Albert Dupontel immediately thought of Catherine Frot to play his mother in “Le Vilain”. The director feared, however, that the actress would refuse his proposal, which she actually hesitated to decline.
The villain : Albert Dupontel is mean
After Bernie, The creator and Locked outAlbert Dupontel signs his fourth film with The villain. In this burlesque comedy released in 2009, the actor and director plays Sidney Thomas, a thief who finds himself pursued after a robbery.
The criminal has the wise idea of taking refuge with his mother Maniette (Catherine Frot), whom he has not seen for 20 years. As he passes out in his bedroom after being shot in the arm, Sidney’s mother discovers the true nature of her thug son. Swearing to God that she will make him regret his many mistakes, she decides to correct him and put him back on the right track in her own way. Start then a fierce and hilarious duel…
Bouli Lanners, Nicolas Marié, Bernard Farcy and Philippe Duquesne complete the distribution of the feature film, which brings together nearly a million spectators in the cinema.
Catherine Frot “hesitated” to make the film
Three years after their collaboration on Odette Toulemonde, The villain marks the reunion between Albert Dupontel and Catherine Frot. During the promotion of the filmthe filmmaker explains why he wanted an actress much younger than Maniette (aged 78) to lend him his features:
An actress of the role’s age would have brought more realism and less burlesque. I really needed Catherine’s “clown” to hold this fable together.
Director think immediately of Catherine Frot for the role. He nevertheless fears the refusal of the actress. This last actually reluctant to acceptapparently a bit frightened by this proposal, as Albert Dupontel confides to the site Critically :
Catherine hesitated and we experimented until she found this silhouette. Old age can be scary at first in terms of ugliness but I told her that I wanted her to be an old lady who would have nothing to do with realism. (…) I didn’t want her to walk with a limp but to remain herself and that we find a silhouette between the grandmother of Titi and Grominet, Mamie Nova and that of the portrait of David Hockney, who was one of the sources of inspiration. I think it’s interesting for an actor to make up and I thought it would increase the fantasy of the film to have him in cross-dressing. The real danger of the film was not eating a canary, it was telling an actress who was still young that she was going to age thirty years.
On screen, the result wonderfully reinforces the burlesque side of the feature film. Catherine Frot also finds one of her most striking and funniest roles with The villain.
