Luc Dardenne: “Cécile De France has a clearly luminous presence.”

The Dardenne brothers, in Competition for the fifth time with Le Gamin au vélo (The Kid on the Bike), answered questions from  journalists, accompanied by their producer, Denis Freyd and their two lead actors: Cécile De France and the young Thomas Doret.
  
The choice of actorss

Jean-Pierre Dardenne : “We saw 150 kids, and we saw Thomas the first day. He was the fifth to audition. We saw a boy with a power of concentration, a presence. The audition took place over the phone, with two responses. Thomas managed to make the character at the end of the line exist, whereas many professional actors couldn’t do that. We said, ‘This might just be our Cyril,’ and so it was”.”

Luc Dardenne :  “Cécile De France clearly has a luminous presence. It was very important for the role of Samantha, because it is not at all clear why she wants so much to help this child. There is no psychological explanation.”

Acting with a child

Cécile De France : “For me, Thomas is not a child, but a colleague, an accomplice. He was a leader on set. He is in every scene. When I arrived at rehearsals, he knew the film better than I did. He was working from a table rasa – a blank sheet that he could fill out, whereas I had to rid myself of all the things that had been accumulated on the page. My experience on the one hand, his spontaneity and his investment on the other meant that we were really equals on set.”

On points in common between Clint Eastwood and the Dardenne brothers

Cécile De France: “Talent of course, but in the actual process, they are diametrically opposed. Clint Eastwood does not do rehearsals. He doesn’t attend costume fittings. He usually takes it in one shot. With the Dardenne brothers, there are a lot of rehearsals; there were seven costume sessions, and many takes. Clint Eastwood tries to capture the spontaneity, the magic of the moment. The actor does a lot of the preparation work on his own. With the brothers, one can take the time to look for the answer.”

Interview comments gathered by B. de M.