During the preparation of The Deal, a Swiss series for Arte set in 2015 during the multilateral negotiations on the Iranian nuclear program (which brought together, on the shores of Lake Geneva, the primary parties involved—the Americans, Europeans, Chinese, and Russians), the director traveled to Corsica to meet a Dutch-speaking Belgian actress. After all, in a modern-day Tower of Babel, one more nationality or language hardly matters.
For the creator of The Deal, this meeting with Veerle Baetens was not a wild gamble, but an obvious choice.