Léa Seydoux on The Beast | Opens April 5

[Applause] [Music] fil with him and um the thing that he mentioned is like is um you can play each period you have a sort of a way of presenting that outside of time and you can be just as perfect in the past the present or the future and also the way you carry yourself it's like people don't know what you're thinking and it makes the character extremely interesting so it was a really nice way to uh introduce the character and the way you you where on the screen but now I wanted to hear from your side what made you um interested in working on the project with with berron um and I approached you with u the script at the beginning and just the origin of the project from your side okay so first uh thank you for uh coming um so when um when I so he so beron sent me the the script and uh I read it and I I was I liked it even though I you know it's it was kind of always when I read a script for me it's always a bit abstract like I don't see the film in a way I don't know if it makes if you understand what I mean but it's um I was just attracted I think by by the the subject and uh also I really like the fact that uh the film is shot you know at uh three different periods so it was the challenge was very interesting for me and the fact also that I speak English I speak French I've tried to do the the British accent the American accent you know it's it it's kind of a way it's ch it was challenging so um and we and there's also something about berron so it's my third uh collaboration with him and um there's always something with beron there is always a very me metaphysical you know um Dimension that I'm really I have to say I'm very attracted too so do you like because it's such a particular role and uh it it's a three-part story it's the same character but not the same character at the same time how do you prepare for something like this because I don't know if it was really short chronological in each part like the 1910 2014 and 20144 if you have to go back and forth with different character or if you just like stay in your mind as the same person completely no I think we shot uh chronologically like the we started with um uh 1910 and then we did uh 2014 and then and then uh 2044 right yes and um sorry what was the question but do you like because it's it's the same character in a way but it's also but it's not really the same for it was the same character yeah no no it was the same character and um um but it's not like she it's the same character but not like um she's not um how can I say it's the same character but she's not like so so she has this fear of uh loving but it's it's it's not um it's not exactly like she she's not moved by the same feelings in a way like in the first in the first part she's it's very restrained her feelings are completely she's she's uh yeah restrained and so very frustrated because also of her condition social condition the fact that she's married and it's in 1910 so she has this this kind wait she has this love She's drawn to to that man but she can't really Express her feelings uh because because she's married so they are complet they are completely repressed and then in [Music] 2014 they are um they are um they they are the opposite the total opposite it's it's they are um violent and uh and uh overwhelming and then in 20 44 they are suppressed so yeah for me it it was not like um exactly uh yeah is it more challenging to play a role like this or is it more liberating for you to just having to explore different aspect of the same character and you know to keep the same and the difference in it the thing is that I don't I I don't know I don't know if it's challenging if the word is uh because for me like I'm attracted to a a script when I read a script and I want to be part of it be part of the film it's because I I feel that I can like as a as a person not only as an actress but as a person that I can leave inside the film you know and uh uh so when I I was just attracted by I guess the subject you know this fear of loving and um yeah I just uh I'm not very um I don't like to be too um I don't like uh when it's too psychological I just pour myself you know I just aband myself and this is what I like I think I'm just like in a way it's a bit selfish you know it's like I'm thinking about the experience I can have as like not as an actress as a human being because I've never really considered myself uh as an actress which is like strange I know but uh yeah you've been doing this for quite some time yes I've been doing this for quite some time but you know I don't come from theater really like I've tried but I was too shy on stage and uh I think that theater was tough for me because um I need to act I need a um a certain intimacy and so for for this intimacy to happen I need a camera I think because it's you know if I'm like in front of people then I I don't know maybe one day I will try I want to try and and and and and have the experience to uh be you know on stage but um yes I I I I need that intimacy so um so uh so so yeah so what I was I don't remember what I was saying but but yes it's just um I think yes I I'm just [Music] um trying to have um a very intense I like intense experiences I mean I I I love the film I think it's a film that also benefits from multiple viewing uh to really capture what Bon is trying to say about fear and love uh through all these different stages so I think maybe also in a way when you're making the film as a selfish reason you also want to see the film once it's done is that something that you think about when you no not at all no actually I'm not really interested you don't you I don't want to watch the film no I don't I don't like to first of all I don't like to uh watch myself and see myself well no it's very for me it's because acting is something for me very uh you don't have that word in in English but in French you say idic which means like um it's a difficult word to translate because it's like very impish or uh prudish or something like that no but it feels like that I'm giving something so intimate that I'm giving something very yeah that is um what it's too bad because this movie is really really amazing and you can't and you can't I've seen it once but it's fine I've seen it four times and every single time I watch it find different things in it and it was so funny to see it with an audience that react very differently at different part where I felt tonight was a little lighter and people would see some of the humor and B is not humor is not always very obvious U but it came out uh in a nice way tonight even so there's a lot of like pain in the film and a lot of distress that relate to contemporary life and and fear uh but it's it's it brings different emotion everything time we watching the film but this is exactly the reason why I think I'm doing I mean I'm doing films it's to create emotions uh for the viewer viewers you know and uh actually I think I'm only interested in what people really like uh feel you know I want to I want to to make people way feel just as as simple as that um beron is also a musician and a composer and on set does he use uh any cue about the music he's going to play or is it something that he discusses with you or it comes after yes he he sent me some uh some of the some of the music that he used in the film but um we we didn't really you know I I'm not like U I'm not so interested about like the reasons why you know a filmmaker wants to make a film because it's not this approach I mean it's not as Tass it uh it is more something uh it's a it's um it's um a language that is more like underneath if it makes sense and so um but what I love is that I love to ask when I'm working with a director I love to ask him questions about his per his very personal questions about his life and and uh um love like about his love life that's all I'm interested about so he was like trying to tell me the the film The Story and everything because he came he came out to rehearse with me um for the film so he came to I was like we were on the holidays so he he came to to my house country house um and so we we he started to like uh we develop and tell me like the concepts and everything and I was like we but I was not really like uh interested about about about it and I was more but youon like uh so uh well only like questions about love and I I think it's all that it's all that really matters to me I'm sure Bon was very open with all his personal feeling to attract you to make the film yes he was very open but I mean the the the film is that's the main subject no oh yeah of absolutely yeah yeah know it's fear of loving like so it's a vast subject um it's something you disagree on but I'm quite sure you came here for one fine morning with me and love you know because I remember maybe I came um and you forgot you you said did I did I come you do you remember no no I didn't come but you okay I um maybe it was at Canen because I was also programming director for night but you did say anyway for me film but no one ever ask you to play uh normal characters like people from daily life or it's very rare that the director will approach you and ask you to play a normal person um and it's true that she's not normal it's true that in one fine morning you play someone that as a normal life with a family and not you know like there's no extraordinary thing it's like a normal routine for her and but that something that you you look out also or do you just like people just will give you you know lady Margo for example you know or someone that seems out of normal life I'm not really I'm not really looking for uh anything I mean no you it comes to you or you look out for things maybe I'm not really looking out for things it comes to you well it come it comes to me and then uh you know also I think I need like a bit of U I need to dream I need like poetry which is something that is a bit like um disappearing nowadays may I need that so um so um no actually I um I I I don't know I don't know why I'm I no but that's an interesting question I'm thinking at the same time no I I really felt that I'm a wide page you know that uh thing so like as a kid I I didn't want to be an actress it was not a a dream of mine and it's with like it it happened randomly and I know I come from this family Cinema family but um it was really not like my destiny to to to be a to be to become an actress so I just feel that what I was drawn to that like and it happened like that and uh but thank God it happened because um I really feel that I've learned everything from like Cinema what I've learned how well it's a bit like we we we but I've learned um how to live way with Cinema with yeah the people that I've met and actually it's true that uh what I what I love about this uh job is is [Music] um the the fact that it's a very artisanal it's a very artisanal uh um art and we're and and just we're make like to like the the the how you just create a film the creative process that is something that I find um quite fascinating well talking about artisanal I think you're working with conture MH on the next film so that's certainly artisanal very artisanal because he does everything he's the DP he's the the the the I mean he he wrote the film yeah he's directing the film he does the music he he does the music I mean he does everything he does he's the script also the script on set like there's it's crazy so you got a script wait I got a script yes and you work that he wrote in the one week Oh that's oh that's a big one then because it's longer than some of it other projects works a lot and it's it's with L gel and Rafael Kun that correct okay and oh okay would be very funny but you You' shot or you just well it's shot he wrote it in I think 10 days something like that we shot in in two weeks so and it's so that's quite a difference from coming from June part two to J because June was quite uh a long long process uh but maybe not for you in this one my part is uh it's not that small it's a good part it's a good part you're pregnant it's pivotal but it's small you're come I I think you you're going to be in in in the next one I I will be the third one I mean I I mean you're pregnant he asked but something will happen you're spoiling the film no we s we should been no oh yeah no oh so oh yeah sorry maybe some people have not seen it's okay now you we can look out for the this beautiful parts U you know it's sorry um I wanted also to to ask you a little bit about the work method that you are because I think you're an an actress with a lot of instincts and it's not that you don't seem to work it just it seems very natural in the way you approach roles and the way you carry your characters is it something that is important for you like the Instinct about picking the film and are you play your character it seems uh very instinctive would you yes um yes I'm I'm very instinctive but not only but um no but yeah it's true I mean it's it's I you know what I do I think I do the films that I that I want to watch you just said you didn't want to watch okay you want okay I see you want to watch the fil you're in it but not with you in it I would watch should everybody should shoot the same film twice with you then you watch it with someone else no but actually no but when I'm you know it's like so when I'm working with someone it's like it's a bit like a again a love story you know you meet someone and then you're like Ah that's interesting there's like conversation I want to have with this person and so for me a movie is a conversation so it's it's um I I need to have an in interlocutor you say that in English interlocutor I need to have someone I can like just uh what relate to or have a conversation with um but [Music] um I wanted to say something else but I forgot um I wanted to be ask you um another a question about the Beast with a collaboration with uh your intellect again sorry to interrupt you no but you said like uh yeah that I was um instinctive I think that uh so as I said like when I when I want to be when I choose to be part of a film it's because I want to live inside the film uh I think that it's uh in a way I don't think you can really play something that that's that's isn't you you know yeah it's always a variation of yourself in a way so I feel that all the characters that I've played sorry that all the characters that I've played are VAR variation of me I guess does it make sense it it makes sense but I'm going to like I'm quickly thinking about all the roles you've played uh and and I'll make mental note for next time we speak I'm just like oh France France comes to mind I'm multi-dimensional mhm I'm like I'm every woman it's all in me anything you want on baby I'll do it naturally I I think you're totally ready for your Bradway um apparance on stage agage you can you can start on Broadway now yeah maybe you're not that shy it's going to be really really big so so you know it's will be like 10 times bigger than this uh and before we finish I just wanted to ask you about the collaboration with George mck because uh something that ber also mentioned obviously the role was written originally for um Gaspar and uh you played with him also before so it was difficult to change a project that meant so much for Bon for a long time and with his friend but um I was I was the collaboration with with George and and he's a really wonderful actor also and he plays his part three parts also with a such a natural way of the desperation of love and the fear of love for all the parts so I was just wondering as um and how good he was for for you to work with he was a really great to work with like I really felt that he was my uh a lie uh but he again like he's like first but he's like great actor extremely talented but also like on the human level he's so nice and he has this uh this uh childhood in you know he's like childhood in in him this thing where he's so pure he has a fragility also in him well fragility but the also he's he's so like de devoted you know he's he's he it was just um we were like two kids you know in a playground yeah no really he it was very helpful to have him for me right thank you so much for sharing thank you so much about the Beast and I hope you come back and I hope next time you come back you will remember you were here