|
| Jean Dujardin, such an approachable hero |
|
|
| Thursday, 15 November 2007 | |
 Jean Dujardin loves acting the hero: next year he is to play his childhood fantasy figure Lucky Luke as well as star in the second instalment of ‘OSS 117’. In the space of four years, Jean Dujardin has moved from modest TV appearances to lead roles in film and whatever he does it works out well. Now 35, Dujardin is at the peak of stardom, in constant demand for interviews and photo shoots. There’s no side to Jean Dujardin, which partly explains why he is one of the most popular French actors… as well as one of the best paid (more than a million euros per film). He admits he’s a hard worker, but he loves his job and has a sneaking feeling he’s just having fun. He’s not frightened of making a fool of himself either: his latest role is a down-atheel adman in ‘99F’, the film based on the best-seller by Beigbeder. Dujardin started in little cafés-théâtres in Paris before his TV triumph in the cult series ‘Chouchou et Loulou’, watched by six million prime-time viewers. He has good memories of this period, not least because co-star Alexandra Lamy became his girlfriend: “It was a quality programme about two people’s everyday lives and the public liked it. I’d never have got anywhere without that boost to my career. But for five years (1999 to 2004) it was virtually a 24-hour job and it got to the stage when I was wishing it would end: our two characters could get married and live happily ever after, bye bye. I wanted to move on.” He soon did, starring in the massively popular ‘Brice de Nice’, with box office sales of four and half million in 2005. Some of the lines, like ‘cassé’ and ‘salut, ça farte’, have passed into everyday French. “What I liked about acting this dumb surfer on his board, waiting for his dream to come true, was the comment on teenagers and life. You really had to read between the lines to understand him.” He didn’t stop there, going straight into another smash hit ‘OSS 117’. A sequel will be shot next year. “I absolutely adored playing this grotesque diplomat; he was so unlike me. I often thought of Sean Connery and Errol Flynn when I was getting into the character… I’m schizophrenic so there’s no conflict between me and my characters,” he jokes. He tried a more dramatic style in ‘Contre enquête’ in 2006: “I try to be versatile, that’s part of the job.” However bankable he is he never lets the pressure get to him: “I don’t have to be a hit every time. And I hate being told what I have to do. I don’t have a career plan, I just follow my nose.” |
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|
