Cool? Moi? French movie star Romain Duris tells Helen Barlow his looks can be quite deceiving
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He's been called the sultan of suave and the coolest actor in France, yet Romain Duris says appearances can be deceiving.
"I might seem cool but I'm not. It's a problem sometimes," he admits in his deep, cigarette-smoker's voice. "In fact I am truly Parisian, I'm nervous, stressed. Paris stresses me out. I like the idea of being cool, but it's a faux cool."
At 33, Duris is hard to pin down. The biggest young star in France, he likes to keep 'em guessing and his two recent movies provide a typical contrast. While as a lively Moliere he had long Byronian curls and a mischievous smirk, in Paris he is all but bald and near death's door.
"I love playing different characters; I need that," he says.
He also likes to work with Cedric Klapisch. Paris marks his sixth film with the director who brought him (as well as Audrey Tatou and Cecile de France) to wide attention in The Spanish Apartment and who, in fact, discovered him in Le Peril Jeune (Good Old Daze) when he was at art school.
"Cedric is a master at casting," he says. "He knows how to weave many characters into touching human stories and he always surprises me."
In Paris we see the City of Lights through the eyes of Duris' Pierre, who will die if a heart donor cannot be found. He seeks comfort with his sister, the equally transforming and (here) slightly frumpy Juliette Binoche and her kids. As he stands and looks over the city he loves we observe the emotional lives of a host of characters including that of a lonely Fabrice Luchini (also Duris' co-star in Moliere.)
"It's all about heart," Duris says of the story, "so it's interesting that death is there too. There's a new maturity here; there's interior reflection. In a sense if you speak of death, you speak of life and that interests me."
For a long time Duris had resisted working in English. It didn't help that his first two English language outings were duds. He had a small role alongside Kate Hudson and Naomi Watts in Le Divorce and played a hippie filmmaker in Roman Coppola's sci-fi fantasy CQ. Perhaps understandably, given his standing in France, he knocked back the Bond villain role in Casino Royale, instead winning rave reviews for his role of a leather-jacket-wearing thug who learns to play the piano in The Beat That My Heart Skipped, a French remake of James Toback's Fingers.
Recently, however, he found a character he wanted to play in the supernatural thriller Afterwards, where he appears alongside John Malkovich and Evangeline Lilly (Lost) in the story of a New York lawyer who marries his childhood sweetheart.
Directed by Gilles Bourdos and adapted from Guillaume Musso's novel, it's the most French of American movies.
"It was good because in English usually it's too complicated. It's more like being at school. I worked hard on the language with a coach and when I started shooting in New York I found it very comfortable. When the character is true it's good in English, but it's like that with all films."
Afterwards marks another stage in Duris' evolution, because here he plays the father of an 8-year-old girl. "I loved the father-daughter relationship. It's a bit new for me," he says.
Is he a father in real life? "No, no, no," he replies, sounding very Parisian, "but it's coming soon."
While Duris is guarded about his personal life, he is clearly referring to settling down with his actress girlfriend, Olivia Bonamy, 35, whose career is on the ascendant, possibly because of the help from her beloved beau. After smaller roles in Paris and The Age of Man (also starring Duris) Bonamy is co-starring with Daniel Auteuil in the upcoming police thriller MR73 and in the new film by Patrice Leconte.
Is it difficult to live as such a celebrity in France? "No, it's under control," Duris responds. "I'm not yet Johnny Depp or Gerard Depardieu. I'm able to have my private moments, and when people recognise me, that's okay. When I no longer have the desire to be recognised, I'll see then. But it's an attitude, there's a way of being discreet."
Of course some might say that's very, very cool.
LOWDOWN
Who: Romain Duris, French star
What: Paris directed by Cedric Klapisch and also starring Juliette Binoche, Fabrice Luchini
When: Screening at cinemas now
