Improving on Perfection: Drops Of God’s Stars, EP, and Sommelier Uncork Another Gold Medal Season

Critic’s Rating: 5 / 5.0

5

Like many fine wines, Apple TV’s Drops of God has a rich and complex creative history, resulting in a beautifully balanced and structured series brought to life by its cast’s emotionally-charged, multi-faceted performances.

In exclusive virtual interviews, TV Fanatic had the pleasure of speaking with the show’s stars, Fleur Geffrier and Tomohisa Yamashita, Executive Producer Klaus Zimmerman, and the series sommelier Seb Pradal.

Their insights into the show’s production and far-reaching reception speak to its global appeal and relevance.

Apple TV’s Drops of God

Adapted from the hugely successful Japanese manga Kami no Shizuku, Drops of God Season 1 premiered in 2023 to unanimously rave reviews, scoring a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and winning the 2024 International Emmy Award for Best Drama Series.

Drops of God Season 2 drops the first of eight episodes on January 21.

The heady, exhilarating wine-driven adventures continue. After discovering they are siblings and competing for their late oenologist father’s legacy in Season 1, Camille and Issei must work together in Season 2 to solve a new mystery.

Their search for the truth takes them on a global odyssey.

The production was shot in five countries over 93 days across eight months. In every location, the sense of place is a vital element of the story, each locale lending its own essence to the treasure hunt and reflecting how terroir affects not only the grapes but also the people.

As in Drops of God Season 1, the tension of family, relationships, and history comprises the heart of Season 2’s narrative, with the world of wine acting as a velvety and immersive metaphor for the notes of bliss and trauma threaded through Camille and Issei’s lives.

Season 2’s emotional investigations are deeper and darker, delving into buried memories and locked-away fears. As Alexandre Léger’s heirs pursue a treasure their father died without attaining, they risk losing everything they’ve already achieved.

For Camille, there is an unspoken paranoia that, as her father’s daughter, she will repeat the mistakes he made in life and love.

What neither ever understood is that Alexandre only succeeded with his wife Marianne’s support and adept skills at networking and diplomacy.

Camille risks not only a life with Thomas but their livelihood and future when she gives in to her obsession with the hunt.

The single-mindedness that drives her ambition also blinds her to the consequences.

Issei’s mother’s past with Alexandre was the linchpin to understanding the mother-son dynamic in Drops of Blood Season 1.

In Season 2, the opportunity to heal the chasm is there, but the palpable fear and distrust could be insurmountable.

Both Geffrier and Yamashita convey increasingly layered emotions as they actualize the most conflicted moments of their characters’ lives.

Supported by stellar performances from Tom Wozniczka, Makiko Watanabe, and Satoshi Nikaido, Camille and Issei’s key relationships mirror the intensity of their approach to the quest.

New additions to the series, Tornike Gogrichiani and Ia Shugliashvili, appear as a pivotal brother-sister pair whose own fraught relationship, seen in juxtaposition with Issei and Camille, lends a cautionary urgency to the need for them to find unity in their purpose.

Drops of God Season 2 is an ambitious new vintage, drawing on the same well of talent, vision, and heart that served Season 1 so well, but reaching for greater heights in understanding how the physical senses can open one’s mind and memories to heal and inspire.

Drops of God’s Executive Producer Klaus Zimmermann and Series’ Sommelier Seb Pradal Talk the Sensational Nature of Wine

Executive Producer Klaus Zimmermann’s production credits are a study in variety and genres.

From 2012’s The Transporter series to this past holiday season’s The Twelve Dates ‘Til Christmas, he’s made a career of producing highly entertaining, deeply moving stories drawn from all walks of life.

As the series’s sommelier consultant, Seb Pradal worked closely with the actors and the creative team to ensure authenticity in the wine-related scenes, as well as ensuring accuracy in the professional techniques portrayed.

Klaus, Drops of God is a bit of a departure from your previous projects, like The Transporter. How did you get involved with Drops of God?

KZ: I found out about the manga first. That was quite a big hit, not just in Japan, but worldwide. I was always intrigued by stories where emotion goes through taste, whether these are feature films like Ratatouille or Ang Lee’s Eat, Drink, Man, Woman.

I found in that story something where you could tell a family story, but through wine and through taste. I’m always drawn to very intimate, emotional drama.

Also, I did a lot of co-productions in my life, not just Transporter, and I’d never worked with Japan. That was also something that I was really curious about, to see how we could max out the European and the Japanese cultures into one story.

How did you navigate changing the manga’s protagonist, Shinzuku Kanzaki, from a Japanese man to Camille Leger, a French woman?

KZ: It was not easy. I think other people have tried before, but you needed to really take a step back to imagine how you could set up the show, not just to be in Japan, but open it up to another country.

That was the first step. That was very brave of the original writer Quoc Dang Tran.

The second step was to transform this man into a woman, and that came very, very late in the game. Sometimes, when you work on a show, obvious things come very late. It just jumped at us.

We said, “Wow, that would be even cooler because the wine world is a man’s world, so having a young woman in there would be even more dramatic.”

Seb, what do you think of the wine world being a man’s world?

SP: Oh, yeah, that’s a tricky question. I think, firstly, like in many other jobs now, a lot of women are embracing the vocation of sommelier, or wine maker, etc. In making wine, they have a different sensibility compared to men.

After watching the show, especially the second season, I hope we will have a lot more people coming to be sommeliers, to be wine makers, and especially women.

How do you think wine affects the personality or psychology of Camille and Issei?

KZ: This is one of the keys of the show, that we actually have wine be a trigger, like a starting point and a quest. The wine is so magical, so extraordinary, that it wakes up something in these characters, drives them to something.

Ultimately, it will change their life. This is what we tried to bring to the second season.

Have either of you had a wine that changed your life?

SP: Maybe 35 years ago, the first wine I tasted. It was not like the manga. I did not see butterflies and birds come into my mind, but it was quite a lightness.

It was amazing. It’s why I became a sommelier, why I’m so crazy about this world. I don’t remember the vintage, but I remember it was a Volnay from Burgundy, a Pinot Noir.

Stars Fleur Geffrier and Tomohisa Yamashita Share How Drops of God Changed Their Lives

From her breakout role starring in The Avener’s 2014 “Fade Out Lines” music video, Fleur Geffrier landed role after role in French productions before securing the role of Camille Léger on Drops of God.

Since filming Drops of God Season 1, Geffrier has starred in three French limited series for television and works regularly on short film projects.

Tomohisa Yamashita has enjoyed huge success in both acting and music, with TV and film credits dating back to 1999, and has been a J-POP sensation for 20 years, with six solo studio albums and shows selling out across the Pacific.

Before playing Issei Tomine on Drops of God, he recurred on the hit series Alice in Borderland (also adapted from a manga) and Tokyo Vice. He also starred in Japanese series Blue Code and The Honest Realtor, as well as appeared with Woody Harrelson in the 2022 film, The Man From Toronto.

What was your personal relationship with wine before making this show?

TY: For me, honestly speaking, I didn’t have any interest in wine before taking part in this show. But I took a 40-hour lesson in Japan.

After that, I moved to France, and then I met my wine teacher. He recommended that I go to this [particular] restaurant and have this fish and this white wine.

Those experiences blew my mind, so I fell in love with wine. I’ve learned how passionate the wine makers are. They talk about their passion, which also brought me into the wine world. [Now,] I can’t stop drinking wine. [laughs]

FG: I grew up in a family who owned restaurants in the southwest of France, so I was connected to wine since I was a little girl. My grandfather, he was a collector of wine. He had a big cellar with nice bottles. So it was a world that I really knew and loved. I felt happy and honored to be able to be a part of this show.

Did either of you read the manga series that the show is based on?

FG: I didn’t know about it before, really, so I discovered it.

TY: Drops of God is really really famous. It was a phenomenon in Japan, so of course, I’ve known about the manga’s existence. I actually bought a wine which is recommended by the manga.

FG: The thing you have to know is that the manga creators [Yuko and Shin Kibayashi], they tasted all the wines they talk about in the manga. That’s impressive. They are very big wine lovers.

FG: They went on set in Japan.

TY: Yes, yes, yes. In Season 1.

FG: They were very happy to be there.

TY: They gave me a lot of compliments.

FG: That’s cool.

TY: I’m based in Tokyo, so they invited me to dinner and served great wine. I really appreciated that, and they love the TV series.

FG: When I met them, I felt like a child. “I’m so happy to meet you.” I couldn’t say anything except ureshii. It means “happy” in Japanese. And that’s it.

With the multilingual aspect of the show, are either of you conversational in each other’s languages now?

TY: She is good at it.

FG: Chotto, chotto [translation: just a bit]

TY: Sugoi da! [translation: Amazing!]

FG: Arigato gozaimasu! [translation: Thank you very much!]

TY: She’s learning Japanese very fast!

FG: I love it! I love it!

Tomohisa, did you learn any French?

TY: “C’est bon.” [Translation: “It’s good.”]

FG: Of course.

TY: “Enchanté,” and “importer,” and “super!” [Translation: “Delighted,” and “imported,” and “fantastic!“]

FG: Super!

What is the most significant thing you take away from being a part of this production?

FG: So much love. And friends. It’s changed a lot of things in my career, so that’s a big thing for me.

TY: Oh, yes, this experience [has taken] me to a new world. When I was in Paris, [an elderly woman] pointed at me. “Hey, I know you! You’re the wine guy!” So, I was very happy. “Merci, madame!” That’s what I said.

Those kinds of things make me very, very happy: [that] regardless of generation, they watch this show.

Drops of God Season 2 premieres on Apple TV on January 21.

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