We tend to forget it, but acting generally requires good physical condition. And the ability to change bodies. A subject addressed by Benoît Magimel – to be found this Tuesday, September 3, 2024 at 9:10 p.m. on W9 in The Little Handkerchiefs – three years ago in the columns of The team : “QWhen I was young and skinny, and I had to go topless in the shower, for example, I would do push-ups right before. You know how many American actors have a bench press right next to the set? Or put on girdles, too, before an awards ceremony. Actors are constantly abusing themselves.“
The actor then told an anecdote about this, to our colleagues : “On the film by Emmanuelle Bercot, During his lifetimeI play a young man who knows he is doomed (by illness), he is faced with weight loss. Believe me, it is harder to lose weight at 45 than at 30! Faced with such a challenge, you almost become a top athlete. I had to go on three successive diets because filming was stopped twice, which was dangerous. These three diets completely regulated my life: meals, recovery, training. I spent my time shopping, preparing my meals, my snacks… I managed to lose these 25 kilos in three and a half months with the help of my family because it had become an obsession: all my conversations revolved around it..”
Benoît Magimel ready to do anything for the credibility of his character
“Obviously, the people in the film put a lot of pressure on you because the credibility of the story rests on you. Filming stops at the beginning of December, obviously I treat myself during the holidays, so I gain all my weight back. And then, I’m told that the film resumes in March! Here I am again at 95 kilos. Very mentally tired. I lose about twenty kilos. At the end of May, I was told that the film would resume in August and that was extremely complicated. I lost about twenty kilos but I had to be consistent with the image of what had been filmed. I tried to scrape off everything I could. I told myself that if I removed a few pivot teeth, that could be a solution. Five teeth less later, it was good”, he continued. Benoît Magimel will not have endured all this for nothing since he won the César for best actor for the film in 2022. Faced with his determination, no one could compete.
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