This Wednesday, September 1, Kad Merad will be showing in the dramatic comedy “Un triomphe”, directed by Emmanuel Courcol. For the occasion, CNEWS went to meet the actor to talk about this feel good movie inspired by a true story.
Despite a day of intense promotion, Kad Merad keeps his smile and his good humor, and connects the valves and anecdotes with relaxation. In this feature film which notably won the Audience Award at the Angoulême Francophone Film Festival in 2020, and was co-produced by Dany Boon, he plays Etienne, an actor who struggles both professionally and personally, and accepts to lead a theater workshop in prison. If the inmates he supervises prefer stand-up and want to play sketches, he wishes to stage “Waiting for Godot” by Samuel Beckett. A crazy bet that will take them far.
This film is based on the story of Jan Jönson, a Swedish actor who produced this play in a high security center in 1985. Have you met him?
He came on set once to meet the crew and say hello. Maybe he wanted to see what I looked like, me who was going to play his role on the big screen (laughs). Jan was very moved to see his story take the form of a fiction.
What memory (s) do you keep of this shooting in prison?
A rather disturbing memory. When you come home to your family, you think of all those inmates who are locked up for a long time. Every morning, we had to spend an hour with the 50 to 70 people on the team to get back into the prison. In particular, we had to leave our cellphones. Without phone or personal belongings, we finally found incredible freedom while we were locked in the Meaux-Chauconin detention center, where there are more than 900 prisoners. Some inmates applauded us, others, desperate, spat on us. I remain convinced that the theater can bring them something, be saving. Reintegration is possible.
For about fifteen years, I accepted odd jobs and led seminars for La Poste.
They spend their lives waiting like the heroes of the play “Waiting for Godot”. When did you discover this work by Samuel Beckett?
When I started the theater. It is a text that we often work on at the start of learning. The advantage is that you can take any moment of the play, you will never understand anything! Even Beckett loved it when we didn’t understand anything. In reality, these are two guys who are waiting for better days. We go from laughter to tears. It’s very realistic, tough and funny at the same time. It speaks of humanity and solidarity, two concepts so important in this time of health crisis.
Like your character, have you ever been at the bottom of the wave?
Etienne accepts this workshop above all for himself because he needs to “do his hours”, like any intermittent, to be able to benefit from unemployment. When I started and for about fifteen years, I too did odd jobs, played in front of empty rooms, changed outfits in the toilets, provided seminars for La Poste for which I wrote sketches with friends. . You had to pay your rent and your acting lessons. But at 20, we don’t ask ourselves any questions. We are pugnacious. We go there, convinced that one day it will work. While our parents often encourage us to learn a “real” profession before becoming an actor, we are the only ones who believe in us.
And today at 57 years old, and despite the success, are you still in doubt?
More than ever ! I am still this young actor who likes to receive scenarios, meet different directors, try more difficult and more ambitious experiences. However, I have changed physically, I have aged. Today, I play roles with 25-year-old children. I will soon be a grandfather. There are also young actors who arrive in the industry and who are not bad, so we have to stay the course (laughs)! But that’s not the most important to me. Above all, I try to transmit values to my son, to pay for his studies and to enjoy life with those close to me in a comfortable way. If I have to get back into trouble, I’ll go, and that won’t be a problem.
I will not be able to teach because I have no method. I have always worked on instinct.
If not playing, could you teach and pass on your passion?
I can talk about my job, share my experiences, provide masterclasses as I have already done to talk about the “Black Baron” series (broadcast from 2016 on Canal +, editor’s note). On the other hand, I couldn’t give lessons because I don’t have a method. I learned by doing. So I can tell you how I feel during a scene, but I am unable to give you a precise technique. I operate on instinct, and I find ideas for play on the fly.
As an actor, do you worry about the uncertain period we are going through and which particularly affects the world of culture?
Yes a lot. I am vaccinated, I have my health pass and I feel a little more protected. But that does not mean that I am reassured. I fear that there will be closures again with a 4th wave. For the cultural sector, this is dramatic. I didn’t play for a year, immersed in uncertainty. Otherwise, I cooked and became a school teacher for the children. Today, people need to go back to the cinema and the theater. Next January, I will be going on tour with the play “Amis” which I directed and which we performed ten times in Paris last year, before we were asked to stop everything because of the pandemic. We will therefore play it 50 times in the region. And since we are not running in, we are going to be nervous every night, just before the curtain rises. That’s exciting.
Theater or cinema: which way does your heart swing?
I cannot and will not choose. It is complementary. We do not have the same feelings in the theater as in the cinema. I do not understand the profession of actor without going through the boards.