GUILLAUMECANET

MARIONCOTILLARD

A FILM BYGUILLAUME CANET

LES PRODUCTIONS DU TRÉSORPRESENT

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GUILLAUMECANET

MARIONCOTILLARD

LES PRODUCTIONS DU TRÉSORPRESENT

A FILM BYGUILLAUME CANET

RUNTIME: 123’

For Guillaume Canet, 43, life is as good as it gets. He has everything a man could want. Then, on set of a movie he is shooting, his beautiful, 20-year-old co-star stops him in his tracks by informing him that he is no longer "rock’n’roll." In fact, he never really was. The killer blow comes later when she adds that he has fallen way down the list of "bangable" actors. Guillaume’s homebody lifestyle with Marion, their son, his horses and the house in the country give him a drippy, totally unsexy image. Guillaume realizes radical changes must be made, and now. His friends and family can only watch in dismay as Guillaume’s makeover goes much further than anyone ever imagined.

SYNOPSIS

TO AVOID SPOILING AUDIENCES’ ENJOYMENT,

PLEASE REFRAIN FROM REVEALING EVENTS IN THE SECOND HALF OF THE FILM

Where did the idea for the film come from?A few years ago, I already had in mind a project for a film about celebrity and the public’s view of famous people—a kind of mockumentary about a celebrity whose real life was light years from people’s fantasized version of it. We’d followed the guy, who knew he was being filmed and would occasionally ask the crew to put down the camera. We’d pretend to do so, and the guy would start going off, like, Don’t believe everything people tell you, don’t see only what you want to see. There are thousands of things behind that, not necessarily better, maybe even worse, but definitely not what you think.I’d already written quite a few scenes when I’M STILL HERE, Casey Affleck’s film starring Joaquin Phoenix came out. It was the exact same mockumentary that I wanted to make, so I dropped the idea.

What made you revisit the theme?Two years ago, during an interview, a journalist started talking about me in terms that I simply couldn’t fathom. It’s the image that you give people, she insisted. The desire to play on my image returned. I dreamed up a tiny film in which I’d play myself, showing me as I’m not, and letting people think it was the real me. I called my two buddies-in-crime, Philippe Lefebvre, who cowrote MY IDOL and TELL NO ONE with me, and Rodolphe Lauga, a cameraman who has worked on almost all my films and with whom I get on really well. And we got to work...

ROCK’N ROLL is not much like the project you describe...I wanted it to be a comedy with depth, that captures for instance the excessive, absolute ageism that runs the world today. I have trouble, for example, dealing with the fact that, especially in the USA, women aged sixty or seventy don’t have a single wrinkle. Or with men getting botox

INTERVIEW GUILLAUME CANET

injections, dying their hair and making constant visits to the tanning salon because they can’t cope with aging. That led to the idea of a film about a guy who, having reached forty, realizes he’s gotten old. In his own eyes, he is no longer "rock’n’roll." That’s what I wanted to talk about, and it’s even more interesting because he’s a guy.

In the film, you don’t cut yourself much slack. Marion Cotillard, likewise.Sometimes, Marion and I have a public image that really isn’t us. She has the image of a sweet, kind woman, which she definitely is, but people would be surprised to discover that she lives life to the full, puts her foot down when she wants, and can be a real bigmouth. I can’t ever thank her enough for being prepared to laugh at herself, because this project wouldn’t exists without her. As far as I’m concerned, I have very little regard for the image people have of me. On the other hand, I am concerned with protecting my private life. Being famous does not mean revealing every aspect of yourself. You must be able to keep some things out of the public eye. Especially since, for an actor, preserving an element of mystery is crucial. It allows you to resist being categorized. With this film, I wanted to say, You want to see me from the inside? Alright, I’ll show you. I’ll show you everything—my mother, me in bed with Marion, going all the way so it’s a treat for everyone. I wanted to play around with our image and fame—pretend to open our door and, if we’re gonna hear stupid stuff about us, why not make it up? Quite naturally, this supposed documentary about our life reverts to fiction.

How does one write such an offbeat screenplay?Without holding back. Philippe Lefebvre, Rodolphe Lauga and I really let go. As easy as it was for me to laugh at myself—and I really beat up on myself—it turned out to be more complicated when the guys came up with some fairly unflattering ideas. I got used to it, enjoyed it even. The three of us would meet up every morning to toss out ideas, then I’d write the scenes in the afternoon for them to bounce back at me next day. The structure of the screenplay and the trajectory of this guy who wants to be rock’n’roll, even though he never was, fell into place pretty fast. With the thread of confinement—how do celebrities spontaneously wind up locking themselves into a particular image? It was very important for me that the movie within the movie should be shot in studio: the hero needed to be confined, and to shake off the feeling of being locked in, with a scene on location, only when he starts to feel better.

You twist the knife, with your character’s, Guillaume’s, musical tastes, which are anything but rock’n’roll.I deliberately tried to amp up the corniness, although that doesn’t change the fact that personally I love Demis Roussos and Aphrodite’s Child. My friends often rip into me about that.

There are some hilarious moments in the movie—you being called "Mister Cotillard" at the market; you and your partner’s home being full of chiming cuckoo clocks; Marion Cotillard practicing her Quebec dialect...It was fun to take everyday events and subvert them. Everybody gets that the cuckoo clocks are a metaphor for the passing of time freaking out my character. Marion’s accent was about payback. In nine years living together, I’ve endured some pretty surreal situations when she immerses herself totally in a character. When we were writing, she was prepping for the Xavier Dolan movie, and it was funny to imagine her working on the accent. Marion often plays complex characters, and she’s a real hard worker. It was funny to have her say that a role should involve a disability or accent. Once again, we’re making fun of ourselves. At the same time, many aspects of the film are genuine—my musical tastes, Marion’s passion for organic. Anybody who knows us a little, and knows of Marion’s friendship with Pierre Rabhi, will not be surprised to see a vegetable garden in the middle of the living room.

The character’s work in the studio, and his anxieties about the role he is playing, allow you to paint an offbeat portrait of the movie industry—the bumbling assistant, the intern constantly being asked to get coffees...I wanted to show him in his professional environment, without making it a movie for film industry insiders. Everything goes wrong for him suddenly when his co-star innocently comments that he’s not very rock’n’roll. That throws him for a loop, and he becomes obsessed with undermining everything that contributed to the image people have of him. Obviously, that includes his work.

It’s a banal remark, but enough to make him lose his grip on things...Language matters. Each word is important. You can destroy someone with one word. By telling him he’s not rock’n’roll, Camille sows an insidious idea in his mind. She rams it home later when she says he’s too old to play romcom leads. Every actor knows that the passing of time means they can no longer play certain roles. He can’t handle

the fact, and realizes too late that the character he has agreed to play will bury him. He says to himself, Okay, I’ll play this family man, but I’m gonna try and make him more rock’n’roll.

Why bring in Johnny Hallyday?We thought that if we were going to shatter an image, why not send him to see the king of rock in France? Johnny Hallyday would explain to him that being rock’n’roll is over, and smashing up a hotel room is totally corny. Completely disillusioned, the character realizes that his quest is in vain—there’s no point being rock’n’roll. That’s when he realizes that the root of the problem lies elsewhere, starting with his age. Johnny and I had met a few times, but we barely knew each other. It was awesome that he agreed to play the part, which also involves making fun of himself. And he genuinely is rock’n’roll.

How do you cast a comedy that is partly autobiographic?The go-to people were clearly those who knew me best, both personally and professionally. My agent, Marion, my friends... Even my former assistant, with whom I worked for eight years and who is a real character, is in the movie. There’s only my son who isn’t my real son. Obviously, I didn’t want to get him mixed up in all this.

Alain Attal, the film’s producer, and Yvan Attal, the actor and director, are not related. How did it occur to you to have them play brothers who are business partners?I couldn’t convince Alain to be in the film. He turned me down flat. And I couldn’t find an unknown actor to play the producer. One day, I found out that Yvan Attal wanted to be in ROCK’N ROLL. I didn’t have a role for him. As soon as I put the phone down after calling to tell him, I had a brainwave—if I could get Yvan to say Alain’s most important lines, maybe I could convince Alain to be in the movie. And it worked.

How did you choose Camille Rowe, who isn’t part of your inner circle?I was looking for a young actress who hadn’t been seen in many films. I wanted her character, who is the catalyst for everything, to be a real find, and for her to stand out from the family feel that dominates the rest of the casting. I also needed an actress who could convince as the goody two-shoes on set and then, at night, with makeup on and hair done, as an attractive woman who likes to party.

When Guillaume goes to see the plastic surgeon, the comedy becomes darker...One night, I was freaked out by a dream, in which I woke up with botoxed lips. Next day, I said to the guys, His problem is not that he isn’t rock’n’roll, it’s the fear of aging. He’s gonna get botox treatments. That keyed right into the movie’s theme and this obsession that some people have to control the image they put out. There are a lot of mirrors in my movie: I wanted the audience to see people repeatedly looking at themselves, and taking selfies. A slight tweak, a quick fix, easily becomes an addiction.

An addiction that makes him feel good again?Yes, he feels reborn. He’s young again and back in the game! It’s pathetic, but he is also touching. It’s awful to think that this guy could take this so far. And awful to see that his partner will go through the same thing as him after she loses out on a role to a younger actress. I like the idea of them falling for each other again. They reconnect.

You mentioned a desire to make a small movie. Does ROCK’N ROLL fit into that category?I started out by saying to Alain Attal, You’ll see, just one location. We either see him at home or on set, and that’s it. Then we started coming up with ideas for special effects, the ending in Miami with the crocodiles, and the film moved into another dimension. Suddenly, the writing demanded it.

After MY IDOL, it’s the second time you act in a movie you direct. How easy is it to combine acting and directing?You need to forget you’re the director. The advantage for me is that I prepare way ahead. Before shooting, I’ve broken the film down in my mind. When I’m writing, I very precisely visualize every scene. I know how I’m going to shoot it, the blocking, camera angles. I arrived on set in the morning with the day’s shots laid out in detail. Thanks to that, I could focus on my actors. Being one of the cast is an advantage because you get to set the tempo, even if it occasionally feels kind of schizophrenic to act with scene partners while keeping gone eye on the bigger picture. The hardest thing was the three hours of makeup early every morning, which kept me away from my crew. I was desperate to get out of that chair.

How do you achieve a documentary vibe when you’re making fiction?I set out to shoot this movie like a docudrama. I insisted on the whole first part being shot handheld. We follow Guillaume and Marion, we’re right there with them. As we enter their private life, the simplicity of the camerawork gives way to moments of fantasy, like the Céline Dion dream sequence, or more polished images, shot with a steadicam or dolly. By the end, we have totally abandoned the pared-down style used at the beginning. The mood is different—there’s a lot of light. It’s all much more squared-off. And we finish with a crane shot.

Did you have particular references in mind?When I was writing, I couldn’t help thinking of Michel Blanc’s GROSSE FATIGUE, obviously. That’s also about image, and poking fun at yourself. There are many films along those lines, but above all I wanted to tell my story. If there’s a parallel to be made, it would be with my first feature, MY IDOL. I wanted to achieve the same offbeat tone. Kind of wacky comedy, but credible and genuine.

What’s your process?I always work with the same crew, who’ve been with me since my early shorts. My DP, Christophe Offenstein, and I are like brothers. All these folks know me really well. They know that I demand as much of myself as I do of them, and they’re very tolerant of my demands. On ROCK’N ROLL, I was lucky enough to have the location for a week before we started shooting, so I could rehearse certain scenes with Marion and define certain angles with Christophe Offenstein and Rodolphe Lauga, the camera operator.

This is the second movie of yours scored by Yodelice, more orchestral this time, less incidental.I wanted the music to key into the character’s mental unraveling, and for it to be very destructured, very psychological, playing on dissonance. From beginning to end, the same short theme—discordant initially, with dissonant instruments, such as accordion and piano, then gradually coming together as the character feels he has found his truth. Yodelice’s music accompanies that trajectory perfectly. I love working with him; he is so talented, and we share the same musical sensibilities, I think. Frequently, the music is an extra character in the movie. I need to have complete faith in a composer, with whom I’ll be very open if I have any doubts. With Maxim, that connection is immediate.

ROCK’N ROLL is an extremely audacious movie. Did anyone try to dissuade you from making it? Of course, but then plenty of people were very excited about the idea. For over a year, I went through a period of doubt, when I lost all desire to direct. I stopped working, started horse-riding and competing again, and I had an amazing time. That year helped me realize that, if I was no longer lucky enough to act and direct, I’d most likely be unhappy because my work really fulfills me, but I could go on living. Then I said to myself, I’ve shot over forty-five movies as an actor; I’ve made four, all very different, as a director. If I’m going to shoot another movie, let it be with total liberty and the greatest possible insouciance. Let’s take risks, let’s do something even more different. That’s what I did. And by doing so, I rediscovered a pleasure I had lost.

What was your reaction when you found out what the film was about?I thought it was a very inspiring idea. Even in the earliest drafts of the script, I could see there was scope for genuinely funny scenes, while exploring the image issue.

Which naturally concerns you...Of course. There’s always a disparity between the person you are, the image you project in the media—or would like to project—and the image people have of you. That disparity is exacerbated by the fact that a single word or sentence is enough to twist reality and widen the gaps between fantasy, myth and truth.

In the movie, a mundane interview triggers a tsunami...I loved the image of this tiny seed sown in someone’s brain resulting in such a complete makeover. It shows how deeply you can be affected by the way other people see you. Around

forty, an age that lends itself to doubts and questions, it’s even worse. Unless you really work on understanding who you are deep down, it’s so easy to lose your way.

Did you feel any apprehension about you both appearing as yourselves in a movie that plays on the codes of celebrity?Not for a second. For two reasons: the comedic tone, and the absolute faith I have in Guillaume. I knew he would respect us, as individuals, and succeed in combining lighthearted and deeper moments. ROCK’N ROLL is a mix of things that belong to us, but tiny things are blown out of proportion, everything is there to be mocked, so there was no reason to be apprehensive.

The Marion Cotillard in the movie declares that a good role necessitates a disability or an accent. The film doesn’t go easy on you.Obviously, it caricatures the idea some people may have of how I choose my roles. It’s Guillaume

INTERVIEW MARION COTILLARD

getting payback for all the times he’s seen and heard me working on different accents. The first time he mentioned the project, I thought, At last! A French movie where I won’t have to spend hours with a coach working on an accent. A second later, I saw the smile on his face, and then I read an early draft of the script. I thought it was so funny that I was happy to start work with a dialect coach all over again.

He raised the bar, though.Yes, because the Quebec dialect is far more than an accent. It’s almost like learning a new language. Starting out, I hardly understood my own lines. I had to work on comprehending the dialogue before I tackled the accent. The pressure on me was doubled in fact because besides Guillaume there was Xavier Dolan, whom Guillaume had asked to help in honing the first draft of my lines into real Quebec French. I reassured myself with the thought that I wasn’t actually playing a real Quebecer, but myself working on a character.

You sound like the perfectionist that the film teases...I know my accent isn’t perfect. Some O’s are not A enough, and some A’s are not O enough. I was keen to redo some things in postproduction, but Guillaume refused point-blank. It’s all just fine, he kept saying. I had to swallow my frustrations.

How do you play yourself while taking a step back from yourself?The difficulty was attenuated by the confounded accent that I keep pretty deep into the movie. It immediately creates distance and plunges the audience into comedy. Simply by working on it, I become an actor immersing herself in her character. So much so, in fact, that it becomes like an infinity mirror. It was exhilarating. The Marion Cotillard in the movie is way more out of whack than I am when I’m prepping for a movie.

We sense that you and Guillaume and you really enjoyed that story-within-a-story infinity mirror effect.A lot of scenes are based on reality, but pushed to its extreme limit. Immersing yourself in a role sometimes leads to curious behavior—depending on what it requires, it can result in some intense moments. I can still see Guillaume’s face when I told him I’d landed the part of Lady Macbeth in Justin Kurzel’s movie. And mine when he said Cédric Anger had cast him as a serial killer.

The vegetable plot in the living room is irresistibly funny. What’s the level of reality and exaggeration there?I really do have a vegetable plot at home in Paris. But it’s on the balcony. Being able to go pick snap beans or tomatoes with my son is deeply thrilling for me. Once again, we’re pushing the envelope, but there’s a kernel of truth.

And the dream sequence when you perform a Céline Dion number?My character has delved so deep into her part that she becomes the ultimate Quebec woman—her exploration of Quebec has taken her so far, she can play anyone from the province! I spent many weeks observing Céline Dion’s performing style to capture the essence of her energy. It was exhilarating to shoot those scenes because it was possible to play with certain clichés.

You haven’t been in a comedy for so long...Guillaume knew how much I wanted to go back to a genre I had rarely worked in. He also knew my anxieties—it was unfamiliar territory. He gave me a whole new playground, and I felt his trust in me. As an actor and director, Guillaume has a sixth sense for comedy. I never forget that he started out doing standup.

What kind of director is he?He is extremely precise, a perfectionist who likes to lay down solid foundations. He rarely delegates, pays attention to the tiniest detail, and leaves nothing to chance. Also, he’s an actor, which gives him an extra dimension. Guillaume knows the emotional rollercoaster that actors ride, with nagging doubts and the fear of not being good enough that we all feel from time to time. On this movie in particular, I knew I could fall back on him. With little experience of the rhythm that comedy demands, I arrived on set slightly tense, unsure where to set the cursor between the character’s sincerity and the necessary offbeat aspect. I needed to find my inner clown. Guillaume was there to reassure me and help me adjust. The fact that he knows me so well and knows my anxieties with regard to comedy was an enormous help. Trust is essential on set.

Does his perfectionist side exclude the possibility of improvisation or, on the contrary, does it give greater freedom?It releases creativity. Personally, I require a very rigid framework so I can bring something to it. I feel very uneasy in a loosely defined framework. On this movie, I had a pretty new experience: I

could watch my scenes on video playback, which I never usually do because seeing my characters throws me. This time, however offbeat, I was playing myself, so it was easier for me to watch what we had just shot. I was able to witness the film’s identity gradually emerging, with its singular and powerful atmosphere.

Beyond the comedic aspect, ROCK’N ROLL raises more serious issues, like the fear of aging.A fear that is particularly palpable in actors. At one time or another, we all see ourselves getting older on screen. We see our roles changing with age. It can be especially unsettling or unnerving for those that continue to identify with a younger version of themselves. In response to those fears, modern society offers immediate remedies, which is symptomatic of the world we live in. Instead of a long process of coming to terms with yourself, you are offered injections, or a quick nip-and-tuck. It’s all about the here and now. The film approaches that with a wry smile, but also with depth and true affection.

How do you handle that phenomenon?I often hear people around me laughing about someone approaching their sixties, Have you seen so-and-so? She has really aged! It is even more violent and brutal because that’s the way things work, it’s normal. Then you read in the newspapers

that such-and-such a surgically enhanced actress never gets a day older. Of course she does! I feel a lot of sympathy for people who resort to intensive programs of plastic surgery. It’s as if they are displaying their inner chaos—a huge flaw that they try to hide behind a mask, exactly like Guillaume’s character. The trajectory of this guy who loses his way, who cannot come to terms with his fears, really moves me.

His metamorphosis is almost chilling...That’s the film’s real dynamic. We start out with this vision of reality that is apparently quite close to us, and knowingly go through the fictional gears to reach a kind of apotheosis that opens the door to an absurdity that may indeed seem terrifying.

Yet it seems to make him happy.It’s very temporary serenity. How can you live with a face like that in ten years, without undergoing another makeover?

How do you explain that Marion nonetheless falls for him again?To my mind, she never stops loving him.

You closely followed the evolution of the screenplay. How about the editing process?Guillaume and I talk constantly about each of his movies. Just like the writing, I witnessed the evolution from the first to final cut. I was really swept along by the completed edit.

For several years now, your career has been international. Does the release of a French film have a different feel for you than the release of a foreign movie?No, every film is different, a new adventure. This one was truly special. I was happy to be back on set with Guillaume. The experience of BLOOD TIES, a movie I adore that never really found its audience, was intense. After that, he took a long hard look at himself, so seeing him back on set, at the top of his game, with such a personal story, and the lightness that comedy brings, was a real thrill.

Ten years after TELL NO ONE, you’ve cowritten another film with Guillaume Canet. Yes, it’s true that we hadn’t written together since the adaptation of Harlan Coben’s novel. For his third feature as a director, Guillaume wanted to tell the very personal story of LITTLE WHITE LIES, which he wrote alone. Then he embarked on an American adventure with BLOOD TIES, which he cowrote with James Gray. For our reunion, he had a very specific idea: making another lighthearted, offbeat comedy in the style of MY IDOL, the first movie we wrote together.

Did he already have in mind the ROCK’N ROLL project, and the idea of forming a trio of writers with you and Rodolphe Lauga?No. Guillaume and I started developing a comedy, which didn’t get off the ground, while he also worked with Rodolphe Lauga on a thriller, which he decided to put on ice as well. It was only then that the ROCK’N ROLL idea took root.

How do you know when you have THE idea that will make it onto the screen?When it won’t let you go, and you’re always one step ahead of a scene that you’ve just thought up. The material just feeds on itself until it bubbles over. Alain Attal, our producer, is always a good indicator: his eyes sparkle. If he changes subject, it’s a bad sign.

Guillaume Canet says he’d been thinking about making a mockumentary about himself for some time...A lot of actors had already done so in movies or series. What makes ROCK’N ROLL different is that everyone plays him or herself. The true originality is this extrapolation around the hero. What if Guillaume’s on the wrong road? What if, one morning, he took a wrong turn? What would happen? From that point on, it’s a kind of fable.

INTERVIEW PHILIPPE LEFEBVRE

All because of a narcissistic wound inflicted by a journalist...That interview really did take place, and was the film’s true starting point. But we soon move on from the navel-gazing aspect that Guillaume’s reaction might engender. This wasn’t about writing a corporatist movie with actors preening on screen, which would only have appealed to people in the industry, like a kind of private joke. From the get-go, the idea was to be as accessible as possible. Sure, Guillaume’s an actor, but everybody should identify with his situation. Whatever your line of work, there’s a younger generation that is more modern, and pushes you aside as soon as you slow down slightly, go out less, stop meeting new people. If you have a family, as a parent with even the tiniest sense of responsibility, life becomes less rock’n’roll. When your son wants you to play with Lego with him, obviously you’re no longer Mick Jagger!

In ROCK’N ROLL, the issue provokes a real relationship breakdown...We hit on the sore points in the couple’s relationship. Beyond a certain point, we almost forget that it is Guillaume and Marion’s relationship, even though certain details remind us that they are celebrities. Again, it’s a fable.

They really make fun of themselves...There was no point making this movie unless we really dialed it up. The idea was to push the envelope as far as possible, such as when we emphasize the character’s regulated, homebody lifestyle. Guillaume had doubts about some ideas, which is logical since we were adding barely a dash of fiction to his private life. The amusing thing is, he could take it way farther than us, in terms of making fun of himself, if the idea came from him, but not so much if the idea came from us. It’s always easier to laugh at yourself when you’re doing the roasting, rather than other people.

The César Awards scene is cruel...We were writing the script when the awards season came around. Although we all knew it would be funnier for the story if Guillaume didn’t win Best Actor, there was no way we could wish he lost. We imagined alternate scenarios in case he won, or even simply forgetting the whole episode, but when Pierre Niney won and thanked the losers by saying he watched the movies as a kid, it was a golden opportunity for the film. I was convinced that really taking it out there, making it even funnier, even ballsier, could only be beneficial to the whole movie.

You never allow him any mitigating circumstances.Never. We all agreed—no explanations, no excuses, no justification for his behavior, just what he does, period. He has to own it.

Camille Rowe’s character is also very hard on him.There are lots of girls like Camille, totally unabashed, who see any guy over the age of forty as an old-timer. It’s very common.

Tell us about the last third of the movie.It came along quite late. We had written a radically different draft, which saw Guillaume hitting the road with his assistant, totally letting go, and we really liked it, but we chose to focus the story on Guillaume, the concerns that agitate every actor: how do you keep control of your career? How do you strike the right balance between choices you make and offers that are forced upon you? There’s a huge risk aspect in all that.

Guillaume gambles everything on youth.That’s when he crosses the line.

In his attempts to reinvent himself, to be young and attractive, he cuts himself off from his profession, and winds up in an American TV series.But he’s positive about life again. He starts the movie flagging, and ends it in great shape. He rediscovers his love of life, even if he has to experience a lot of craziness to get there.

The conventional wisdom is that roles become more interesting as an actor gets older.Maturity is often put forward as an advantage. In reality, I don’t think any actor enjoys aging, not so much because of the characters he can no longer play, but because the journey left is so much shorter.

Was that final stage of the screenplay tricky to write?The real difficulty was bringing Guillaume and Marion back together. The farther his madness took him, the greater the distance between them. It was imperative to find common ground for them—saying love conquers all would be too simplistic. No, Marion’s journey had to take her to an understanding of what Guillaume had endured. In turn, she feels a younger actor nudging her aside. For it to work, it needed to be credible timewise. Seasons had to go by, filled with their separation, the ache...

How does writing with six hands work?It’s a fairly linear process, one scene at a time. On ROCK’N ROLL, from the second draft, we put an oral agreement in place: the three of us would meet every morning, and Guillaume would write scenes in the afternoon. He was the conductor of our three-man orchestra. Guillaume and I made our screen debuts in the same movie (LA COLLINE AUX MILLE ENFANTS). We came up together in the business. He developed a very powerful bond with Rodolphe, who was his camera operator on TELL NO ONE. As a feature director myself, I know the importance of the person who translates in technical terms what you have in your mind, the person who to some extent is an extension of your artistic vision. That shared experience brings us all together. We all know where we stand. There are no obstacles.

Just like in MY IDOL, TELL NO ONE and LITTLE WHITE LIES, you appear in ROCK’N ROLL. Is it easy to step back from lines you helped to think up?You have to forget you know the thing by heart, come at it like it’s your first time, without preconceived ideas or knowledge. And accept being shaken or thrown off by what the director wants or what your scene partners are doing.

You don’t go easy on yourself either in the film.Yes, you have to be able to laugh at yourself to play the director of such drab arthouse fare. While Marion witnesses Guillaume’s personal meltdown, I witness his professional meltdown. The guy’s in a bad way, and he tries to feel better by taking it out on others.

Did the completed movie surprise you?No. What struck me was the formal freedom, made possible by Guillaume being in front of and behind the camera. And his performance is quite extraordinary.

How did you wind up cowriting Guillaume Canet’s latest movie?Guillaume and I have known each other about fifteen years. I’ve been camera operator on all his films since TELL NO ONE. In the course of those movies, we’ve developed a close bond of friendship. We have a shared universe. For this movie in particular, which is an even more personal adventure than the others, he needed to be surrounded by people he trusted. I think it was a way of encouraging himself to let go, and share his doubts as well as his convictions with people that he knew would do right by him. He’s very much an instinct person.

Did the fact that you had codirected RELATIONSHIP STATUS: IT’S COMPLICATED with Manu Payet play a part?Maybe. Guillaume certainly knew of my desire to write. I’ve spent three years developing a script that I will shoot next year (LA SOURCE). He read it and liked it. I guess that made the idea seem even more obvious.

What was your reaction to the premise of the story?Guillaume and I have often chatted about image and celebrity issues, and the existential questions they provoked in people who were their target. The idea of the most glamorous couple in French cinema being similarly affected struck me as a winner. I’d just seen Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg’s THIS IS THE END, in which Jonah Hill, James Franco, Danny McBride and Craig Robinson all send themselves up while playing themselves. The concept clearly worked, and we quickly agreed to push the envelope by making fun of more than Guillaume and Marion’s lifestyle, because their friends and family are dragged into it. We start by giving the impression we’re following their daily life, but it soon becomes apparent that things are going way beyond anything you might imagine, until it hits you between the eyes. This is farce, a fiction.

INTERVIEW RODOLPHE LAUGA

How did you organize the writing process between yourself, Philippe Lefebvre and Guillaume Canet?It was a classic case of a group of writers working together—a lot of brainstorming and, once we had the structure down, we each took care of various scenes. Or, at least, that’s how it worked on the first draft. We wrote separately, then bounced reactions off of each other. Guillaume read through, corrected, and so on. For subsequent drafts, we’d usually meet up in the morning, and Guillaume wrote up the outcome of our discussions in the afternoon. The process wasn’t long. Philippe and I know Guillaume both as a friend and director. It was easy for us to be the audience, the movie pro, and the guy who has his buddy’s back.

Philippe Lefebvre and you multitask on this production. What makes you so complementary?The advantage of writing, as a camera operator, is that you’re immediately in the realization of the scene. You picture the scene—its rhythm, how it unravels, what visual aspect, prop or character to hang things on. These are all indications that make reading the script more gripping. Moreover, Guillaume works in exactly the same way. He has a particular affinity for technical issues—he is aware of their importance in the filmmaking process, and he is one of the few directors that technicians like myself, for example, or DP Christophe Offenstein truly enjoy working with. Besides his screenwriting experience, Philippe Lefebvre brings his acting and directing experience to the table. He knows what it means to be the boss on a movie, which isn’t always a comfortable position. He has the objectivity of the actor who will be in the scene, and he and Guillaume go back twenty years. That’s huge. But how can you answer a question like that? Things fell into place without calculations. We wanted to write a film, just the three of us, and do our best by Guillaume.

What in particular do you feel you brought to the script?Most likely my sense of humor, which I have shared with Guillaume for many years—a self-deprecatory sense of humor that I keep up whatever the circumstances.

Did Guillaume ever try to restrain either of you with regard to the construction of his character?He swept us up on an adventure where he knew he would take a lot of stick. Knowing him as well as we do, we were there to reassure him when the doubts kicked in. He’d sometimes ask, Are you sure? You guys really find that funny? And we’d reply, Sure, it’s hilarious to see you in that situation. People will laugh their asses off. He’d keep the scene, but reserve the right to leave it on the cutting room floor. It’s not a surefire winner, he’d tell us, we’ll see if I keep it. But as soon as he started shooting, he gained in confidence. He realized that, even though he was acting opposite his agent Cécile Felsenberg or his buddy Gilles Lellouche, he really was playing a character in a farce. From then on, we could double down. He was aware that the farther out there the film went, the less easy it was to attack.

On set, wearing your writer’s hat, did you run into yourself wearing your cameraman’s hat?All the time, almost. I know what Guillaume is like on a daily basis, at work, on vacation, when he wakes up, before he goes to bed. It was easy for me to say, Add that! That could be funny. Especially as I knew every nook and cranny of his character.

ROCK’N ROLL is the first film where you have been behind the camera and Guillaume Canet in front of it, in a starring role. So it was all the more important that he should feel safe with his crew—the same crew as ever. He is incredibly loyal, and the guys pay it back in spades on his movies.

Along with Christophe Offenstein, you had special responsibility in terms of blocking and staging.The cameraman necessarily has a very tight bond with the director, and I have always viewed my job in those terms, not just as strictly technical. Having cowritten the movie, and codirected another film shortly before, was a priceless asset. Christophe also has recent directing experience. We were truly in symbiosis.

Tell us about the final third, when Guillaume undergoes his spectacular makeover? It was really strange to see him, our slender friend, with that frame and bulging muscles. Not to mention the face from outer space! Guillaume really played it up—and you could see the buzz he got acting it out—but it was a physical ordeal. The

latex prosthetics weighed over twenty kilos, and it was particularly hot. In the circumstances, it wasn’t easy to act and direct the movie.

Did the completed movie surprise you?All Guillaume’s films are surprising. He does his very best to maintain the magic of the movies with his very distinctive style of comedy and a dash of something more caustic. I love it. Life is like that.

After this new experience, how would you describe your career?Abnormal, I guess you could say. But that’s often the case in movies. Most people work in film because they’re passionate about what they do, and like most passionate people, their only fear is being bored. It’s that fear specifically that has driven me to develop constantly, from camera operator, to steadicam operator, to director, and now screenwriter. The advantage is that each job informs the others. I have never done one to the detriment of the others, so obviously it’s a huge thrill. I also owe it to the people I’ve met along the way, who have shaped my career. All the directors that I have worked with have helped me—Manu Payet and Guillaume reached out to me, but before them Dany Boon and Sam Karmann, among others, helped me by astutely channeling my inclinations. It’s a journey made even more gratifying for me because I am entirely self-taught. I developed everything on instinct. Yet another thing I have in common with Guillaume.

Guillaume Canet and you seem inseparable. Over twenty years, you have produced all his movies. Our paths run parallel. Guillaume and I met in 1993. I adored burgeoning as a producer at his side, and I think he has enjoyed blooming as a director at my side. Even so, we are bound by no obligation to each other. We reshuffle the deck after every film, just as I do with all the directors I work with. Not being under any obligation has one great virtue: it means doing the things you want to do, and doing them for a good reason.

Since MY IDOL, you have both had ups and downs. Does that tighten your bond?Success brought us close together, and adversity even closer. Weathering a storm unites people. We are tight, we are friends, but our friendship doesn’t prevent us from being very demanding of each other. There is nothing we cannot talk about now. Years of experience, moving forward together, were very useful to us on this movie.

How do you work together in the early stages of a project?Guillaume likes to have a few projects lined up, and my job is to encourage him. He expresses wishes and develops ideas, but I have noticed that his wishes truly take shape only when the adventure of the previous movie is completed. And he only chooses his subject when he has enough inspiration to flesh out some scenes. Guillaume’s motivations are not literary or genre-driven: he’s not the type of guy who sits down to write an outline, or a synopsis, then a treatment. He is possessed. He needs something solid.

Were you taken aback by the premise of ROCK’N ROLL?I was immediately very excited about the power of the project, with the worry that he wouldn’t take the self-deprecation far enough. The film involved his wife, friends and family, and I was scared he’d take refuge in clichés that reinforce a slightly polished image. As the script developed, I realized

INTERVIEW ALAIN ATTAL

that I wouldn’t need to push him—he was absolutely determined to make a black comedy in which his character loses it, goes into a full-on tailspin.

The ending is very surprising.It had to keep moving forward, taking the movie’s themes even farther, with the blurring of public image and self-image so serious that the character is ready to do anything. We hesitated. It’s a daring epilogue, pretty raw, but still a wonderful vehicle for comedy, since the character is oblivious to his transformation. The audience laughs, but he thinks it’s awesome.

It’s an audacious, offbeat project.A fabulous project. Some people Guillaume knew tried to warn him away from it, but not me. Like when we started out together, I set about giving him the resources to express himself in the best way possible. I always look for the movie within an idea, and in Guillaume’s case it’s a very worthwhile preoccupation.

How does that translate into concrete actions?While he was writing, I said to Guillaume, Make sure you don’t only speak to movie insiders who are familiar with a director’s or actor’s potential misgivings. You have to broaden it out to encompass mid-life crises that affect everybody. Talk about doubts, love, challenges, trajectories. I always try to find a cinematic angle. For example, from my point of view, it was important to give Guillaume the resources to shoot the apartment scenes entirely in studio. ROCK’N ROLL is personal, intimate. To draw out the truth of this microcosmic family, and show audiences that celebrities have regular lives, too, I thought it would be best to recreate as closely as possible the conditions of that intimacy. There’s no law that stipulates you must shoot an intimate story intimately. It’s a pose.

Guillaume’s original inclination seems to have been for a smallscale film.Production works in mysterious ways. It’s true to say Guillaume wanted to shoot quickly, with a small crew, but what he had to say lent itself to something larger. The more new scenes he came up with, the more the work of fiction overshadowed the mockumentary. I encouraged that progression. To work with the actors he wanted, to shoot the long takes he wanted, and to embark on the American folly at the end—that all required a large crew and special effects.

How do you finance a film whose script is constantly evolving?Even though there were subsequent rewrites and new directions, the tone of the film—a blackish comedy—emerged early, and I was able to interest our partners in the premise. At every new stage, we were lucky enough to have name actors that said yes to Guillaume, and conferred credibility on the project. Despite the script’s singularity, our partners—Pathé, Canal Plus and M6—believed in the project, and backed us while giving us great freedom and, above all, placing their faith in Guillaume and myself, on the basis of the tone of the movie.

Which scenes were the costliest?The two scenes that make up the music video—the Marion/Céline Dion dream sequence, and the log cabin in Canada scene—were expensive. They were shot with several cameras and entailed buying the rights to the song, building a log cabin, with the snowy landscape in the background, and lots of makeup. The scene with Johnny Hallyday, which we shot on location, was also costly. Shooting the arthouse picture in which Guillaume is starring—the movie within a movie—also took up a chunk of the budget, with lots of extras, one film crew filming another film crew that is, in turn, watching the characters act on set... I’d also have to mention the numerous locations, especially the nightclubs—the one that features in Guillaume’s dream, and the one where he gets sick and his mouth locks up. Not forgetting the kids—shooting with children is time-consuming. Actually, there were difficulties in almost every scene.

Tell us about Guillaume’s physical transformation in the final third. Did you imagine it being so radical when you read the script?I guess not. Guillaume amped it up. The fact that he really owns his character’s transformation gives the movie a fascinating comedic path. It excludes any sentimentality. Guillaume, the character in the movie, veers way off track, and does so at top speed.

Did his makeover raise particular issues for the movie?Huge issues! It’s always complicated when an actor has to spend hours in makeup before shooting can begin. When you throw in a costume with bulging biceps, and you know that green screen and complex technology will be needed, the problems are exacerbated. But when that actor is in every shot of the movie, and he’s also the director, it is truly rock’n’roll! There was a kind

of schizoid aspect to seeing Guillaume deliver instructions to the crew in full costume and makeup. All around him, his inner circle of DP, soundman, camera operator and script supervisor seemed to act like a miniature army. With such a burden on him, it was impossible for Guillaume to rehearse the same thing fifty times.

His "inner circle" features the same people as when he began directing, with their roles fluctuating sometimes, such as Rodolphe Lauga cowriting the movie with Philippe Lefebvre as well as being the camera operator.It’s all about their complicity and complementarity. Guillaume likes his crew to be a highly professional family. Christophe Offenstein, his DP, is so much more than a DP for Guillaume. Same goes for Rodolphe Lauga, his camera operator since TELL NO ONE. And Philippe Lefebvre, with whom Guillaume goes way back, naturally slotted into his multiple roles in the project. Guillaume has an astonishing instinct for how and with whom he is best suited to work.

Guillaume Canet, Nicole Garcia, Eric&Ramzy, Gilles Lellouche, Maïwenn... You have a long track record of working with directors who started out as actors.I like actors who direct. My love of movies comes from actor-directed movies—John Cassavetes, Jerry Lee Lewis. Their movies fascinate me. Over twenty years, I guess I have produced quite a few. In some cases, like Guillaume in MY IDOL, they acted and directed. But they never played the lead, and definitely not a lead who required three hours every day in makeup!

For the first time also, you play a character in the film, yourself, with Yvan Attal as your brother and business partner.Guillaume had me read a long scene between his character and me, the producer, and he asked me to take on the role. I categorically refused. I cracked up laughing when I read the scene, but the idea petrified me. I’m not an actor and, as the real-life producer, I certainly didn’t want my inexperience ruining the whole scene. Basically, it terrified me. By bringing Yvan into the scene, Guillaume reassured me. You’ll see, he said, you won’t have to do anything except look angry in your office. Yvan will take care of all the rest. Sure, the scene starts out between Guillaume and Yvan,

with me in the background, but it doesn’t take long for me to fly into a rage, with lines to deliver. The professionalism of Yvan, whom I know very well, was a great help. It was fun to play on our identical last names, and very smart of Guillaume to come up with this trick to get me to accept the part. Guillaume is a sponge—you can never innocently tell him a funny story or let him witness anything. Having seen me in an epic rage once or twice, although I should point out I hardly ever lose my temper, Guillaume knew I would be able to ratchet up the comedic potential of the scene, by dredging up the anger that he saw explode one day.

Tell us about the editing.It’s one of my favorite stages. I can watch a movie I’m producing forty or fifty times during postproduction, with the same passion and fervor every time. I believe my eye allows me to advise my artists, or even to know better than them what they are trying to say. It often results in a kind of diplomatic arm-wrestling match—you already said that, you’re repeating yourself, and so on. With Guillaume, actually bringing his baby into the world can be the trickiest moment. Whereas the gestation is usually trouble-free, editing is where it gets complicated. On several occasions he has told me a film is done, while I think it isn’t quite finished. I don’t pester him, I try to grasp his arguments, then I honestly and freely explain why I think there is still work to be done. I’m convinced that a film is all about truth. You have to look, and look some more, until you find the truth of a movie.

The films that you produce often straddle multiple genres.I like that. I have zero desire to deliver a formatted product. I’m not all bothered that audiences laugh at some scenes in POLISSE, despite the seriousness of its subject matter. In the same way, I embrace the melodrama of LITTLE WHITE LIES, which was initially identified as a comedy. The truth of a movie can easily cope with a range of moods. What interests me is bringing into the world the work of a filmmaker, his or her vision of a story. I give them my complete support, with no thought for the efficiency of this genre over that genre.

This is the second time you’ve scored a Guillaume Canet movie.BLOOD TIES was a wonderful experience, but less intense than this one because Guillaume included a lot of songs on the soundtrack of what was an American movie. ROCK’N ROLL is the first film where he has given the composer so much space. Previously, even on TELL NO ONE, for which Matthieu Chedid wrote the music, he always gave songs pride of place.

How do you explain that evolution?He wanted music that was in symbiosis with his film, and wanted to have more faith in himself and me.

You have known Guillaume Canet for a long time.We met in 2004 on a film project, a sort of musical, whose producer wanted Guillaume to direct, and for me to write the music. The project didn’t interest him, but we fell for each other’s charm. Friendship at first sight! Since then, we’ve been inseparable. We’ve grown up together, Guillaume in the movies, and me in music. I owe him a lot. Guillaume is one of the people who believed in me more than I believed in myself when I started out.

You have acted in two of his movies.Guillaume draws a lot of his inspiration from the daily lives of people around him. When he was shooting TELL NO ONE, he was keen for me to play

a walk-on part, as the assistant of the murdered photographer played by Florence Thomassin. I put the police on the trail of François Cluzet’s character. I also make an appearance in LITTLE WHITE LIES. Above all, though, our bond is music. We play together—Guillaume’s an excellent musician, playing guitar and drums. He also sings, and has a good voice, whatever Marion says in the film. Our musical tastes are very similar.

How did you react when you found out what the film was about?I was touring with Johnny Hallyday when Guillaume sent me the script. I thought the project was unbelievably ballsy and original, and I immediately knew the score should be anything but rock’n’roll, even though I know deep down that rock is what brought Guillaume to me.

What sprang to mind? The idea of a malfunctioning clock mechanism leapt off the written page. The character is haunted by the notion of time and aging. The theme really jumped out at us—a rickety waltz. I mentioned it to Guillaume. There was no discussion. He agreed right away.

Did you have cinematic references in mind? I don’t have a vast pool of references, but as a kid I was struck by the music of Vladimir Cosma and Ennio Morricone: heavily orchestrated and

INTERVIEW MAXIM NUCCI

profoundly European compositions. Guillaume explained that the film began with a handheld camera, like a docudrama. The deeper we went into it, the more off base it went, and the wider the frame became, with more polished shots until we wind up in America. The challenge for me was to transform a loser’s theme, at the outset, into a winner’s theme. I kept the same notes, but I changed the harmony beneath the notes. The waltz became less rickety, like the journey of the character, who finds his own way.

What was it like working with Guillaume?Guillaume and I headed off to record the first part of the theme at his place in Cap Ferret. It starts with whistling—Guillaume and I whistling—and anybody who knows Guillaume knows that he hates people whistling. It literally drives him nuts. We leaped straight into the heart of the matter. Once we had the theme down, I worked on variations, put together a demo of those ideas, and pointed out the scenes that I thought needed music. Guillaume did the same, and it all came together very naturally. We had complete faith in each other. It was fluid. I sensed Guillaume was very relaxed about it.

There’s a sense that he can only work with people he knows well.He likes to have benevolent and competent people around him. It’s an exchange—Guillaume gives so much, you want to give back to him.

You mentioned the passion you guys share for music. And movies?We’ve seen a huge number of movies together since we first met. I remember spending whole nights at his place watching DVDs. A lot of French comedies from the 70s and 80s, especially Yves Robert movies—films that I’d never seen before and that he loved. Guillaume is passionate about comedies.

Tell us about the recording session.After the part we recorded at Cap Ferret, we recorded at Ferber studios with an orchestra boasting an 18-person brass section and 24-person string section. It was a totally new experience. I never work with such large formations on records I produce. I haven’t written thousands of film scores, and Guillaume isn’t hugely experienced in that respect, either. Occasionally, we put the cart before the horse. I worked hard before and during editing, and more than once we ended up with music intended for long scenes that had been pared down to nothing. We had to adapt. Re-record or re-edit.

Did you run into a particular difficulty?Yes. In editing, Guillaume had synced a song over scenes of his character working out. It was a sublime track written by Bill Conti for another, very famous movie. The idea was for it to help the scene work on different levels in the audience’s minds, but he couldn’t get the rights to the track, and he asked me to compose a similar track. I dried up. Instead of creating, I was performing a kind of stylistic exercise, and all I could come up with for Guillaume were ideas I didn’t even like. I knew that none of them would allow people to see the scene on different levels, as he hoped. Time was getting short, it was two weeks before mixing, and I was going frantic. Eventually, Guillaume said, Forget Bill Conti, forget different levels. Compose whatever feels right to you. So I did. I had a similar instance of composer’s block on a scene in BLOOD TIES, the chase scene through Grand Central at the end of the movie. Guillaume has a remarkable ear. On ROCK’N ROLL, he said to me, Hear that there? On the fourth beat, the second trombone isn’t playing the same note as on your demo. And he was right.

Is it true that he writes his movies to music?Yes. He writes to music, but it doesn’t stop there. On set, for scenes without dialogue when he wanted to emphasize certain directions, he gives his actors and crew earpieces so that they work in rhythm to the music that he plans to use in editing.

Has your ROCK’N ROLL experience made you want to pursue composing for films?If I like a project, why not? I let encounters and artistic adventures shape me. I don’t have a path laid out.

CAST

GUILLAUME CANET

MARION COTILLARD

GILLES LELLOUCHE

PHILIPPE LEFEBVRE

CAMILLE ROWE

KEV ADAMS

BEN FOSTER

MAXIM NUCCI

YAROL POUPAUD

YVAN ATTAL

AND

JOHNNY HALLYDAY

LAETICIA HALLYDAY

CREW

DIRECTED BY GUILLAUME CANET

COWRITTEN BY GUILLAUME CANET, PHILIPPE LEFEBVRE, RODOLPHE LAUGA

MUSIC BY YODELICE

PRODUCED BY ALAIN ATTAL

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY CHRISTOPHE OFFENSTEIN

CAMERA OPERATOR RODOLPHE LAUGA

PRODUCTION DESIGNER PHILIPPE CHIFFRE

COSTUME DESIGNER CARINE SARFATI

FILM EDITOR HERVÉ DE LUZE

SOUND RÉMI DARU, JEAN GOURDIER, JEAN-PAUL HURIER

PRODUCTION MANAGER SOPHIE QUIEDEVILLE

LINE PRODUCER XAVIER AMBLARD

1ST ASSISTANT DIRECTOR SEBASTIEN MATUCHET

SCRIPT SUPERVISOR CHRISTELLE MEAUX

UNIT MANAGER HENRY LE TURC

CASTING DIRECTOR LAURENT COURAUD (A.R.D.A.)

KEY MAKEUP ARTIST STEPHANIE GUILLON

KEY HAIR ARTIST SOPHIE ASSE

MAKEUP SPECIAL EFFECTS OLIVIER ALFONSO

DIGITAL EFFECTS SUPERVISOR ALAIN CARSOUX

POSTPRODUCTION SUPERVISOR NICOLAS MOUCHET

© PHOTOS Jean-Claude Lother