Guillaume Gallienne (The Regime): “When I play in English, I don’t have a label”

Vanity Fair. How did you get involved in this project?
Guillaume Gallienne. I met Leo Davies, Stephen Frears’ casting director (Dangerous relationships), in 2014. At that time, we offered Yves Saint Laurent It was written by Jalil Lesbert, in which I played Pierre Bergé. Since then, she calls me every year and says “Guillaume, I have something wonderful for you!” (“I have an incredible plan for you!”) And every year, I had to say “no” because I wasn’t free. There, it turns out that I have to film in an international series. I was hoping to ask (comedy-franchise) executive Eric Ruff to give me a leave of absence during that period. The project was postponed, and in the meantime, Leo Davies contacted me again. Without reading the script, I told him I wasn’t available. But his persistence paid off. Contacting my agent, who called me back, she said: “Um Guillaume… the Stephen Frears series with Kate Winslet, maybe we’ll read that? »

What was your reaction to reading the script?
I was amazed when I read the first two chapters. I know the creator of the series, Will Tracy, is one of the writers successively. But it never happened to me before to burst out laughing and have my jaw drop at the same time. After a while, I was doing a zoom interview in my dressing room. I dressed in a smart casual outfit, just like the character. He asked me what I thought of the character, and I replied: “Playing wives is interesting. The real question is: How are we when we’re always in the shadows? » And it was settled without any reading. The character was originally British, but they rewrote him. It seems inconceivable that a Frenchman could play an Englishman. On the other hand, I begged them not to force me to take the accent.

“We have a feeling Kate Winslet isn’t afraid of anything.”

How was your first meeting with Kate Winslet?
As I was leaving my dressing room for coffee, I turned my head and passed Kate Winslet. She said to me, “Oh my god!” She congratulated him. Hello! “Enthusiasm. Then after reading, she immediately gave herself to confidence. She is very intelligent and caring. When an actor appeared, she always, casually, arranged to meet him at the coffee machine. She put him so at ease that after two minutes, the ice was already broken, he He told her that his wife was pregnant and there was no nervousness or fear in the shoot, especially when we were shooting the beetroot scene.

What did you learn from working with him?
Simplicity, because that’s not my strong point. She often says: “Learn your lines, pay attention and deliver.” We get the impression that she is afraid of anything. She pays attention to every detail. Once, after a scene, she told me: “We’re going to redo it because the camera is too high.” Me, I am very high minded, sometimes intellectual or psychological.