“I like that this job can be a little magical, a little without rules”

Romain Duris is one of the most sought-after actors in French cinema. His first appearance was in the film Young danger by Cédric Klapisch in 1994 of which he became one of the favorite actors with seven films shot together. The director even made him a hero in the trilogy The Spanish inn (2002). Since then, the journey has allowed him to try everything and try his hand at comedy, horror, history, romance, drama and now fantasy.

Wednesday October 4, 2023, he is showing in the film: The Animal Kingdom by Thomas Cailley. A feature film which tells how a father and his son set out together on the path of life, with men and women who transform into animals and try to survive, to find their place.

franceinfo: The animal kingdom is a beautiful metaphor to emphasize the rejection of the other, on difference. Is difference definitely a strength?

Romain Duris: I’m sure. And through this film, I experienced it in a short time, over three, four months. The character I play was in the end much fuller, happier. I really felt it. Whereas at the beginning of the film, he is more worried and suspicious, because there is threat everywhere. So yes, with the difference, we are richer, that’s for sure.

This film ultimately relaunches the debate on humanity, on what we understand about human beings, on the place of animals, the place of life, the place of the other. Wasn’t that also the meaning of this film? What did you like about this scenario?

It’s clear. We talk about the difference. When I read the script, it shocked me because it came just after this period that we all went through, the Covid, the confinement. I was at home, I opened the script, I finished it, I said to myself: this is crazy! It’s as if Thomas Cailley allowed himself to imagine the extra step. We’ve all been through it. How did young people, especially between 10 and 20 years old, experience this transition? This scenario shows that, how nature could suddenly take back its rights. We were coming out of a moment when there were herds of wild boars wandering around in big cities and this film is the next step. And with the added paternal dimension, that of a father who tries to protect his son at the start and then who will grow up alongside him because his child will not be exactly how he expected. And in the end, his son will exist and emerge from his father’s control.

Could this child have been you? What did you dream of at your age?

I wasn’t sure of anything. I was more attracted to drawing, painting, music. I found it hard to have the nerve to think I might be filmed. I think I was an actor in spite of myself, because I always acted like an idiot, in fact! I don’t know if acting means acting like an idiot, but in any case, there’s a bit of a way of putting yourself on stage. I was open about lots of things.

At the same time, drawing is also what allows you to breathe. It continues between two shoots. It feels like you need it to fill up all the time.

To get some fresh air or to reconnect with a more concrete scale of life, it’s true, more solitary. Actor, we really fly away. Doing a series of shoots and everything, I don’t know if it’s very healthy because we’re going far away, I think. Geographically and internally.

“Drawing allows me to return to something more concrete, to be more me.”

Romain Duris

at franceinfo

Family ties are also at the heart of this film, between this father and this son. What do you keep from your parents?

Surely a freedom of thought, a freedom of being, joy. So, is it them or is it the place they left in the heart of the family? I was cheerful. I was lucky enough to experience joy quite early, I was called “joie de vivre” when I was little. It is a chance.

When we talk about you, we highlight your very animal side. Do you find your way there?

The most animal thing I could imagine would be instinct. And it’s true that a lot of things happen through instinct.

There are many directors who believed in you even before you believed in yourself. Did you realize today that you were indeed made for this? That you take more time to enjoy what we have passed on to you? I’m thinking of Patrice Chéreau, for example, who helped you a lot.

Every time I play, I think about what Patrice instilled in me. These are sensations, how do you experience each movement? With him, we did work in the theater. He taught me every day to renew the intention, the intention of the gesture, the intention of an emotion, of a word. It’s true that it penetrates me, so I use it every time. But I like, to leave the famous place for this instinct that we were talking about, that it never becomes a method. I like that this job can be a little magical, a little without rules. I have all this inside of me. But that’s why I wouldn’t be able to give lessons. Trying to convey the passion for the game, I find it very complicated. Sometimes it’s good that there are no words, that these remain very personal feelings for everyone.

You draw, you like to tell stories. What about writing then?

Writing is so broad. I wrote. I had times when I wrote intimate things…

“Writing is complicated, but I would like to direct, so I tell myself that at some point, either the story will come out of me, or I will read it, it will come through words.”

Romain Duris

at franceinfo

That was my question. When will your first achievement be?

The story has to be so obvious. It has to be a matter of life and death to make a film. If it has to come, it will come. I have hope.