Jean Dujardin donned the legendary costume of the masked vigilante in the mini-series Zorro, the second and final part of which France 2 is broadcasting this Monday evening, December 30. In the project of this revisitation of the myth of one of the heroes of popular culture, of which the producer Marc Dujardin is at the origin, Jean Dujardin, who plays an aging Don Diego de la Vega, gives the reply to Audrey Danawho, for his part, plays his wife Gabriella. The actress talks to us about this intensive six-month shoot.
Zorro : “When I read the script, I fell out of my chair“, Audrey Dana confides that the role of Gabriella destabilized her
Télé-Loisirs: The role of Gabriella is very unexpected. Was this a character that disconcerted you?
Audrey Dana : I wasn't expecting that at all, since there are no women in Zorro. But I thought that if I was offered this role, it certainly wasn't to play the role alongside Jean Dujardin and that there was going to be something interesting in it. And when I read the script, I fell out of my chair. I was pleasantly surprised. The character of Gabriella is pivotal, she is central. Arriving at the end of the 8 episodes, I realize that Zorro is a deeply feminist series. Among these men, she is the only one who is not corruptible and not in a quest for power. Besides, it's something very masculine, often, the quest for power. And when women are in charge, they sometimes take on these attractions. Even if I also like to make the distinction between what is masculine and what is feminine, which is not necessarily reserved for men and women. I think we are all made up of this balance and that the more we find this balance, the happier we are.
The action scenes are not just reserved for Zorro, but for Gabriella as well. Did you like this adrenaline?
It was extraordinary. This is the first time in my life that I had to do something like this. It was never offered to me. It just so happens that life has meant that I have never ridden a horse in a film, wielded a sword or had to do big fight scenes. That this role was partly conditioned by his physical condition and the action, I loved that! The more the body is involved, the more I like it. I come from the circus, from dance, I am a very physical and very sporty person. And I love developing these skills. I didn't become a swordsman or a stuntwoman, but I learned a lot.
Zorro : “We gave everything!“, Audrey Dana looks back on the efforts she and Jean Dujardin had to make on the set
How did you experience the very physical part of filming?
I enjoyed it like a child, but we ended up on our knees! [Elle rit]. We didn't give up until the end. We would have liked to end with a scene that was a bit funny and light and easy to do because we would have laughed all day long saying to ourselves “We held on, we survived! Six months of filming and we’re still here!“. But on the last day of filming, we shot the big final fight scene and we had to be up to it. There was sword fighting, dialogue, 150 extras… That day, Jean [Dujardin] and I were photographed on chairs sleeping. Normally, we feel tired as the end approaches, but we were sleeping, because we still had 10, 15, 20 or 30 takes to do and we had to succeed at all costs. We needed all our energy to ensure we didn't get a sword in the eye. Honestly, we gave everything! Jean even more than me because he has a lot more fight scenes than me. I remember he was leaving the set and I asked him: “How are you my heart?” because I felt that he was going to the end, he was sweating, and he came in and took cold baths for half an hour to calm his muscles. He went all in. It wasn't a problem. easy filming, but Zorro was filmed with joy. You can feel the ambition and the work.
Is there more pressure in this profession for actresses?
You should know that on set, we will worry much less about a man's dark circles than those of a woman. An actor can have huge bags under his eyes, that's not a problem for anyone, whereas for an actress who's going to have the same ones, it's going to be complicated to get her to work. I have already heard: “this actress, she has completely remade herself, it's not possible, she is unfilmable” or “she got a bit old, the girl“. In one sense or the other, we're done in fact! There is, it's true, a myth of the actress. Very humbly and at my level, I'm trying to break it a little by being as natural as possible and not too much into the codes of glamour, but I can't say that there is no pressure in this profession, it's true. And it's to break this myth that I. I directed the film Under the girls' skirtsto say that we are all the same, with our faults, our fragilities and if we dare to show them and talk about them, we will make others feel less guilty. Besides, ten years later, I'm going to film the sequel. It's going to be called Under women's skirts.
