Release Date: 15-05-2007
UK Certificate: 18

Irréversible star Vincent Cassel is one of contemporary France’s greatest and most daring actors. Since bursting into UK public consciousness with the explosive La Haine (1995), the Parisian firecracker has continued to take risks, appearing in such adrenalin-rush, envelope-pushers as Dobermann (1997) and Brotherhood Of The Wolf (2001). More recently he’s just wrapped David Cronenberg’s Russian gangster thriller Eastern Promises, but it’s his creepy outing in debut co-writer/director Kim Chapiron’s blackly comic French horror Satan (Sheitan) that’s currently got genre fans talking. Cassel delivers the most deranged performance of his career, playing the maniacally grinning housekeeper Joseph who plunges a group of townie clubbers into inbred, rural hell. Fortunately though, he was nothing but charming when we caught up with him in London…

WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS!


Joseph in Sheitan is about the craziest character I’ve seen onscreen for some years. Was it an easy role for you?

It’s very strange because although I produced the movie, I hadn’t thought about the fact that one day I would have to play him… Then when we had to start to rehearse, I realised even though this thing was very funny on paper, I had no idea how to get there. And I really started to freak out, because I didn’t know what to do. I’ve never done something so unnatural [laughs], and so honestly I think it was one of the hardest characters to deliver. The first day of shooting was really bad I have to say – it’s not even in the movie… And then the next day we started to do [the] meal scene, and thank god, the character was eating and drinking. So that’s what I did, I ate and I drank wine. And with the wine, you know I just let it go and everything I dreamed of about the character could just happen suddenly, without the fear of being ridiculous, because that’s what I was fighting against really. [laughs]

Your performance is so eccentric. How did you keep a straight face?

Well, I would laugh sometimes – between scenes, of course. But then, I don’t know, when you’re doing it you’re not looking at yourself. That’s the key thing. You cannot be inside the thing and looking at it. And when you’re in the thing it’s not that funny.

There’s the great visual gag of you also appearing briefly as Joseph’s wife. How did it feel dressing up as a woman?

You know, it’s very strange because I thought I would be sexy as a woman. Can you believe that? Then when I looked at myself, I was anything but sexy. [What’s] really strange is that I was Joseph for like the whole thing… and the crew and the cast were used to me like that… so they didn’t really pay attention to it anymore. Then one day it was over for Joseph, and the next day I appeared on set, no more moustache, I did something with my nose to change it to make it thinner on the edge, I changed my teeth, and then I had this wig and this make-up. It was so weird, because I got on the set and everybody was checking me out… The look of the crew and the cast members on me made me feel uncomfortable… I felt like a stripper really. They would look at me with this kind of [bursts out laughing], I don’t know how to say it, but it was like really weird. I’m not sure I liked it.

What was it like playing a more comic part like Joseph, compared with your intense roles in movies such as Sur Mes Lèvres (2001) and particularly Irréversible (2002)?

I liked it. I like comedy, but I think most of the time comedies are ugly. Because they’re comedies the light is like [makes the noise of an explosion] you have to see everything, and I don’t like it because I like beauty – even if it’s hardcore beauty… I’m an aesthete… But suddenly with this, it was a genre film in a way, so you could have this strange light, this grainy kind of film and all that, so I really liked it. But it’s a certain kind of comedy. It’s not for everybody.

Do you still go along to the cinema to check out the public’s reaction to your films?

Yes, I do. [I went] many times for Sheitan. The thing is that I used to dress up to go there. Now I can’t anymore, people know my face much too much. Plus I’ve been disguised in so many movies what ever I do people will recognise me…
It’s a real reward, whether it’s a very concentrated silence or people cracking laughs, just to feel the vibe in the theatre. And actually I think it’s really important to be able to take temperature, because you realise more what works and what doesn’t.


Satan (aka Sheitan) is in cinemas now and out on DVD 26 March