Since then, Niney has had a string of main roles, whether or not in Frantz by François Ozon in 2016, La Promesse de l’aube by Éric Barbier, primarily based on Romain Gary in 2017, OSS 117: Alerte rouge en Afrique noire by Nicolas Bedos in 2021 or Le Livre des options by Michel Gondry, final yr. Whereas he lately made his debut behind the digicam together with his confederate Igor Gotesman to create the Netflix collection Fiasco.
“Fiasco” on Netflix: Pierre Niney’s troublesome beginnings behind the digicam
This Wednesday, the 35-year-old actor is headlining The Depend of Monte Cristo** by Alexandre de La Patellière and Matthieu Delaporte (a duo recognized for Le Prénom in 2012). Alongside a formidable solid (Anaïs Demoustier, Anamaria Vartolomei, Laurent Lafitte, Pierfrancesco Favino, and so on.), the actor performs Edmond Dantès, returning to France because the Depend of Monte Cristo after a number of years of penal servitude and exile to fulfill his thirst for revenge.
Final Could, Pierre Niney offered The Depend of Monte Cristo out of competitors on the Cannes Movie Pageant. We met an actor all smiles the day after the official screening of this nice present lasting nearly three hours, greeted by an 11-minute standing ovation. “Fortunately I skilled in apnea, as a result of yesterday I held my breath a number of occasions…” jokes Niney.
4 minutes in apnea
To play Edmond Dantès, the actor did loads of bodily preparation: horse driving, fencing, but in addition freediving. And this for a formidable underwater escape scene shot in sequence. “I like diving into a movie via bodily challenges. It helps me mentally for a task. I would not have needed anybody else to do it for me. For me, it is a present to study new issues via my work. I meet folks I’d by no means have met. This helped me rather a lot to get into the sneakers of Edmond Dantès.”
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It is so irritating to solely be one particular person. I’d hate that…
To arrange for this scene, Pierre Niney labored with Stéphane Mifsud, French freediving world champion, with a report of 11 minutes 35 seconds in static apnea. “For me, it wasn’t static apnea. I needed to make giant actions underwater; this consumes the oxygen way more shortly. He gave me some suggestions and, in at some point, I handed from 1min40 to 3min40 It was actually spectacular! With simply three or 4 issues and a brief preparation, anybody can enhance their apnea. It was vital, as a result of we needed this escape scene. as claustrophobic as attainable. Subsequently, we wanted to shoot it in a single shot, with this bag sinking deep into the ocean and me struggling in it. We needed one thing tense for the viewers and subsequently for me. I nonetheless informed myself that it was truly slightly harmful… However I beloved this thrill!”, confides the actor.
Bodily transformation
Within the movie, Niney performs the younger Edmond Dantès, the older Monte-Cristo, but in addition all of the characters that the latter invents to take revenge on those that had him condemned. An actual pleasure for the actor. “It was slightly scary at first, as a result of I needed to discover the voices, the our bodies, the best way of strolling, consuming, talking. And I needed to do an English accent for Lord Halifax. However actually, it was a lot enjoyable! In what number of movies will I’ve the chance to play 5 – 6 characters in a single?”
Monte-Cristo is in truth an actual actor, who pretends to be others. Which the actor clearly feels near. “I feel it is fairly wholesome to be another person; it is therapeutic. I am generally requested how I do not go loopy enjoying so many alternative characters, continually switching from comedy to drama . I reply: how do you handle to not change your pores and skin every now and then? It is so irritating to be only one particular person…”
Pierre Niney is Edmond Dantès within the new adaptation of “The Depend of Monte Cristo”, by Alexandre de La Patellière and Matthieu Delaporte. © 2024 CHAPTER 2 – PATHE FILMS – M6
Love of the classics
On the concept of portraying Edmond Dantès, one of many biggest characters in French literature, Pierre Niney didn’t really feel any explicit strain. “I am used to the theater, the place we regularly play very large characters. I performed Hippolyte in Phèdre by Racine and lots of others. I do not actually take into consideration what folks anticipate. After all, some will probably be disillusioned, however others will probably be enthusiastic. Whereas many younger folks will uncover this story for the primary time. I simply inform myself that we’re providing a brand new adaptation. It isn’t the ebook, it is an object. artwork of one other nature, which works with a special vitality and dramaturgy…”, pleads the actor.
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The tragic side of the story hasn’t actually been informed in different diversifications.
On this new adaptation, what appeared new to Pierre Niney was “the tragic side of the story which, for my part, has not likely been informed within the different diversifications”. “Right here, we actually dive into the darkness, to discover the perfect, but in addition the worst of human nature. I like this tragic aspect. We stated to ourselves that we may go in direction of the darkness, to which persons are accustomed at this time, with the brand new Batman or the collection… Alternatively, there was additionally the need that the bodily transformation of Edmond Dantès be credible, that it appeared life like that individuals didn’t acknowledge him when he comes again for revenge. Within the different diversifications, we performed with a faux nostril or a wig… It was accepted by the general public at the moment, right here, we did every part we may on the transformation of the character.
“The Vengeance of Monte Cristo” (2002): Revenge is a dish greatest served reheated
The Depend of Monte Cristo is produced by Dimitri Rassam, who was already behind the 2, way more disappointing, components of The Three Musketeers: D’Artagnan (2023) and Milady (2024). Niney is delighted to see French cinema reappropriating the nice texts of French literature, relatively than leaving them to Hollywood. “I’ll be slightly chauvinistic… As a Frenchman, after we see an adaptation in English by the Individuals, we pout slightly: it is so cliché, not French… In Europe, in France, we’re not superheroes. We’re damaged, devastated heroes, tormented heroes. Monte Cristo needs to be a superhero, however is he God or the satan? No one is aware of… It’s extremely French, as a result of we even have panache, like in Cyrano de Bergerac. We like very tormented characters, however who communicate loudly,” displays the actor.
A timeless story
Skilled on the Comédie-Française, Pierre Niney is an ardent defender of classical theater and literature. “The classics have rather a lot to show us. Right here, we speak about timeless themes, like jealousy, envy, betrayal, love and revenge, after all. It is so properly described by Alexandre Dumas that it’ll stay endlessly. The classics educate us that some issues won’t ever change Happily and sadly… I realized my work on the stage. It is unimaginable for an actor to begin with the theater. authors, with the texts. Enjoying is at all times a bit like speaking to ghosts. There’s something of eternity on this infinite dialog.
“The Three Musketeers”: it’s Dumas who’s assassinated
For Niney, The Depend of Monte Cristo is clearly a type of common and timeless texts, to which it’s good to return continually. “We have all skilled this sense of injustice. It may begin at college: you are accused of one thing you did not do. It may occur at work, in love. Everyone knows what this sense of injustice and the necessity for revenge provokes. It is human to need revenge. However, because the saying goes, holding a grudge is like consuming poison and anticipating the opposite particular person to die… That is precisely what occurs in Monte Cristo. Revenge is a strong driving power for a lot of tales, in Tarantino and Clint Eastwood movies, in so many novels… Individuals love revenge. However right here, it isn’t simply revenge, like in a western for instance. It is also about displaying how revenge can poison you. And to see at what level you’re a vigilante within the title of a simply trigger and whenever you turn into a monster. I feel that is very common…”, concludes the actor.
Pierre Niney performs an Edmond Dantès thirsty for revenge. © 2024 CHAPTER 2 – PATHE FILMS – M6
