Verfasst: 19.09.2001, 17:36
Jean Reno by Natalie Portman - October 2001 Interview Magazine
NATALIE PORTMAN: Jean!
JEAN RENO: Natalie! [both laugh] How are you?
NP: I'm good. How are you?
JR: I'm proud of you!
NP: I'm proud of you! [laughs]
JR: Long time no see.
NP: I know. It's been eight years.
JR: You were 11 and a half.
NP: I know. And you have two new kids now, don't you?
JR: Yeah, exactly.
NP: Congratulations.
JR: Thank you. How are your parents?
NP: They're good. My dad, still, any time he sees grappa on a menu, he talks about you. [both laugh] Where are you?
JR: I'm on vacation in the south of France with the kids. I've been working in Japan, and I'm taking some vacation now.
NP: What have you been doing in Japan?
JR: A light comedy [Wasabe] produced by Luc Besson. It was an idea I had, about somebody who as a daughter in Japan. And soon I'm going to be doing a movie [Decalege Horaire] with Juliette Binoche, [starting on] October 15. And you?
NP: I'm doing a play right now [The Seagull], in Central Park. Actually it's with Kevin [Kline].
JR: Oh, OK. Say hello to him.
NP: So, this is Interview's special Paris issue. How does it feel to be one of a handful of French actors working in the United States?
JR: I'm happy. I'm very happy and proud. I feel like a bridge. I can speak with both sides -- French and American.
NP: How do you balance all the projects that you do? You've been in these huge American blockbusters: Mission: Impossible [1996] and Godzilla [1998], and of course you still do French movies, and you also do more artistic work in the States: For Roseanna[1997], and movies like that.
JR: I follow my instincts. I say no to projects if I don't feel a connection to them. I read the script, and if I feel like being part of that film, big or small, I say yes.
NP: What made you want to be an actor, seeing American films? Or was it French films that inspired you?
JR: Both. But the reason why you become an actor is very private. It's very much inside you, and when you start, you don't even know why. It is in being an actor that you understand why you are an actor, and why you want to be somebody else time and time again.
NP: Why?
JR: Maybe because you think that you need to be loved by people. Maybe it is not enough to be loved by yourself; you need more life. I don't know. I think that, and I also think that I am inside the character so, i fact, it is looking for yourself, searching for yourself.
NP: Your acting style seems to be, if anything, so natural and understated and simple. Did you work on it?
JR: All the time. Anything that happens to your life, anything you see--strange people with strange clothes, anything--can be utilized.
NP: You started out in theater, didn't you? I feel like people who start out in theater really end up being more over-dramatic than under-dramatic, which I feel you are; you're really so understated. How did that happen?
JR: Don't classify. Some people can be very good in theater and not very good in cinema, and the opposite is also true. Don't classify--you're an actress, that's all. Sometimes you do stage, sometimes you do film. And you give what you think you have to give, no matter where you get it from. Of course onstage you need [greater] physical capacity, but that's different.
NP: I saw the Vanity Fair article where they called you "the Rascal." Are you a rascal?
JR: No, I'm more of a camel.
NP: Why?
JR: Because it's a very hard animal, and he can walk a long, long distance without water. And he's got big eyes, a big mouth. [Portman laughs] And he has large feet. [both laugh] And sometimes he can carry somebody on his back.
NP: Who do you carry on your back?
JR: My family.
NP: I know you have older children, but now that you have young children again, do you feel any responsibility about making violent films? Has it changed the kind of films that you choose to make?
JR: Yeah, when there is too much violence, and it doesn't stand for anything, I don't like that.
NP: I remember when we were in France you were just the biggest movie star in the world over there. Is it different walking down the street in America? Do you have more anonymity?
JR: The approach of the audience is different. In France they laugh, and pass you by. In America they introduce themselves, and they say, "I like your work." It's one human being to another human being, more so than in France.
NP: Do you live in the States sometimes?
JR: Yeah. Part of the time. I'm between L.A., the south of France and Paris.
NP: And what do you thnk of L.A.?
JR: It's a perfect place to work. [laughs]
NP: And when you're not working?
JR: When you're not working, it's not easy to stay [there]. I prefer to go to the sea and take a holiday, take a boat, things like that.
NP: So what American pop culture do you like?
JR: I like country music. Garth Brooks.
NP: No way! Is he popular in France?
JR: A little bit. He is fantastic. He shows that in America it is possible to do anything you want. You have all the possibilities. If you have an idea, it is possible to make the idea come alive. More than it is possible in France.
NP: Why?
JR: Because in France there are many rules. The government--they like to control everything. Politics, you know? But I don't talk French politics. I like being an actor.
NP: So you stay out of politics?
JR: Yeah, I am an actor. Dreams and scripts and people and ideas and art. What more could you want?
(Quelle: Interview Magazine 10/2001; http://community-2.webtv.net/MajaRoger/ ... byNatalie/ von Twig, gefunden bei http://natalieportman.com/)
--
Aleph
NATALIE PORTMAN: Jean!
JEAN RENO: Natalie! [both laugh] How are you?
NP: I'm good. How are you?
JR: I'm proud of you!
NP: I'm proud of you! [laughs]
JR: Long time no see.
NP: I know. It's been eight years.
JR: You were 11 and a half.
NP: I know. And you have two new kids now, don't you?
JR: Yeah, exactly.
NP: Congratulations.
JR: Thank you. How are your parents?
NP: They're good. My dad, still, any time he sees grappa on a menu, he talks about you. [both laugh] Where are you?
JR: I'm on vacation in the south of France with the kids. I've been working in Japan, and I'm taking some vacation now.
NP: What have you been doing in Japan?
JR: A light comedy [Wasabe] produced by Luc Besson. It was an idea I had, about somebody who as a daughter in Japan. And soon I'm going to be doing a movie [Decalege Horaire] with Juliette Binoche, [starting on] October 15. And you?
NP: I'm doing a play right now [The Seagull], in Central Park. Actually it's with Kevin [Kline].
JR: Oh, OK. Say hello to him.
NP: So, this is Interview's special Paris issue. How does it feel to be one of a handful of French actors working in the United States?
JR: I'm happy. I'm very happy and proud. I feel like a bridge. I can speak with both sides -- French and American.
NP: How do you balance all the projects that you do? You've been in these huge American blockbusters: Mission: Impossible [1996] and Godzilla [1998], and of course you still do French movies, and you also do more artistic work in the States: For Roseanna[1997], and movies like that.
JR: I follow my instincts. I say no to projects if I don't feel a connection to them. I read the script, and if I feel like being part of that film, big or small, I say yes.
NP: What made you want to be an actor, seeing American films? Or was it French films that inspired you?
JR: Both. But the reason why you become an actor is very private. It's very much inside you, and when you start, you don't even know why. It is in being an actor that you understand why you are an actor, and why you want to be somebody else time and time again.
NP: Why?
JR: Maybe because you think that you need to be loved by people. Maybe it is not enough to be loved by yourself; you need more life. I don't know. I think that, and I also think that I am inside the character so, i fact, it is looking for yourself, searching for yourself.
NP: Your acting style seems to be, if anything, so natural and understated and simple. Did you work on it?
JR: All the time. Anything that happens to your life, anything you see--strange people with strange clothes, anything--can be utilized.
NP: You started out in theater, didn't you? I feel like people who start out in theater really end up being more over-dramatic than under-dramatic, which I feel you are; you're really so understated. How did that happen?
JR: Don't classify. Some people can be very good in theater and not very good in cinema, and the opposite is also true. Don't classify--you're an actress, that's all. Sometimes you do stage, sometimes you do film. And you give what you think you have to give, no matter where you get it from. Of course onstage you need [greater] physical capacity, but that's different.
NP: I saw the Vanity Fair article where they called you "the Rascal." Are you a rascal?
JR: No, I'm more of a camel.
NP: Why?
JR: Because it's a very hard animal, and he can walk a long, long distance without water. And he's got big eyes, a big mouth. [Portman laughs] And he has large feet. [both laugh] And sometimes he can carry somebody on his back.
NP: Who do you carry on your back?
JR: My family.
NP: I know you have older children, but now that you have young children again, do you feel any responsibility about making violent films? Has it changed the kind of films that you choose to make?
JR: Yeah, when there is too much violence, and it doesn't stand for anything, I don't like that.
NP: I remember when we were in France you were just the biggest movie star in the world over there. Is it different walking down the street in America? Do you have more anonymity?
JR: The approach of the audience is different. In France they laugh, and pass you by. In America they introduce themselves, and they say, "I like your work." It's one human being to another human being, more so than in France.
NP: Do you live in the States sometimes?
JR: Yeah. Part of the time. I'm between L.A., the south of France and Paris.
NP: And what do you thnk of L.A.?
JR: It's a perfect place to work. [laughs]
NP: And when you're not working?
JR: When you're not working, it's not easy to stay [there]. I prefer to go to the sea and take a holiday, take a boat, things like that.
NP: So what American pop culture do you like?
JR: I like country music. Garth Brooks.
NP: No way! Is he popular in France?
JR: A little bit. He is fantastic. He shows that in America it is possible to do anything you want. You have all the possibilities. If you have an idea, it is possible to make the idea come alive. More than it is possible in France.
NP: Why?
JR: Because in France there are many rules. The government--they like to control everything. Politics, you know? But I don't talk French politics. I like being an actor.
NP: So you stay out of politics?
JR: Yeah, I am an actor. Dreams and scripts and people and ideas and art. What more could you want?
(Quelle: Interview Magazine 10/2001; http://community-2.webtv.net/MajaRoger/ ... byNatalie/ von Twig, gefunden bei http://natalieportman.com/)
--
Aleph
