Horses can make us happy by making us fall. Proof of this is with Guillaume Canet who branched off into the world of cinema at the age of 18 after a horse riding accident while he was a professional rider. Now aged 51, he has 55 films to his credit as an actor and 8 films as a director. Suffice to say that the filmmaker is not the type to save himself.
“I don’t know how to do anything. I don't know how to lie down on a deck chair. Every time I do it, I lie down and two minutes later I'm like, 'I didn't do this, I didn't do that.' So I'm trying to work on that, says Guillaume Canet. There is a part of my brain that is always on alert and which, when it experiences things, says to itself that moves me, that is interesting, that is beautiful. Any artist, musician, singer, painter, author is constantly connected with his passion and with his art when he lives, because that's what he draws inspiration from.”
A thirst and a passion to create that inhabits him. “This extraordinary feeling when you're in a cinema and you present your film to an audience, it's something that totally thrills me. I think I have a kind of bulimia about that, a desire to constantly reproduce and relive these experiences. And so, to go as quickly as possible, as long as I can do it, as long as I have the chance to do it, I take advantage of it. There is also perhaps a fear that it will stop. There is this frenzy that comes from there, and then also avoiding thinking. I think that when I ask myself, there are all these existential questions that come back and that I have had since my early childhood.”
Operate in an emergency
Writing or acting quickly, again and again, that's how the actor and director works. “I need this urgency who will draw from me the essence of what I actually want to say. I always think I have always worked like that, confides Guillaume Canet. I feel like that's what works for me. I find it hard to function otherwise.”
And added: “Now, I think it has limits. And I’ve already seen it plenty of times, in fact. The limits are the hospital, it’s health. And then, there is also the risk of becoming dry. Because it's important to live. It's important to share things. So, when we talk about this hyperactivity, there is something that I absolutely do not put aside, it is my role as a father. I am a dad who is as present as possible. I need to spend time with my children. Children still educate you a lot. And they often have very accurate thoughts and reactions to life. But that doesn't stop us from always being at work, ultimately.”
>> At the heart of creationa podcast presented by Xavier de Moulins. Every Saturday on RTL, in RTL Evening, the journalist takes us to meet men and women who have decided to devote their lives to an art. Writers, filmmakers, cooks or even singers and photographers, they reveal their secrets and will inspire you. Find the entire interview on podcast every Saturday, as well as a bonus episode, The Essentials, every Wednesday.
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