A cigarette break, a makeup touch-up and he’s ready. Conducting interviews in one of the beach restaurants at the Cannes Film Festival, Benoît Magimel is at ease: if the 52-year-old actor has already received the acting prize here for The Pianist by Michael Haneke in 2001, this time he came for the notable role of General KÅ“nig in The Battle of Gaulle – The Iron Agefirst part of Antonin Baudry’s biopic on the General.
Prolific, memorable actor Momo Groseille in Life is a long quiet river by Étienne Chatiliez, Benoît Magimel has thwarted the fate that awaits most “child actors” – oblivion – by leading a career skilfully made up of popular films and auteur cinema (Chabrol, Haneke, Finkiel, Dupieux, Schoendoerffer, Bercot…).
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In this life of cinema, he has experienced successes, failures and doubts, which he deals with by staying away from critics and social networks. Interview in the sun with one of the most talented French actors of his generation.
LA TRIBUNE SUNDAY – You have already played Musset, Louis XIV and now Kœnig. How do you go about playing such historical characters?
BENOÃŽT MAGIMEL – In the film, we especially see KÅ“nig in the battle of Bir Hakeim, which is crazy. Like any good Parisian, I only knew the Bir-Hakeim bridge: I passed over it without asking any questions! For this kind of role, you have to look for the human side: their flaws, their fears, their childhood wounds… You always have to look at the childhood of historical characters because everything is played out there.
