Posted yesterday at 6:00 a.m.
When his agent informed him of the film adaptation project of white dog, Denis Ménochet was particularly incredulous. ” Why me ? Yet I have nothing of Romain Gary! he exclaimed. It was however enough of a meeting on Zoom with Anaïs Barbeau-Lavalette to convince him.
“As soon as I saw her, that I spoke to her, I knew that I was going to say yes”, explains the actor during an interview granted to The Press a little earlier this week, thanks to his visit to Montreal. “Beyond the political context, there is above all this love story between Jean Seberg and Romain Gary, a bit as if this racist dog also became the symbol of a love to be rekindled and saved. »
The Quebec filmmaker, particularly impressed by the performance of Denis Ménochet in Up to the hilt (Xavier Legrand), very quickly thought of the actor to play Romain Gary. In his eyes, his charisma and his very skin-deep personality matched the character perfectly. “Denis is very porous to the rest of humanity, underlines Anaïs Barbeau-Lavalette. Right from the start, he told me he was really impressed by the character and that, not being a great intellectual himself, he felt like an impostor. It turns out that Romain Gary has repeated all his life to feel like an impostor too. I found it beautiful that they come together in this feeling! »
like a sphinx
However, nothing was easy. Not only because of the complexity of the role, but also because the very strict health rules introduced during the pandemic have complicated things. Arriving in Canada ahead of filming, Denis Ménochet had to isolate himself completely for 16 days, then developing a real obsession with his role.
PHOTO ALAIN ROBERGE, THE PRESS
Denis Menochet
I have become completely insane. There were pictures of Romain Gary all over the apartment. I listened to interviews from morning to evening. In fact, this character remains a mystery to me, even today.
Denis Menochet, actor
“He had so many different faces, different ways of behaving and writing too, that he made me feel like a sphinx,” he adds. He had a very strong public personality, but we didn’t really know who he was in private. Everything was staged, controlled. And then, Anaïs had rented the apartment next door so that we could at least talk to each other from one balcony to another and rehearse! »
A childhood in the sun
This ability that Denis Ménochet has to be “porous to humanity” (to use the expression of the filmmaker), this openness to others, is hardly surprising on the part of a man who lived his childhood in different countries, thanks to the travels of an engineer father.
“It’s a real wealth,” says the man who had to learn very quickly to adapt to different situations before returning to France for good at the age of 12. “I grew up mainly in Sharjah, a suburb of Dubai. This is where all the smells of childhood are for me. I still have today the impression that I was torn from this slice of life, that I was torn from the sun. We were there in the late 1970s, early 1980s. Now it’s become Las Vegas, everything’s gone. »
The desire to play was accentuated the day he had the opportunity to do an internship in a British theater school. Over the course of the meetings, everything went smoothly, from performances in short films to failed auditions for more ambitious productions, Da Vinci Code notably. However, it turns out that, rather than discouraging him, the failures have fueled his conviction. When he presented himself in front of Quentin Tarantino for the role of the farmer in Inglourious BasterdsDenis Ménochet swore not to let himself be overwhelmed by this fear which, a few years earlier, had made him waver in front of Ron Howard so much his knee was shaking…
As I love Tarantino’s cinema, I then told myself that I would approach this essay with pleasure, without shaking my paws, no matter what was going to happen next. And it was Quentin himself who gave me the reply by playing the role of the Nazi soldier that Christoph Waltz played.
Denis Menochet, actor
“Three weeks later, I was hired! Like what, all failures are a lesson that leads you to something else, ”he adds.
A pivotal moment
This scene at the start ofInglourious Basterds was so striking that it was of course a game-changer. Among all the other proposals that came up afterwards, including several farmer characters (“I could have made a festival out of it!”, he says), the actor chose those from filmmakers who knew how to see beyond the obvious. .
“I have the impression of being more and more free between “Action!” and “Cut!”, to really exist, he confides. The instinct of the moment, this kind of muscle that develops, thanks to the fact that I made mistakes, got up, did shit, to finally arrive at these moments of freedom where I don’t feel judged. Even today, I am not sure of anything, but I know that the moment when I feel the most alive is while playing. »
Winner of the Best Actor award at the Tokyo International Film Festival thanks to his performance in As bestas (Rodrigo Sorogoyen), attributed last Monday, Denis Ménochet shot in Disappointment Blvd.new long-awaited feature film by Ari Aster (Hereditary, Midsommar), headlined by Joaquin Phoenix and Patti LuPone. “I am bound to secrecy, but I can tell you that it will be funny! “says the actor.
To afford a visit to Montreal, Denis Ménochet also had to leave the set of Mister Spade, a series by Scott Frank inspired by the novels by Dashiell Hammett, currently being filmed in the south of France. Highly solicited, he nevertheless constantly questions himself.
“Doubt still haunts me. He terrifies me, but he is also a driving force. Doubt sleeps with me and looks at me laughing. We are there! »
white dog hits theaters November 9.
The Cinemania French-language film festival takes place from November 2 to 13, 2022. The film white dogby Anaïs Barbeau-Lavalette, opened the 28e editing.
The other films of Denis Ménochet at Cinemania
As bestas
This powerful psychological thriller, launched at the Cannes Film Festival in the Cannes Première section, has just won the awards for best film, best director and best actor at the Tokyo International Film Festival. “Rodrigo Sorogoyen is an absolute virtuoso,” says Denis Ménochet. Already, on reading, I found the screenplay brilliant, especially since it was inspired by a real news story, which has obviously been reworked for dramatic purposes. I don’t speak Spanish, but I learned. Rodrigo convinced me that I could do it. I like that there is nothing black or white in this story. I’m very proud of it. »
peter von kant
A great admirer of Rainer Werner Fassbinder, François Ozon offers a new vision of the piece The bitter tears of Petra von Kant reversing the genders. In this feature film which opened the Berlin festival last winter, Denis Ménochet embodies the title character. “It’s the third time I’ve toured with François,” he says. It was a joy to shoot this film behind closed doors. It was a beautiful playground. In this role of Peter von Kant there were all the notes to play. It’s great to be able to let go completely like that! »
The survivors
PHOTO PIERRE MAILLIS LAVAL, PROVIDED BY AD VITAM
Denis Ménochet and Zar Amir Ebrahimi in The survivorsa film by Guillaume Renusson
In this first feature film by Guillaume Renusson, Denis Ménochet embodies a man who, while isolating himself in his chalet in the heart of the Italian Alps, discovers an Afghan refugee wishing to reach France, played by the Franco-Iranian actress Zar Amir Ebrahimi. “I’m very proud of this first film because it mixes genres without being linear,” he says. I find it very powerful. At the Angoulême festival, people came out completely overwhelmed by the screening. What is shown of brutality at the border is even below reality. The treatment of refugees is mind-boggling and shameful. »