Bérénice Bejo & Jean Dujardin Turns "The Artist" Into Wins

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Parent Category: Film and the Arts

Category: Interviews

Published on Sunday, 26 February 2012 22:37

Written by Brad Balfour

Q: What excited both of you about doing a silent film?

JD: The challenge. The love story, the body language, maybe, [acting] with the dog -- and Bérénice.

BB: We're never going to get the chance to do that ever again. I thought it was never going to happen to me again. As an actor, you never dream about doing this movie. I never even dreamed to be here and talking with you, but that's another story.

I was happy to see myself in this movie. Sometimes actors say, "I don't like to watch myself." I was very pleased to see myself onscreen in these images and this story, and of course my director directed it. 

Q: What was it like shooting in Hollywood and recreating that period of Hollywood?

JD: Shooting in LA is very motivating -- the set, the Paramount lot, the Warner lot, the Orpheum Theater.

BB: The house of Mary Pickford. He actually wakes up in Mary Pickford's bed, so that's not nothing. Every morning we had drivers or we drove, but going down the hills of Los Feliz, going to Hollywood, Warner, Paramount, it was like being the character -- arriving on set, speaking American with the crew. 

But for me, it gave me an authenticity and I really felt I was part of the movie. I read the Gloria Swanson autobiography so I could have a feeling of the atmosphere back in the time. 

So when I arrived in LA and I actually drove past Charlie Chaplin's studios, Sunset Boulevard, and Hollywood and everything, even if it's not the same, you feel like you're really into the story. It was great. I love it.

JD: And the American faces.

BB: Yeah, the extras. We were so amazed about the extras. Everybody worked. Everybody had a little story in the head, even if he's in the background, he cut his hair and he's really into it. In France, people read books, [then] "Action!" "What is it about? Yeah, whatever." Here, we were like so pushed up. We love it.

Q: Were there any particular silent actors that you saw in a US film that you got the inspiration from?

JD: Yes, a lot. I watched a lot of Douglas Fairbanks movies. Gene Kelly for his smile, his energy; Vittorio Gassman; Clark Gable -- and me, pretending to be a movie star in the 1920s. 

BB: I watched a lot of Joan Crawford when she was like 20, 25 years old, because she started exactly like Peppy. She started as a flapper and then she did silent movies and then talking movies. So I really thought that her energy was close to Peppy. 

I needed to find how to be an American actress. I'm not an American actress, especially not an American actress in the '30s, so I had to really look at her. So I looked at her in Grand Hotel with [John] Barrymore and I thought she was so beautiful and adorable. At one point you have to forget everything, all of your references, because we've been watching so many movies. 

I didn't know [Frank] Borzage movies, [W.F.] Murnau movies, King Vidor, so what I really liked the first time I saw all those movies was that the actors were very modern the way they acted. 

They were not pantomime or anything like that, and I realized that you didn't have to do so much to express things. Because it's all about your face, and because you can't hear any noise, people really focus on everything on your face. 

Q: Some actors might feel that because of motion capture, what James Cameron did with Avatar, and some other technology, there's some debate over whether or not that will be the future of cinema.

BB: I don't think so. I think we'll have both. As an audience, I love to see actors, too. I love to see animation and everything, but human beings [are] always going to be human beings. We always need [that]. 

And even if you have lots of emotion with Avatar, it doesn't mean that you don't have it when you see a normal movie. You have lots of different kinds of things and sometimes you want to see Avatar and sometimes you want to see The Artist. Today [it] is The Artist. 

It's like having kids -- when you have one, then you have another one, it's not less love, it's more love, and again more. You don't split, it's just more.

Q: A lot of this movie is about the film industry going through a transition. What part of the film industry do you wish more people would appreciate before it's gone? 

BB: What I think that I really like in The Artist is the way it's edited, because you take the time to see a scene and it doesn't go so fast. 

I think today everything goes so fast that you don't have time to watch a beautiful shot. Some directors, yes. But I think the movies are going too fast and [have] lots of special effects, and the story is actually smaller than the effects sometimes. 

But then it's not against 3D or special effects, because I love them. I love animated movies, I love 3D. It's just [that] you have different kinds of movies, and that's another kind and that's another experience. 

It doesn't take something from us. Special effects or 3D doesn't change our way of acting, our way of approaching a character. It's just for the audience [that] it's something new.

JD: It's not at all the same transition today. From silent films to talking films was probably violent for actors at the time. Special effects improve and add things to movies.

Q: So how did you two work together? What was the process?

BB: We sat down maybe twice. We rehearsed a lot of the tap dancing, but we didn't work too much at the table.

JD: Tap dancing for five months.

BB: Yeah, tap dancing was five months. But we read the script [together] maybe twice.

Q: Were there lots of takes?

BB: Not a lot of takes because we didn't have lots of time. So maybe we [did] four takes, five takes. We had just 35 days of shooting. We knew each other, we worked together already, so we were really so happy to be on set together and work again. And we knew Michel.

JD: Comfortable. It was comfortable.

Q: Working with this director, was it easier or harder for you?

BB: I met him on set with Jean. I remember Jean and I going back to the hotel speaking about Michel, and the fact that we were so amazed at how calm he was on set. 

It was a big movie, and it was his first big movie. I loved the way he directed everything and everything had a purpose, like every object was in the frame for a reason. 

I was very excited to do another movie with him. He was the director, I was the actress, so there was no husband-wife thing on set. And [Jean] was his "wife" too, so I had to share my husband with him. It's like a little joke we had, the three of us.

JD: No, no joke.

BB: It's not a joke? I had to share.

Q: So you had a certain degree of intimacy?

BB: Oh, yeah. You didn't share the bed. But he's very calm on set and he's very focused on the work, and he loves actors. 

That sounds silly to say, but some directors don't really enjoy working with actors. He really enjoyed working with us and helping us to find new directions. He loves watching actors act. He's always saying "I'm the director, you're the actor. You do your job and I watch you and I help you if you need some help." But [he's] not a manipulative director.

JD: He's very calm, he thinks a lot. He prepares beforehand so that he can take his time on set. We have the same method. I try to really prepare everything ahead of time and then I can have fun on set.

BB: He storyboarded the whole movie. And it's mine, it's my book.

JD: He's not like a "directive" director. He trusts his actors. They propose things and then he'll give nuanced direction.

Q: And the dog? Were you ever fearful of him upstaging you?

BB: Well, yeah. He had the best actor. I didn't get anything.

JD: Yes, because we are the same character, Uggy and me -- Siamese twins.

Q: Since this film has raised the bar for you two, how will it affect the way you choose future roles?

JD: It's a story. It won't change anything. It's just a passage. I don't want it to change. I want to stay intact, to keep the fun and the pleasure I have, to keep my doubts. It's healthier to have doubts.

BB: For me, there will definitely be a before and after The Artist, because I think for the French audience, really, it's a character that really put me somewhere else. I enjoy the body language so much, and I trust myself more than I used to before the Artist.

[As] for choice, it's very hard, because when you have the chance of doing such a beautiful movie, everything looks kind of faded after that. 

But then I think, okay, I'm not going to do that ever again. That doesn't mean that I can't do anything that really challenges me. So I just keep that in mind and go on.

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