Yeah, definitely. And for me, Carol was one of my favorite characters in the original show, so to be able to meet Melissa, it was amazing. Yeah, she’s such an amazing actress and she’s really a beautiful human being. So yeah, it was amazing. Every day was great. We had fun. We had very nice conversations with each other, but it was great.

Q) For the fans of “The Walking Dead” that have been asking for years and years, how do you define the relationship between Carol and Daryl? Would you say they’re friends? Would you say they’re soulmates? Would you say they’re more than friends? How would you personally define it?

Anne: I’d say they’re family. I’d say it’s something that is like a brotherhood. Something that is very strong. They both lost their families at the same time, nearly at the same time. I mean, so, I’ve always seen it that way. Yeah, like you say, soulmates that meet at the moment that they become family, because it’s the right moment for them.

Romain: Yeah, definitely. It’s a good question and I’m not sure there is a great answer because there are so many beautiful things between them. It’s maybe a love relationship, maybe a friend relationship, soulmates, who knows, actually? I actually don’t even know myself what could happen between the both of them. Everything is possible in a way.

Anne: And I feel, to my point of view, I feel it’s very rich as well to have TV relationships between a woman and a man that are not romantic. And I think that’s what makes it so special as well.

Q) I was wondering how the past, in the early part of the apocalypse and also the characters’ feelings, how as a result of those events shaped who the characters are in the apocalypse?

Anne: You can see that with Carol. She’s a very fragile woman, married to a brute beating her up and she becomes that badass. Very strong, very powerful, very, it’s very cathartic in a way. So, I feel it’s about the same with every character, but for my character, as I know you’ve seen all the episodes, she becomes stronger as well, but on the wrong side of this, you know? She becomes an angry person, and grief makes her more dangerous and more powerful, but in a dangerous way.

Romain: Yeah, definitely all that happened changed us all in a way. I do believe that Codron had a very simple life, actually, and he was very happy with this kind of simplicity before all that happened. And then he survived. We had this worry about protecting people he loved, for example, like his brother. And then he changed; everything changed from that fear to this idea that maybe you can die tomorrow. And then, yeah, it became the way he is right now.

Q) Anne, we learned during Comic Con that the show was going to film in the Louvre, and we do know from the finale of last season that your character worked in a museum. What was that experience like filming in the famous museum and what were some of the challenges the cast and crew faced?

Anne: It was mad. So, first question, yes, I knew because David [Zabel] told me. He told me where she was coming from and stuff. So, I knew she was working in the museum, but I didn’t know we were going to shoot in the Louvre. You know? So, shooting in the Louvre was one of the strongest experiences of my career as an actor because usually you’re very impressed with your partners or with what you have to play. But there I had everything that was impressive, you know? Walking on my own in the Louvre, in those huge hallways, being able to stare at the painting with no one around – that was mad. And then we had to play those very strong scenes. So, it was kind of a bit of pressure, I have to say. When you see the eight hundred people working on the set that day and knowing that you have to perform and you won’t have the set for a long time, only for one day. So yeah, it was very, very strong. Very, very important.

Q) This is a very philosophical and beautiful season across the board. And I’m curious, with all the various messages and journeys that are happening, what do you ultimately hope audiences take away as a message from Season Two?

Anne: That you can always choose your side. Of course, this is a message that is about my character, but you can always choose the side you’re going on

Romain: And even in very dark times, you can open your heart. I like that idea. And we can feel love in this season. And even if, yeah, it’s hard. We’re all fighting. We don’t know if we’re all going to die tomorrow, but yeah, we can still open our hearts.

Anne: I love that answer. Romain says it so well. That’s exactly what I meant.

Q) So last season they were in a much different place as in the two of them and how they interacted because now obviously Codron is not on her side at all. So can you both sort of talk about where they are, because she’s kind of using him and he’s not having a great time with it. Could you sort of tease a bit about that without spoiling anything?

Anne: I’d say she’s very, very, very upset with him. She’s upset because she puts so much trust and faith in him. So, she’s so disappointed. That’s where they are at, I’d say.

Romain: And Codron trusted Genet, too. He really believed in her at the beginning, and almost the entire first season. But then it felt like something dangerous. It felt that they didn’t have the same ideas on how to help the country. And obviously as he said in the end of the first season, he didn’t want to kill Genet. And after all of that, yeah, Genet wanted to get some information and she’s ready to do a lot of things in order to get this information. The question is, do we speak or not?

Q) You two are legendary villains now. Who are your personal favorite villains from this universe? It could be from any of “The Walking Dead” shows.

Romain: Okay, I’ll start. I’ll definitely say I really love Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan). He is one of my favorites. I love the way he behaves, this kind of little theatrical way he behaves. You know? I love this so much. I was really impressed by him.

Anne: I would say Alpha (Samantha Morton). Alpha was my favorite. Maybe because she’s a woman, I don’t know. But I thought she was so horrible. I thought – hiding that way. I thought the way she was sneaking in and stuff, she was horrible. That she’s definitely my favorite one.

Q) As far as your character’s point of view, is there any hope in them at all? Do they have any hope?

Anne: For my character? I would say no, she doesn’t. She doesn’t have any hope for her at least. But I think she really, truly believes that she can change things for the people. She can put things in order, she can do something for the community. She really thinks she can do that. She’s honest with that, but she’s completely desperate for herself.

Romain: And, for me, I would say that, yeah, Codron has a lot of hope. Even in the first season, he wanted to protect people. He wanted to do good things, in his way but with mistakes. In my opinion, he really wants to help people to do good things. And now in this new season, he will try his best to do good things in another direction, but still hope that you can give a hand to people.

Q) You now done two seasons and filmed in amazing locations. What has been your most memorable moment filming this series that you’ll look back on and say, “Yeah, that was my favorite part of making that show?”

Romain: It’s not so easy to answer because to tell you the truth, personally, I had so many enjoyable moments, really. I enjoyed every day on set. It’s really a dream come true for me. I love this team so much. So, every day was magical, but I can say that maybe playing in the Mont Saint-Michel was something unbelievable. It was amazing. It’s a place, it’s a very specific place in France. There is a kind of magic in there. This monument is really amazing. Everything around it is amazing. So being able to play there, to destroy doors inside, to have fights in the Mont Saint-Michel is really amazing.

Anne: It would be difficult for me to choose. I’m like, Romain, it’s been such a wonderful experience, but I had this eye contact with the Mona Lisa in the Louvre, my character, and then we start again with Mona Lisa, and we are back with Carol. And so that was the two dream moments of that season because really it was mystical. The Louvre was mystical in a way. So powerful, and it’s so intense to be there. And then I was meeting Melissa for the first time, and I had that scene with Carol. It was a very fun scene as well. And so I’d say that would be those two moments.

Q) I actually love those scenes with you and Melissa McBride. I felt like those characters in a different world could have found some similarities, maybe even a friendship. There were a lot of things that seemed similar between those two characters.

Anne: They could be friends. They could have been friends on a mission if they met in another time. If their story was slightly different.

Q) A teaser without spoilers, what are each of you most excited for audiences to experience in this very big and very bold season of storytelling?

Anne: There are so many things.

Romain: But the first thing for me, definitely the fact that Carol is back. When I read this at the end of the first season, I was so happy about it. And I think, I won’t spoil anything, if I say that they will see each other, they will be back together. And this is magical. This is very beautiful. That’s why I really love the Caryl idea, but more, it’s stronger than that in a way. Finally finding the way to find each other and it’s very beautiful to see them together.

Anne: Yeah, I would’ve loved to find a more interesting answer, but actually that is it right there. That’s definitely what is the point of this season. To see them together. To reunite them.

Q) When we talked last season, it had not aired yet in France. I’m curious, since that’s happened and now people around you have seen it, how has your life changed?

Anne: Not much, but I mean professionally it’s very, very classy to be in The Walking Dead. But I wouldn’t say my life has changed much. What about you, Romain?

Romain: Yeah, I think that my life changed professionally in a way. I worked very well last year and I’m working quite well this year. And I do believe it is because of this show.  And, yeah, I do believe that my life changed as a human being because, as I said before, I was a big, big fan of the original show. So, when I had the opportunity to be in it, it’s like, yeah, in a way it’s life changing.

Anne: It’s a shot of self-confidence as well. Because you think, “Yeah, I can do it. I’m there.”

Romain: And to make a dream come true, it’s not so easy. Sometimes you have tons of dreams, but it’s hard to get them. So, when you get it, yeah, it’s something.

Q) When your characters met Melissa McBride for the first time on set, what was that conversation like?

Anne: It was very easy going actually, because Melissa is that kind of person, so you are very impressed because you’re going to meet Carol and then you’re meeting Melissa and quickly It becomes a professional partnership and it’s a very happy one.

Romain: Yeah, for me, too. I was a bit intimidated at the beginning of course, but she was so simple, so nice, so kind, so easygoing on set that very easily I felt, “okay, that’s an amazing partner. I can feel that. Let’s play. Let’s happen. Let’s connect with each other and let’s trust in each other.” So, it was amazing.

Q) You both have makeup experience this year. I won’t get specific, but what was that like for each of you?

Anne: Makeup! It is amazing, but it’s not only makeup. I can say it now because each time I was going to a different set, I had a different dummy. I would meet a different me in a worse shape than it was the day before. So, that was very funny. And the makeup experience is very funny as well. You can see yourself in the mirror becoming something else. I loved it, I loved it. I have to say all the details and the artists that worked with us, you can see the artists working on this. It’s very special. It’s very nice.

Romain: Yeah, definitely that amazing makeup in a way, it really helps to get into the character. You look at yourself and you say, “Oh, I’m not the same guy that I was this morning.” Okay, something changed now, and you are using it. It really helped as an actor.

 

 

*ROUNDTABLE INTERVIEW*