Interview: Romain Duris

Romain Duris, born in Paris in 1974 and known for his brooding good looks, vibrant intelligence and versatility, is one of the most exciting young talents on the French acting scene

Romain Duris began his career, aged 18, working for independent auteurs such as Cédric Klapisch, Tony Gatlif and Olivier Dahan. His breakthough came in 2002 with the success of Klapisch’s ‘Pot Luck’ and he’s best known here as the artistic-leaning gangster in Jacques Audiard’s ‘The Beat That My Heart Skipped’. More recently, he’s branched out, playing the Edwardian sleuth in the big-budget ‘Arsène Lupin’ and now the rollicking young playwright in Laurent Tirard’s ‘Molière’. He’s a fan of Al Pacino, James Cagney and Matt Damon.

What attracted you to ‘Molière’?
As a period movie, it demanded a mastery of many small details. It was a very immersive role. It’s very interesting to learn the habits and manners of how people lived at that period, what the rules of that society were, to go back in time. And also, there’s the energy and spirit of Molière. His writing is very contemporary. You can find the kind of people he describes in our society today: the Tartuffe character or the Misanthrope – in politics especially! So it was fun for me to play it as if it were today.

How do you prepare for a role like that?
I had to prepare a lot. For me, I knew that the more details I could master the better. I used a coach to learn, for instance, how one should greet a king [he gives a funny, ludicrously low bow in the film]. And of course I read the plays. I also looked at images, paintings mostly, from the seventeenth century, to see how people looked, or how they walked on the street, or how they sat. I preferred that, and found it more useful than watching period movies.

I enjoyed your comic fencing scenes with Fabrice Luchini.
Yes, I enjoyed working with Fabrice very much. He has energy and patience and as an actor he is very pure and intense. I particularly like the way he can switch his mood so skillfully.

The role calls for a lot of comic turns and stunts, jumping through windows and so on…
I liked that a lot. It’s nice to incorporate these kind of jokes. You’re familiar with it in Britain. It’s like Monty Python.

How is it making movies in France at the moment?
It’s horrible. And I think it’s going to be more and more difficult with the new fucking politics… Forgive me! It’s tough right now for young filmmakers to get difficult projects made. It’s changing for the worse now, so we must take care of our cinema.

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