"Directing The Clone was like conducting an orchestra", says Jayme Monjardim

Only 5 months. That was the exact time for The Clone to go from paper to the screen. As soon as Morocco was chosen as the ideal location for the meeting of Jade and Lucas and for the everyday life of Ali , the maid Zoraide (Jandira Martini), of Abdul (Sebastião Vasconcelos) and his nephews Mohamed (Antonio Calloni) , Said (Dalton Vigh) and Nazira (Eliane Giardini), a great mobilization took over the crew.


The first challenge, for director Jayme Monjardim, was to find the right hue for the novela.

"Morocco is a country of a redish-orange hue, the color is in the carpets and fabrics, in the spices and sunset in the desert. It is also the color that best translates the way of being of the moroccans, a cheerful , receptive and hospitable people", he explains.


How to get this color into The Clone guided all the preparation for the novela: from wardrobe to sets , from acting to photography, from dialog to soundtrack, from art to lighting. "Me and the other directors (Marcos Schechtman, Teresa Lampreia and Mário Bandarra) worked together to find the exact point of this balance: to tune all and everyone, as we were conducting an orchestra", compares Monjardim.

For the actors to get into the role of their characters, it was not only about using characteristic outfits and knowing their lines by heart. "To take upon the personnality of Jade, Giovanna needs to know how muslims live, but above all feel like one of them during the shootings. The same happened to the other actors. Colors, light, furniture, sound, environment, everything was provided so they would get into their characters", he adds.

A unique experience

Following, a part of the team visited articial insemination clinics and talked to geneticists, while directors, part of the cast, scenographers, make-up artists, producers and various technicians also went to Morocco, where they stayed for 40 days, taking 2,000 pounds of cameras, video and sound equipment.


"It was a unique experience for us. We shot in the Sahara desert , under a heat of 127ºF; We mobilized a caravan of 25 camels and 12 desert men; transformed shops in Fez into dressing and editing rooms; shot up to ten scenes a day.

And always with the care to not interfere with the life of the moroccans. We could not stop a city", points out Monjardim.


On the moroccan streets and houses, everything was a cause for surprise to the crew: muslims in long tunics (djellaba) and covered faces, who speak with their eyes; marvellous mosques (houses of prayer), where only muslims may enter; the call for prayers; fountains with rose petals; goat heads exposed in the markets; the camels in the desert; the habit of the people to propose exchanges; belly dancing , that in wedding parties ignites the desire of the couple; the passion of women for soccer.

Poisonous snake

The unexpected also marked the trip; cameras stopped working because of the heat, shoe soles unglued in contact with the hot floor. Even a poisonous snake showed up near the nomad tent used for the love scenes of Jade and Lucas.


Back in Rio de Janeiro, to the studios of Globo Network in the district of Jacarepaguá, the running continued. A copy of the city of Fez, where 50 extras circulated per scene, was set up by scenographers. Sets for the district of São Cristóvão , where Mohamed and Latiffa lived were also built , as well as Lucas and Maysa's house and Albieri's

clinic , where the clone was created.


The orchestra conducting of director Jayme Monjardim in The Clone includes special effects so that Lucas, Diogo and Leandro (all played by Murilo Benício) appeared together in scenes, and the post-production of images of Rio de Janeiro.


All this made of The Clone a special symphony for all. "I am very happy right now. This novela is, for my life and career, a mature son", says Monjardim.


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