French actor Vincent Lindon often plays well-meaning characters. But he stressed that he cannot take credit for their selfless choices.
“When I made Welcome[about a man who helps Kurdish refugees]there were people on the street shaking my hand and saying, ‘Thank you so much for what you do for immigrants. Bravo, Lyndon.'” I replied, “Thank you, but that’s not me.” ”
“When I made ‘The Measure of a Man,’ they said, ‘You’re really brave.’ They confuse what I do in the movie with the real me. But my small contribution is that I’m still making them, when I could have made bigger movies, made more money, and taken less risk.”
Lyndon, who will receive the Stella della Mole Award at the closing ceremony of the Turin Film Festival, spoke about the biggest factor in his choice.
“If my movie can change one person, if it can change the opinion of a racist, an anti-Semite, a homophobe, then I’m glad I’m doing this job.”
He said some of his roles “kept me from doing bad things in life.”
“I can’t speak ill of the people who serve me in restaurants. I can’t go on vacation to Saint-Tropez or drive a convertible. I have to act like my character, because there’s nothing worse than making people believe something and then being the opposite in real life.”
He added: “Celebrities like to preach but still fly on private jets and eat in palaces. That’s fine. Everyone has their own conscience, but then stop talking to me about carbon pollution.”
“I’m human. I’m weak. These movies force me to be strong, even just a little bit.”
At the festival, Lyndon introduced Stéphane Brise’s “War”, which depicts a factory strike, and said, “This is one of my favorite films, and I made it with my favorite director.” They also produced The Measure of a Man, Mademoiselle Chambon, A Few Hours of Spring, and Another World, which won awards at the Cesar and Cannes Film Festivals.
He also introduced the audience to Gian Bolona, one of the non-professional actors on set, and praised Lindon as “a humble man who does so much for people outside of cinema.” “I’m in love with what he represents and represents.”
Lyndon is no stranger to showy roles, having previously appeared in the controversial Cannes-winning film Titans, where he played sculptor Auguste Rodin. He also recently joined the star-studded cast of director Ruben Østlund’s The Entertainment System Is Down. But it was “At War” that “affected him particularly deeply.”
“My character is a trade union activist who is prepared to lose his life, his job, his family. He is prepared to lose everything to advance the cause,” he explained.
“We often say, ‘I’ll give anything to make things work,’ but we don’t really mean it. We’ll give a lot, but not everything. He leaves nothing for himself.”
This role was one of the biggest challenges he had ever faced as an actor.
“Despite coming from a bourgeois family, I had to prove to myself that I could still embody him. I had to let go of a lot of things and privileges. I know how much it cost me, but I don’t regret it. In fact, it gave me a lot.”
