In contemporary cinema, who else agglomerates many thrifers? A word that smells of Ancient, myrrh and marble columns. Even Mademoiselle Adjani does not have a “museum”.
Member of this ultra-closed club of icons of the 7th art, which we dissect in every public appearance, he allows things to be said and done in the undulations of his legend, while continuing to dig into his artistic passage, with choices that are sometimes confusing. without mortgaging our love for it.
The latest, he confides them to us in a voice that softens the ears, in a quiet hotel room, without a stopwatch or an intrusive press officer.
In the wake of a star representation of Vertigo Marilyn at the Ramatuelle Festival where he recently recovered from Covid. The “Double I” show, where the two stars, Adjani/Monroe, offer themselves in a fragmented version through imaginary dialogue. The hypnotic evocation of an evocative “dead body” anchors it to the stage as it moves it in floating majesty, delivering: “I never took myself for my meditation!” No, in 2022, the star of Queen Margot still not leaving the breath of the world for a luxurious prison without air or love to cross. Meets on the side of a short stay on the peninsula that follows the path of the theater. Far from the mundane.
Can we say that it Vertigoit’s 50/50, Marilyn and you?
This is not a real paper. It was a change in both of our sensibilities. Olivier Steiner [auteur et concepteur du spectacle, ndlr] took quotes from interviews I’ve given over the years, reworked them for a dialogue about our similarities. With the watermark of his unconditional love for Marilyn since childhood, a protective person who must save his life. Me, I would not have dared to compare us … And then I remembered these reflections of Yves Montand on the shooting of All fire all flame (1982). Sometimes he freezes and exclaims in his southern accent: “But you remind me of Marilyn!” At the time, I thought it was a joke, because to me she was the epitome of a hot blonde. Now I understand that he is talking about a sensitivity … I had another indirect encounter with him during a session with the photographer Richard Avedon. He told me that he posed with another woman for the first time with Marilyn’s skin. I have other examples… The show comes as a psycho-magical act with all these past milestones!
When Brigitte Bardot said that quitting cinema saved her life, did you think the same as Marilyn?
No. Marilyn saved Norma Jeane’s life [le véritable prénom de Marilyn, ndlr]! By building this character that has gained incredible power in the world, the poor little redhead managed to heal, heal, an abused childhood. Woman abused, raped… For Boris Cyrulnik [neuropsychiatre et auteur, ndlr]it is the acme of strength.
Is the cinema his destiny in life?
Yes, and I doubt her “suicide” as a solitary act… I discovered that a few days after her death, on August 8, she would remarry Joe DiMaggio. He also planned a press conference with many revelations that would compromise people in very high places. starting with the Kennedy clan, the studios, the mafia, Sinatra… He decided to change his life, be happy, build his production house, get rid of his governess, a “spy” placed by his psychiatrist. and who, I think, was not “innocent” on the night of his death… He has become a political, even social threat and there is little time left to “neutralize” him. With his “help” of course, because he was in a state of great weakness and weakness…
Yourself, how do you preserve yourself?
Fortunately, here we do not live in a world of tyrannical studios (laughs).
This Saturday, you will finish the De Lacoste Festival organized by Pierre Cardin before returning The Vertigo Marilyn in Antibes in 2023. Does your fame allow Marilyn land dates?
There is the Goldoni Theater in Venice in October and we are in talks for the Anglo-Saxon countries, but there are always stages chosen to avoid the norm. We can only date a few, because this piece is like being visited by ghosts. And don’t wake the dead!
In October, you will be Diane de Poitiers for France 2. Fantastic story or baroque series?
Historically it can’t be faulted but, yes, there are elements of heroic fantasy in this two-part film by Josée Dayan. No dragons, but with the spirit of Game of Thrones which I really appreciate!
Gérard Depardieu, who plays Nostradamus, does he have visions about your future?
(laughter) Why not, Gérard has a mystical background! During the scenes where Diane goes to consult him for prophecies, we talk to each other through each other’s most mysterious aspects. For others, we have little time. The shooting of Josée Dayan was terrible. Everything was done in one or two takes. We were all there without a hitch! From JoeyStarr to Virginie Ledoyen, passing by Jean-François Balmer is simply breathtaking!
Are you satisfied with the career of Peter von Kant signed by Francois Ozon, except this summer?
I’m glad it did, but at a time when films were so weak, I wasn’t really worried about it. On the other hand, I have a friend who is a hairstylist who can’t stop using her cell phone, so I feed my Instagram account with several behind-the-scenes scenes. A spontaneity that is fun. I myself am a big customer of this on other people’s accounts.
And tattoos, where we know Pascal Bishop (read elsewhere) or your much-loved younger son?
Don’t tell me about this…I will cry…I accept my son’s [Gabriel-Kane, fruit de son union avec l’acteur Daniel-Day Lewis, qui vit aux États-Unis, ndlr] like a resigned mother, but this generational enthusiasm that also affects people under twenty years old drives me to despair and angers me … Is it linked to a transgenerational background of rejection? But, to my knowledge, I have never had a family that has been deported… Unfortunately, I associate it. Without moral judgement, the skin for me is an organ and this ink placed under the skin pollutes the organism. The skin also reflects the light of a being. The confusion of this confuses me. Another time, I saw a man who had tattooed the whites of his eyes. I cried!
Is living in Portugal still a panacea?
Above all, it is the possibility to live peacefully in a place where people have a gentle way of living and behaving like thirty years ago. Paris is for work. What happened in this city is a mystery… It is truly uninhabitable.
How is the rest of your summer going?
I’m going back to Portugal, then I’ll be at the Biarritz TV Festival, a bit like Mipcom in Cannes, at the beginning of September for Diana of Poitiers. This film deserves to be supported and travel around the world because it has all the qualities for a career in the international market.
> The Vertigo Marilynon January 4 and 5, 2023 at the Anthéa Theater in Antibes.