Guillaume de Tonquédec is an actor. Revealed in 2007 thanks to his role as Renaud Lepic in the France 2 TV series Do not do this, do not do thatin 2013 he received the César for best actor in a supporting role for the film First name. When we mention his name, we also think of the theater with no less than three Molières nominations.
This Wednesday, October 26, 2022, he is showing the film Griddle, the sequel Barbecue by Éric Lavaine, in which we met a group of friends gathered around Antoine for his 50th birthday.
franceinfo: This time, in Griddle, the group of friends meets around your character, Yves, in his family mansion in Brittany for a vacation. Are you happy to find Yves again?
Guillaume de Tonquedec: I was very happy, especially since we had so much fun on the first opus that we always said to Eric, between takes: “Listen, we absolutely have to make a sequel“. We said to ourselves that we had to find a title for him and I said to him: “after Barbecueit will necessarily be Griddle” and he kept his word, eight years later. The desire has never been lost, so I am very happy to find it.
The writing of the characters is really tailor-made. Your character, Yves and pure Breton, comes from a noble family. You were born Guillaume, Emmanuel, Marie de Quengo de Tonquédec, family of the Breton nobility. Your ancestors owned the Château de Tonquédec. In the movie, you own a mansion. How did you live, as a child, this family and cultural heritage?
That’s when I realized the power of a name. That is to say, I haven’t changed. My parents, whom I embrace, did not raise me to worship nobility or whatever. No way. It’s a normal and fairly classic education, with respect for others and everyone’s values.
What child were you then? Things didn’t go well at school, it took a while to find out that you had a sight problem. It really completely destabilized you, especially with regard to reading.
Very badly, because I was shy. I was going to my friends birthday party with my mom. I gave the gift and left with her. I was suddenly the shy one at the back of the class. I saw badly. I also had a teacher who picked me up by the ears when I made a mistake in spelling. Suddenly, I relearned everything in fourth and third grade thanks to a French teacher who brought a theater teacher to college. And that was the revelation.
“When I encountered the theatre, the shy child that I was revolted, woke up, blossomed, fulfilled myself. I said to myself: ‘This will be my life, this will be the theater .’ And suddenly, I relearned to read, to write and almost to speak.
Guillaume de Tonquedecat franceinfo
Has everything you’ve been able to do up to now help you have a little more self-confidence? It is sure that you are less shy!
It’s the journey of a lifetime, in fact. I find that I continue to struggle with this every day. Even when I receive a script, it’s both a joy, I’m going to open a Christmas present, someone offers me something, and it’s a pain because I know I’m going to have to read it. It’s very weird at 56, to say that. And yet, I say it, I claim it because it exists.
Exactly, you celebrated your 56th birthday a few days ago. There, we have a look at the fifties, on the passing of time. What is your view of this passing time?
The comedies that I like are those that touch. When the character of Lambert Wilson, in particular, at one point, gets angry because he is told: “You’re out of shape, you’re grumpy, you’re pissing us off, what’s going on?And he replies:But look around you, look at yourself. Me, my battery is almost finished. How many more do we have? Ten Christmases still in good shape?“He gets angry, but he says things that are pretty accurate. How long will life in shape last? What is life? It alludes to each person’s journey.
Me, to be 56 years old now, I am no longer in the ascending phase of my life where I discovered everything. I was just looking forward to eating words, playing with the greatest directors, the greatest partners, etc… Reading and playing the greatest authors. It’s already done in a way and I hope it will obviously continue, but yes, I measure the time that passes, I can finally turn around a little bit. So obviously, it creates emotions, but it’s going pretty well.
We’re talking about the family, of course, but also friends, friendship that dates, that lasts, that lasts, that does good. You don’t choose your family, but friends, it’s the family you choose. What friend are you?
I hope faithful, although I am quite busy. For me, a friend, you can not call him for a year, two years. With the friends who matter, we can find ourselves as on the first day when we call and see each other. On the other hand, it’s true that this headlong rush at work, from time to time, I put it on hold, more and more, precisely to spend some time either with family or with my friends.
“I lived my fame with curiosity and delight, to be honest.”
Guillaume de Tonquedecat franceinfo
Notoriety came to me in my forties. I was an impatient child, an impatient actor, I wanted to play right away with the biggest names, etc. And luckily for me, that didn’t happen to me right away. I really made my way through the theater for more than 20 years with one, two or three plays a year. I learned my craft patiently. You have to doubt your work and question it all the time.
The famous César, I got it on a Friday evening and I started filming on Monday. I arrived, I was applauded on the set, I said to myself: that’s it, it’s good, I arrived, I know how to play. On Monday, I picked myself up at the first scene and said to myself: put it back in your panties and work, honey! It takes humility, frankly it’s a path of humility.