2024-02-27 16:55:39
Known for having played the chic and truculent Luc in the series Emily in Paris, Bruno Gouery continued his international acting career with the excellent series The White Lotus (2021) and soon, Modi, by Johnny Depp. 2024, the year of its dedication to cinema ?
We discovered you in the role of Luc in the series Emily in Paris in 2020 on Netflix. But who really was Bruno Gouery before the screens?
Bruno Gouery: I was born in Normandy, but my parents came to settle in Nanterre when I was little, so I grew up in the suburbs. I studied history, then I went on Erasmus to Italy in Milan where I completed my degree. At the time, we were required to join the army, but I didn’t want to go, so the only solution was to find a permanent contract. I ended up being the breadwinner. At the same time as my studies, I corrected French/Italian subtitles for a TV channel called Canal Jimmy Italy. My manager asked me if I didn’t know anyone who might replace her because she was leaving her position. I volunteered. That’s how I started on TV in the early 2000s.
And the theater invited itself into your life despite yourself.
The job I had on TV wasn’t something I was very passionate regarding. I spent my time clowning around. Eventually, a colleague encouraged me to come to her theater classes. I hesitated, I wasn’t really for it, because I had in my mind that theater was not an activity for me and my social environment, I came from the suburbs. I still decided to give it a go. When I entered this course, I fell in love with it, a sort of revelation. As I was doing amateur theater, people encouraged me to do it more seriously. I had attended the Florent course a bit, but I didn’t like it. I found it very abstract, I was asked to make the sad tulip out of socks, things like that (laughter).
Is that when you had an extraordinary encounter?
One evening, the journalist I worked for asked if anyone wanted to go see Galabru play at the Saint-Georges theater, in The Routs by Goldoni. I volunteered directly. When I saw Michel Galabru play, I was shocked by his immense talent. I told myself he was one of the only ones I wanted to take lessons with.
Did you meet him in person?
Yes, thanks to an incredible combination of circumstances. The next day, I open the newspaper Release and I come across a page which announces that Michel Galabru is going to audition at the Théâtre des Variétés. I saw it as a sign, I even kept this item for years in my jacket pocket as a kind of good luck charm. So I auditioned for the role of Diderot in the play The Libertine by Éric-Emmanuel Schmitt. That’s when Michel Galabru took me under his wing and taught me everything, he became a master, like a grandfather. I developed a very close relationship with him, both personal and professional.
Did you play alongside him a lot?
I played several plays with him, I met him for ten years. This meeting changed my life. If I am in front of you today, it is thanks to him. Michel Galabru raised me humanly and culturally. He introduced me to Molière, Shakespeare, Goldoni, Anouilh… I was able to meet other teachers such as his son Jean Galabru, or Nadine Capri, Nicole Vassel and Nathalie Nerval, a great actress who also had a major influence in my career.
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Your approach to acting work?
Becoming an actor is a meeting with yourself. It’s not a problem to be shy when you’re an actor, but you can’t be modest. You have to show your feelings. I’m often told that you need luck, and it’s true. It’s undeniable, you have to know how to recognize it and grasp it. It takes a lot of courage. In my case, I saw this chance and I didn’t let it pass me by.
In Emily in Paris (2020), you play the role of Luc, who made you known.
It is the discovery of the Anglo-Saxon and American universe. Something that I would never have imagined in my career, even less with my level of English, it was not a given… My agent at the time informed me that there was a casting call taking place for a series American. I honestly wasn’t excited to take the casting given my level of English. She still pushed me to try the adventure.
Did you imagine that this would be the kick-off to your career?
No, I didn’t even know who I was going to audition for and in what context it was going to be broadcast. At the end of the final casting, I found myself opposite Darren Star and that’s when I told myself that this was going to be something big. I still didn’t know it was for Emily in Paris and that it was going to be broadcast on Netflix… and even less that it was going to be a hit! I only learned regarding it while filming the first season. At that time, we had no idea that we were starring in a successful series…
Now you’re known internationally… And you’re starring in the next Johnny Depp.
The most incredible thing is that Johnny Depp didn’t even give me a test. Al Pacino, the producer of the film, confirmed behind him. I almost felt like it was a sketch.
How did the meeting go?
My agent told me that Johnny Depp was looking for an actor to play the role of a French painter in his next film, and she suggested my name among others. He chose me by telling the teams that he didn’t even want me to try out, I was automatically taken. It seemed surreal to me! These people, like Woody Allen or Johnny Depp, rocked my childhood. I do this job for these kinds of personalities who have sculpted my imagination.
Can you pitch the film to us?
The film, Modi, is based on a play and will be released in 2024. It retraces three days in the life of Modigliani, the famous Italian painter, in 1915 in Paris. We follow him in his life and his wanderings, with two of his painter friends, including Maurice Utrillo who I play, and Chaïm Soutine played by Ryan McParland. The main role of Modigliani is played by Italian actor Riccardo Scamarcio. We discover the real Modigliani, his career, his failures, because he did not sell paintings at the time.
What does the Parnassian bohemian aesthetic of post-war Paris look like?
We shot entirely in Budapest with incredible recreated sets. The filming took place there for the main reason that it is 2024 and to transform this modern Paris into 19th century Paris.e century requires colossal work. Being Parisian, I was amazed by the resemblance of certain places. I think that paradoxically, in Budapest it is less difficult than in Paris with the bus shelters, the Vélibs… (laughter). The team did a fantastic job on these sets with cinema heavyweights. The cinematographer worked on Napoleon by Ridley Scott and the first assistant director is Peter Kohn, who also did La La Land, THE Pirates of the Caribbean… They have immense talent.
“AMERICANS OFTEN TELL ME THAT I LOOK A LOT LIKE ROBERTO BENIGNI…”
Lately, you’ve been moving more towards American productions. Are you more sought following by them than by the French?
I am much more in demand by Americans, English and Italians. I imagine that my accent and my French side are what make me special, it’s a bit of my trademark. Their welcome was so warm that I ended up wondering why I was so requested by them.
Did you find the answer?
France is a country that is a bit depressed with a particular mood. Inevitably, authors write with that mood and write stories that look like that. So to play this type of atmosphere, they need actors who can embody it. Personally, I exude a lot of vitality and I am very sunny. Americans often tell me that I don’t look much like a French person in my way of being, they constantly say to me: “ Bruno, you’re so bright, you’re so sunny ! “. They also often tell me that I look a lot like Roberto Benigni…
The main difference between French and American productions?
If I try to stereotype, I find that Americans work more, in the sense that they have more resources, therefore more time. For them, work is a kind of virtue. I noticed that Americans really like laid-back actors and coolness. They have this very expressive side where they constantly say “ Amazing ! », in an overflow of heat. But when it comes time to shoot on set, it gets serious. As for French productions, it’s a bit like everyone stays in their own corner when it comes to makeup and dressing, it’s not as friendly. When it’s time to shoot on set, we mess around. I prefer the American method because I feel more comfortable there. Their sense of entertainment is a very different culture from here. They are so kind towards me that I thank them for giving me this opportunity.
2024, a year full of projects?
After Modiby Johnny Depp, I will also reappear in season 4 ofEmily in Paris ; we will finalize the filming before the Olympic Games in the summer. There will be a winter part, followed by a more spring season, it will breathe new life into the series which has always been filmed in summer. I think it’s going to be harder for Lily (Collins, who plays Emily in the series, editor’s note) in terms of the cold because it will stay on more summery outfits… (laughter). You will also see me in a new movie released on Netflix called Werewolves and directed by François Uzan where I play the role of an Italian historical character, alongside Jean Reno, Franck Dubosc and Suzanne Clément. A busy year already!
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Photos Axel Vanhessche
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