At the beginning of this school year I interviewed Coralie and David.
They are both professional actors.
They also write scenarios and scripts for movies.
I found out a lot about the world of cinema and about how actors do their job.
I interviewed them during a Friday live! session of the Gerbert Euro Club last September.
Interviewing is a bit of a challenge.
I had to prepare the scenery, which was rather fun, and to make up questions.
I had to find unusual but relevant ones so that the audience would pay better attention.
Then, I had to send an e-mail to Coralie and David to give them my questions.
It was quite risky since I had never met them before and I didn’t know anything about them, except the fact that they were actors.
On the day of the interview I felt a little embarrassed.
I thought they were going to be very serious and would never appreciate what we were going to do.
But in fact, I was wrong!
Coralie and David were really friendly and patient.
At half past twelve, the interview was about to start.
I had stage fright, which was rather appropriate!
Speaking in front of many people is quite stressful.
After it was all over, I felt relieved and rather proud of myself.
Coralie and David were really friendly and spontaneous.
During the interview they seemed relaxed (they may have been stressed but they didn’t let it show).
They were self-mocking and full of humour.
When I asked them if they could be a famous actor, who would they be, Coralie answered that she would be herself, because she is the best actor in the world!
David added that if he met his favourite actor, he would kiss him and hug him as like a big teddy bear.
They confided in us that they had settled in Aurillac because they were fond of umbrellas.
At first, I thought actors were all show-offs, but in fact, I was wrong.
Most actors are not too pretentious; they can be “human”!
Coralie and David are very close.
It was the first time they have worked together as script writers.
They added that they have lots of common tastes, had the same way of conceiving movies, and, indeed, had the same vision of life, society and work.
Doing this interview made me be aware that being an actor is a real job.
Actors and the cinema are really useful for society in fact; they enable people to open their minds up a bit.
Cinema is today’s medium, giving happiness to the world, making people dream and escape from their problems.
To grow up, to get more knowledge and develop their minds, people need films, stories…
Unfortunately, being an actor or a script writer is not a safe job.
Your career stops and starts all the time.
According to Coralie and David, actors are unemployed most of the time.
They usually have to create their own work, adapt themselves and change their way of working if they want to succeed.
They have to be self-reliant, motivated, full of imagination…
In the middle of the interview, I asked them why they had decided to come to Aurillac.
Their answer surprised me.
Although Aurillac is a tiny town, they had a very positive image of it.
They explained that they have been living in big cities for many years, so they really felt exhausted.
Living in a big city is not a good environment to be creative: it’s too stressful, people are too aggressive…
It’s difficult to concentrate when you have to write something; the noise prevents you from dreaming, the crowd is unbearable.
They came to Aurillac too because there is a lot of green, open, unpolluted space, the weather is great, and people are welcoming.
I learnt several things from Coralie and David.
Actors should be independent-minded, spontaneous, hard-working, competitive, generous.
They also advised us that, if we wanted to become actors, not to do theatre studies in France.
In France, there is no real method to learn how to shoot a film, write a script, or even to learn how to act.
Although everybody has talent, people have to acquire methods.
The film for which they are writing the scenario is based on “l’Annonce faite à Marie” by Paul Claudel.
There are many constraints, for example: the set of the movie is an old castle.
They have to try and make the film interesting by including a bit of murder and horror!
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