Trimmed beard, tattoos, bald skull ... Eric Cantona, 53, caused a sensation when he appeared from the first images of "Dérapages", the series launched this Thursday on Arte (at 8:55 pm) adapted by the writer Pierre Lemaître from his novel "Black frames".
The ex-footballer turned actor plays Alain Delambre, unemployed HR director, ready to do anything to regain his place in society. He accepts an offer: a promise of employment against his participation in a false hostage taking organized by the boss of a multinational, in order to choose which member of his management team can pilot a massive layoff plan. The start of a gear. Eric Cantona carries this social thriller forcefully in the shoes of this father of a family driven by anger at a system that has let him down. Reached Portugal where he is confined, he does not mince words.
For an athlete like you, not too difficult to bear confinement?
ÉRIC CANTONA. For now, everything is okay. We have a garden. And as long as we can breathe ...
Alain Delambre, you know any?
I had an uncle who, at 50, lost his job in a big company, where we decided to get rid of him overnight. He did not find a job again despite his skills. I understand the revolt of Alain Delambre, even if he is an unusual character. He finds himself on the sidelines at 50, like many people.
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Are you shocked to be considered a senior in your fifties?
Yes. I am 53 years old and I do not consider myself a senior. It is paradoxical: we ask people to work longer, and we get rid of them faster than before. The system reaches a point of no return.
How does one slip into the skin of this exhausted unemployed?
He is not crazy at first, he has a burst of pride. The successive humiliations fueled his revolt. Either he dies or he fights, and he decides to attack a sprawling monster. That's what I liked: this single man who decides to go to war against the system to give himself a micro chance of survival. He knows he will leave feathers there. He believes that by saving himself, he will save his family and that it will work out in the long term. It is not all black or white. Now, we all have a part of an angel and a part of a demon.
Was embodying this character over several episodes a long distance race?
Yes. This is the first time I have done a series. I don't watch much. Over time, we can defend more things. In "Dérapages", he had lots of aspects to tell, emotions to convey. We worked a lot upstream with the director Ziad Doueiri, seen how to play Alain Delambre, defend his humor, because it is a drama with also derision, as with Ken Loach. I am not Alain Delambre, but he touched me and I went to look inside of me, in my story. Rigor is also essential on such a shoot, upstream, during and during recovery.
Was it more complicated to get out of this role?
Yes. We get out of it by immersing ourselves in other projects. Sport and art are extraordinary means of escape. I have fun in all forms of expression, including painting. I continue every day, especially in this period when you have to find a way to keep the kids busy and yourself, not to drop in the night or go around in circles. Art is a remedy for boredom, a way of combating emptiness. The void scares me.
What does the series from our company say?
She defends the fact that the violence of words, humiliation can be as strong as physical violence. For decades, we have been in a system that is there to crush people. And we were told repeatedly that we had to adapt, otherwise we were the village idiot. Before the coronavirus appeared, the revolt rumbled. What is happening is a drama, but I have always been optimistic. If I made mistakes, I assumed them and I took another path towards the best. I believe in metamorphosis. Today, we are all on the brink: we fear for our lives, the economic crisis… I hope that we will take the opportunity to create a better world, with more humanity. At least this epidemic will have served some purpose.
You took up the defense of Professor Didier Raoult in Marseille who is testing a treatment against coronaviruses. Your Marseille fiber?
I'm not a doctor, but I can compare numbers. Professor Raoult quickly realized the emergency and made his way, the only way to save lives with what he had. The controversies about it are beyond me.
You participated in the clip "Once" by Liam Gallagher, the former singer of the group Oasis. Are you the last “rock'n'roll footballer” as he said?
With Liam, there is mutual esteem. I'm a fan of Oasis and the Gallagher brothers. They correspond to my time in the 1990s in Manchester where it was very rock. I have always lived outside the norms and made sure that people adapt more to me than I adapt to others, even if I also know how to adapt. It is said that it is difficult to direct Cantona. It's easy if I know where I'm going, who I'm going with. If the adventure is magnificent, I follow you to the end of the world. You can't buy me if I don't want to. I'm not outside the system, but you have to make me vibrate. Liam Gallagher, I love his charisma, his form of madness and his song "Once". The idea of the clip with this sequence shot is extraordinary. And, I love the humor of the English, their way of working seriously without taking themselves seriously. It is a great privilege to live your passions, sport and cinema, and to be paid for it. However, we must keep our eyes open to the world around us, where many people do not have the same luck.
You are also the hero of the series “Le Voyageur”, on France 3, a cop who lives in his van, helping families in unresolved cases…
The shooting of the next episode was stopped with containment. There is more dramatic. I like this character who lives outside the system, has his own rules and opens closed drawers. I would also like to play rotten, but I am not being offered it. I don't want to do only the ones I inspire at first!
What do you think of the idea of resuming football matches behind closed doors?
A match with the same stake, the same players and without the public is not the same match. Why can't spectators come when players could play at the risk of spreading the virus? You have to be consistent. If it's just a matter of TV rights, then the channels threaten not to pay if there are no matches, and to collect money ...
EDITOR'S NOTE: 4/5
“Dérapages”, a new French series by Ziad Doueiri, with Eric Cantona, Suzanne Clément, Alex Lutz, Gustave Kervern… 6 x 52 minutes.
