Théodore Pellerin: “Freeing yourself from the weight of masculinity”

After bursting the screen in Continental Drift last year, the 25-year-old actor chained Hollywood projects…

You play a migrant engaged in an NGO in Continental Drift by Swiss director Lionel Baier. How does it feel to be directed by this committed filmmaker?
Theodore Pellerin: He is an extremely brilliant and erudite person. He is a director who is not in the ego, who loves people and his team. All this energy is infused on the film set and creates an environment in its image.

You play there alongside Isabelle Carré…
She has great sensitivity and a great ability to listen to her partners. Spending time with Isabelle and watching her work is nourishing.

You’re playing a drag queen in Sophie Dupuis’ next film. A dream for you?
Yes, it wast a real desire to play while freeing myself from the weight of masculinity and emancipating myself from my education. It was also very important in the process with Sophie not to create an overly caricatural feminine identity, but to find and then develop the femininity of the character and, of course, mine.

Your next roles?
I am in Beau Is Afraid by Ari Aster with Joaquin Phoenix, which comes out in April. I just finished the series Franklin for Apple with Michael Douglas and Noah Jupe which will be released this year.

Your relationship with fashion?
As a teenager, I was very concerned regarding how other people looked. For a long time, I thought that you had to have a certain image in order to be accepted and that weighed heavily on me. I am aware that I have a somewhat unusual physique and it took me some time to accept it. Today, I feel good with it and I think I better understand the codes without necessarily corresponding too much.

The cinema of the future?
I can’t imagine it.

Beau is afraidby Ari Aster, in theaters soon

Unboxing Valentino jumpsuit in tailoring wool & nylon knit Valentino Garavan’s Rockstud Essential

Par Mathis Raymond
Photos: Emma Birski