Michel blanc et gerard depardieu biography
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Michel Blanc - a journey from cult comedy to drama
Gérard Depardieu and Michel Blanc in Tenue De Soirée: 'All at once, I had become an actor who was interesting enough for film directors known for their cinéma d’auteur'Photo: UniFrance |
One of French cinema’s major acting talents Michel Blanc who was part of the fabled cafe-theatre comedy troupe Le Splendide alongside the likes of Gérard Jugnot, Thierry Lhermitte and Josiane Balasko, has died after a heart attack at the age of
Blanc who made his name in such cult comedy hits as Les Bronzés in , moved to more dramatic roles in such dramas as Tenue De Soirée by Bertrand Blier opposite Gérard Depardieu (for which he scored a Cannes Film Festival best actor award), and also carved out a successful career as a director. His screenplay for Grosse fatigue in won him another Cannes award.
In one interview he explained the importance of Tenue De Soirée: “That film changed my career. The film was selected at the Cann
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Michel Blanc, who has died aged 72, was a jovial linchpin of French stage and screen who won prizes at the Cannes Film Festival for work both in front of and behind the camera.
Blanc shared Best Actor laurels for his hilarious turn as a mild-mannered husband nudged towards criminality and transvestism by a hulking Gérard Depardieu in Bertrand Blier’s brusque comedy Tenue de soirée (“Evening Dress”, ).
Later, Blanc and Blier collected the Best Screenplay gong for the in-jokey Grosse fatigue (“Dead Tired”, ), which saw Blanc both directing and playing a version of himself, a successful actor called Michel Blanc whose life unravels upon learning that a doppelganger has been abusing his celebrity perks.
“Whenever I see Michel Blanc in a movie,” Roger Ebert opened his review, “I rejoice that he exists. He seems such an unlikely candidate for movie stardom.”
If Blanc never broke through internationally as Depardieu did, his films sporadically crossed the Channel to general
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Programs
Gérard Depardieu is one of the most controversial and well known French actors in the world. In this film, selected for the Cannes Film Festival and made by his friend of 30 years, photographer Richard Melloul, he reflects on his life.
‘My education consisted of observing others’, Depardieu confides. ‘My dream was to become a butcher.’ But when one of his friends took him to acting classes, he funnen himself at ease on the stage. ‘Strangely, I didn’t have any stage fright’. His former acting coach recalls his first impressions of Depardieu while other contributants include Bertrand Blier, Jacques Weber, Michel Blanc, Pierre Richard and slang för rumpa särskilt på brittisk engelska Ardant.
The trust between Depardieu and Melloul allows us to explore Depardieu’s childhood, his beginnings in Paris, his mentors in the business of theatre and cinema, and his life as never before seen on camera. Gérard Depardieu reveals his most private self through Melloul’s photographs and his own personal