He couldn’t imagine anyone other than the actor from Kaboul Kitchen to play Grand Charles. Director Antonin Baudry talks about his choice in Premiere.
Six years of work, two films, the biggest budget in French cinema, a selection at Cannes and a crazy bet: withThe Battle of Gaulle: The Iron Agele réalisateur Antonin Baudry unbolts the statue of the Commander to paint the portrait of a frenzied idealist, an unreasonable irrationalist, all carried by a singular cinematic energy.
The Battle of Gaulle: The Iron Age has just been released in theaters. A grandiose project, inspired by the biography of Julian Jackson (De Gaulle, a certain idea of Franceparue in 2019), that you cinéste a lue in même temps that Jérôme Seydouxpresident of Pathé, who will become producer of the film. “Jérôme imagined for a while that we could make a series and I found the idea very good, knowing that it was not my job to make series” tell Antonin Baudry in a long subject dedicated to the behind the scenes of the film, published in issue 573 of Premiere (available on the online store).
And then Jérôme Seydoux to osé: “Why not two films?” An idea which came to fruition with a disproportionate diptych which will continue with The Battle of Gaulle: I write your nameon July 3 in theaters. A resolutely ambitious project, led by Simon Abkarian. The actor of the series Kaboul Kitchen to interpret Charles de Gaulle and not a superstar to carry the enormous project? This is a bold and unexpected choice…
“It was him or no one. It was my only choice.”explains the director. “It was obviously not the choice of the industry. When I am convinced, I think I am convincing. And I have a producer who believed in my project and gave me real artistic freedom.”
On paper, however, the choice is not obvious. Less than one Lambert Wilsonfor example, who imposed his regal presence behind the General’s mustache in the 2019 biopic. Moreover, Simon Abkarian is much smaller than Grand Charles was in reality (1.84 m compared to 1.96 m). But Antonin Baudry doesn’t care:
“The essence of the character is more important than appearance. I don’t neglect it: appearance is important. But the two things that express the soul are the eyes and the voice. If someone has the same flame in their eyes and the same music in their voice, it is because they have understood something, that something has clicked..”
The filmmaker also says he searched for the character for a long time with his actor, “by working on the voice, the intonation, the speaking. And I witnessed the moment when he found it. The moment when he absolutely no longer needed to imitate anyone. When he had understood his music and where he had become de Gaulle. I saw with my own eyes that second when it all happened passed, and it was very beautiful.”
Simon Abkarian details in this same file, to read in full in this Premiere n°573, how he worked on the character, first with “archives to see him walk, speak, move… while starting the costume tests, to find the silhouette of the character, incredibly graphic. Then, after a month, I stopped looking at the archives to think about his approach, his attitude. I decide, for example, to forbid myself from looking sideways.“
He also worked a lot on the General’s voice, because “De Gaulle is also a voice. After a week of filming, we recorded his speeches in the studio. That night was decisive for Antonin Baudry and me: we found the breadth of the character there. Because I always need a cursor that lets me know how far I can extend myself and where I need to set limits. We had to get closer without imitating. So we recorded, listened, corrected, we went back… With this very particular phrasing, because de Gaulle really hits all the words. But this voice goes with his body, his way of standing, transformed by the uniform in which he becomes a soldier; and so stands like a soldier.”
The actor did a remarkable job bringing the story to life. Charles de Gaulle in this one-of-a-kind biopic. And Antonin Baudry finally summarizes:
“To embody this type of figure, there is nothing more painful than imposing a star just because one is needed to be able to finance the film. I wanted to see the character, not the star.”
The Battle of Gaulle: The Iron Agecurrently in theaters.
