Thierry Godard becomes a resident of the Comédie-Française

We saw him more on television, from “Engrenages” to “Un village français”, than on stage. The 57-year-old actor joins the Maison de Molière from September 2, with a first appearance in “Le Malade Imaginaire”.

“PTo be frank, I would never have imagined being hired at the Comédie-Française”he tells us. Man of cinema, recurring face of television, Thierry Godard, 57, becomes a resident of the Maison de Molière, the theater announced this Thursday, June 13. The actor will officially join the troupe on September 2 and will make his first appearance at the Richelieu Hall in the roles of Monsieur Diafoirus and Monsieur Purgon, characters in Molière’s play Imaginary sick, directed by Claude Stratz (1946-2007), created in 2001 and repeated from September 19, 2024 to January 26, 2025.

Everything happened very quickly for Thierry Godard. “My agent contacted me a few weeks ago saying, ‘You might get a very surprising call,’ without telling me more. When Bertrand Schaaff, the director of production and artistic coordination of the Comédie-Française actually called me, I answered him: “Are you sure you weren’t mistaken?” »adds the actor, joined by Telerama. In recent years, Thierry Godard has not distinguished himself much in the theater. His last appearance on stage dates back to 2018, in the play The Collection, by Harold Pinter, directed by Thierry Harcourt. The actor, however, began his career on the stage, trained successively by the actress and director Jacqueline Duc, a former resident of the Comédie-Française from 1946 to 1951, then by Robert Cordier, who introduced him to the techniques of Actors Studio – based on the interiority of the actors rather than their acting – before joining Studio Pygmalion. “I played a lot of classical texts when I started. And after all these years, I tell myself that only in the theater can we find such powerful texts. It’s the only place where you can play so many characters. Cinema tends to lock us into what we know how to do best. At the Comédie-Française, I will be able to try new things. »

After a few roles in plays by Samuel Beckett, Marguerite Duras, Shakespeare, Molière, Dubillard and Marivaux, Thierry Godard collaborated briefly with 26 000 Couverts, a street theater company based in Dijon (Côte-d’Or), before starting a career on the small screen. Television will be his springboard: since the 2000s, the actor has regularly appeared on Canal+ for his role as Lieutenant Gilles Escoffier, known as Gilou, in the series Gears (broadcast from 2005 to 2020), or Raymond Schwartz in A French village, broadcast on France 3. Thierry Godard also played on France 2 in the series The ladies and more recently in Germinal, created by Julien Lilti and directed by David Hourrègue, on the same channel.

In the cinema, Thierry Godard collaborated with Olivier Nakache and Éric Toledano in These happy days, short film released in 2002, as well as in I prefer that we remain friends… made three years later. But it’s mainly thanks to his role as Bruno in the film Welcome (2009), by Philippe Lioret, which Thierry Godard is spotted. Before acting in the Diastema films July August (2016) and more recently The World of Yesterday, released in 2022, in which he played a far-right candidate on the verge of winning a presidential election, alongside Léa Drucker.

At the Comédie-Française, Thierry Godard will therefore evolve in a new, more classical register. A sort of homecoming for this actor with an eclectic background. The movie theater ? “I will continue to act in films. But I will undoubtedly turn to more specific roles. And it’s perhaps also the time to move towards more personal film projects or series that I would have written. » Enough to surprise his loyal audience and that of the Frenchman. And amaze us?