“McCartney has accompanied all my life” | EUROtoday

On is aware of him for his skills as an animator at Big newspaperhis unlikely outfits to Nowherehis voice recognizable amongst a thousand on France Inter. Antoine de Caunes has crossed half a century of cultivated troublemaker. But behind the costume, there’s a diligent reader, a lover of westerns, a lover of the Beatles and John Ford, a person who cries in entrance of Trenet or Sempé, and goals of an condo on the Palais-Royal. For The level, He unrolls the thread of his intimate pantheon, between lasting passions and reminiscences suspended like that stealthy smile by James Gandolfini, crossed sooner or later between two escalators.

The level: What is the primary e-book that marked you?

Antoine de Caunes: I’ve a really particular reminiscence, as a result of I discuss so much in the intervening time. The first e-book I bear in mind and that basically marked me, is Treasure Islandfrom Stevenson. The charming novel par excellence for a younger boy. You can simply establish with Jim Hawkins, the hero. And then, it is a e-book with drawers. The English have lengthy thought of it a youngsters’s e-book, which served Stevenson, whereas it goes far past. I’ve learn it and reread it for years.

The first cinema session you bear in mind?

Either Ben-huron the Le Régent cinema – the massive present on the massive display, with these tanks – a room close to the Republic, specializing in burlesque, the place I went with my mom. She beloved it. She wished me to kind her eye: Max Linder, Laurel and Hardy, Chaplin … Obviously, it marked me for all times.

Your first vinyl or cassette disc?

I did not purchase it. My mom hosted a spread program, See you with …and obtained each 45 laps. I bear in mind listening along with her to the very first of the Beatles, most likely in 1961. A shared pleasure – which is uncommon between generations. We listened to the identical music, and we discovered him the identical points of interest.

Read too Éric Dupond-Moretti: “I would have seen myself living in a jumping film” Your childhood TV collection?

Zorro. I beloved this hero, along with his sleeveless vest, her impeccable hair, who was preventing the unhealthy guys. The very first collection, notably with Sergeant Garcia.

Did you’ve got posters in your room?

Some photos caught to the wall, particularly comics. I used to be very a lot contaminated with Marsupilami. But I’ve by no means actually coated my poster partitions.

How do you care for your self, teenager?

We made music, we listened to it in a loop. And then there have been the turntables leaning in motocross … But the music was actually an obsession.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_mjcqolla

What have been you listening to?

The Stones, Santana, all of the Woodstock period. We took slightly bit for knights from the spherical desk in quest of the Grail. And the Grail was the Beatles after all. We discovered ourselves 5 – 6 in my room, we listened to the A facet, then the B facet, religiously. Then we debrief. Everyone mentioned what they’d felt, what they most well-liked. We entered the main points, we replayed the items. No smoking throughout listening: solely music.

Your youngster toys?

Meccano! It was nice. I bear in mind constructed a automobile, bolt after bolt … to the purpose that I needed to withdraw one within the hospital.

A cultural place you like?

The Palais-Royal. I’m an ideal buyer of the Comédie-Française. This place has a loopy appeal. There is a poetry, magnificence, one thing timeless. My absolute fantasy: having an condo that overlooks the gardens … however I must decide up a small lottery.

The final time you cried in entrance of a movie or a e-book?

At the tip of Twenty years later From Dumas, when Portos dies. An overwhelming second, the tip of the cycle of the musketeers … Otherwise, I’m an actual crying within the cinema. I all the time look ahead to the sunshine to activate after the credit to exit with dignity. The final movie that made me cry was Better man With Robbie Williams. I used to be in tears, particularly in the course of the stage along with his father.

Read too Eva Bester: “Cioran is always worse than me” A current novel that marked you?

I write the iliadfrom Pierre Michon. It was time for I getting began. We all have these shortcomings that we generally should fill. And then there may be Religion From Tim Willocks, which I like to recommend to everybody. A shocking historic novel, a superb journey fresco. If you want Stevenson, in the event you like nice epic tales – not these novels the place a man, in his good room, wonders concerning the faucet water temperature – you embark for good.

Your favourite movies at this time?

Welcome, Mr. Chancewith Peter Sellers. A really delicate movie, lengthy earlier than Forrest Gump. I’d additionally put Driver taxi of Scorsese, the trilogy of Godfather by Coppola… John Landis, clearly: The Blues Brothers. I used to be lucky to be younger within the 70s and 80s, at a time when cinema and music left in all instructions. And lastly, I’ll quote The prisoner of the desert by John Ford. It was this movie that made me wish to notice: an actual lesson in body and reducing.

You have additionally made a phenomenal movie on Napoleon, Monsieur N. Is it a determine that already fascinated you, youthful?

Not actually, no. At the beginning, I solely knew the pictures of Épinal. I used to be enthusiastic about Napoleon because of the movie venture Mr. N. The producers got here to supply it to me at a time once I was giving up a Arsène Lupine. By studying the state of affairs, I needed to doc myself.

How did you’re employed the character?

I began with The Sainte-Hélène Memorialthen by the writings of the generals who accompanied him in his exile. And all Napoleonic – or paranapoleonic literature … It’s pharaonic: greater than 300,000 kilos written on him!

If you could possibly arrange a dream dinner, would you invite him?

Without hesitation! Not to ask him questions, however as a result of he intrigues me deeply. In specific due to Jean-Baptiste Cipriani, his childhood buddy in Corsica, whom he takes with him to Sainte-Hélène. A mysterious character, maybe a pure brother, all the time current in his wake, till turning into the one French man useless there. I’d have appreciated to know this hyperlink.

Other company?

Alexandre le Grand, Cervantes, John Lennon … after which the knights of the spherical desk, so long as to do. It would make a pleasant dinner, even when it smells just like the pants. It lacks ladies …

An underestimated or shameful movie that you simply prefer to see once more?

I do not actually have one, however my tastes are sometimes in opposition to the tide. Megalopolisfrom Coppola, for instance, fascinated me. Sublime, megalomaniac, of loopy freedom. He would not seem like anything. We gave him a nasty lawsuit. And then I’ve a weak point for French nanars. The gendarmesFor instance. It’s silly, but it surely’s humorous. I like movies that don’t declare to be something apart from what they’re. Today, everybody needs to make a movie “that makes you think” …

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJPNMYEOOQE

Your favourite collection?

The soprano. Masterful. For me, the matrix of all the foremost trendy collection. I additionally love Extrasfrom Ricky Gervais. And just lately, Disclaimwith Cate Blanchett and Kevin Kline – Magnificent.

You bear in mind the tip of Soprano ? How did you expertise it?

Very unhealthy. Like an imposed mourning. And as well as, an open finish … which is, for me, the worst. We do not see him die.

But, exactly, the truth that all functions stay potential, together with that it survives, is that not it, probably the most lovely?

Yes, a lot the higher … But if it was clear, we may flip the web page. There, we stay unanswered, to attend till the door opens slightly. It’s robust. I met James Gandolfini as soon as, at Bon Marché, on the escalators. Rose up, I used to be happening. He gave me slightly smile. A suspended second.

Read too Denis Brogniart: “The Mona Lisa, for me, it’s a bland and ugly painting” A piece that helped you undergo a tough interval?

Some songs provide you with slightly breath. For me, it is Trenet. I had the possibility to satisfy him, to do an extended interview with him. His work could make you pleasure … or immerse your self in a candy melancholy. “La Folle Complaint”, for instance, it is among the craziest – and saddest – ever -written songs. And then there are the drawings of Jean-Jacques Sempé. They take me. His humor, his tenderness, his distinctive means of wanting on the world … His disappearance deeply touched me.

What movie or e-book would you prefer to dwell in?

In a musical. Let’s sing within the rainOr Emilia Pérez. The concept that life can dance very a lot.

A track to inspire you?

Springsteen, after all. “Born to run”, or “The Road”. When I have to get again in movement, I take heed to that – or JJ Cale. It units me in a peaceful temper, posed. It relaxes, whereas giving momentum. JJ Cale is a superb guitarist and producer, who launched his first albums within the 70s. What he does is extraordinary: it seems prefer it was recorded final evening.

Have you listened to the brand new Beatles songs, just lately revealed because of AI?

Yes, I listened to all of them. I consider that there’s solely a single stone left of their corpus. I additionally adopted every of the 4 solo, with a marked desire for McCartney. For me, it’s an simple genius, the best melodist since Mozart.

To uncover



The kangaroo of the day

Answer

Have you met McCartney?

Yes, on the finish of the 80s, throughout a half-hour head interview. I do not bear in mind precisely the venture he got here to speak about, however I found a captivating, humorous, humble man. Exactly as I imagined it. He gladly laughed, performed with questions, even probably the most traditional. I used to be very moved. McCartney has accompanied all my life. But he has this reward to make it snug. Very rapidly, we discovered a phenomenal dynamic. He remained extremely near the younger man he was: curious, enjoyable, free. One of my most lovely skilled reminiscences.

Pantheon: Each Saturday, a persona reveals the works which have fed its cultural creativeness.