From host to actor, there is only one step. Many have proven this in recent years, but some have not yet taken it and this is the case of Jean-Pierre Foucault, who plays one of the main roles in Murders on the Blue Coast. The new episode of the Murders in… collection is broadcast this Saturday, October 12 on France 3 and therefore features the host of Who wants to make millions? alongside, in particular, Garance Thenault and Alexandra Vandernoot.
You go from host to actor during this film. Was it a desire on your part?
I hesitated a lot when, during lunch, Christophe made this proposition to me. I was seduced, concerned, then I said yes and then I said to myself “But what did you do to say yes?“. Host and actor are very different professions and I have spent my life welcoming comedians to my shows, but I never imagined one day being in their place.
This is the first time that you play a fictional character. Wasn’t the exercise too difficult?
I have acted two or three times in my own role, which I know quite well (laughs). Filming in a natural setting that is mine, on the Blue Coast, reassured me enormously because, at the start, it was quite scary for me. I had a tutor who came to my house to rehearse every night. He taught me how to walk, he gave me advice on pausing, breathing in the text…
What did you use, in your job as an animator, to play comedy?
I think it’s the ease I had when facing the world on a filming stage, because I’m used to ignoring it, to only keeping the gaze of the people who are there. in front of me. But, when you are an animator, you look at the camera and there I was made to redo scenes because there was a camera look.
Have you interacted with other hosts who are also actors?
I went to see Jean-Luc Reichmann in Martigues, who explained to me his system for learning his text by heart. I think that Jean-Luc is a true actor, in his skin and in his soul, in addition to being an excellent host. He has both! I’m just a host or presenter of television shows. I was not able to discuss with Laurence Boccolini nor with Stéphane Bern.
How is your character different from you?
The authors didn’t want to create a lot of differences between him and me, so that it would be credible. My character, Marc Valenci, in his way of life, in his lifestyle, resembles me.
Was it difficult to see yourself on screen?
When I watch myself on TV, I look at myself sideways, I don’t want to confront myself face to face. When I received it, I looked at myself sideways, to try to protect myself a little. We’ll see! You can’t say that I felt good, that’s not true. I still see Jean-Pierre Foucault.
You are a leading presenter on TF1 and your fiction is broadcast on France Télévisions. Wasn’t that a problem?
I would like to emphasize the great elegance of TF1. When Christophe suggested that I shoot this Murders in…my first reaction was to question TF1. If the channel had told me no, I would not have done it, because I was the first to arrive at TF1 during the privatization in 1987, it is my home. The channel told me: “You can go everywhere, except on channels that don’t like the TF1 group“.
Would you try the acting experience again?
It’s complicated… When I watch the TV movie, I always see Jean-Pierre Foucault and it annoys me a little. If the viewer ignores it, maybe I will do something else, if it is offered to me. At that point, maybe a little less crime and a little more comedy, but it’s the most complicated art there is!
