“I absolutely wanted to say things about Gaspard at the Césars. My appointment is not my primary motivation for my trip to Paris,”
Xavier Dolan told France Inter on Friday morning.
In the running for the best supporting role category for his performance in
Lost Illusions
, the Quebec filmmaker and actor will lead this Friday the tribute that the great family of French cinema will pay to the actor Gaspard Ulliel, who died in mid-January at the age of 37 in an accident. ski.
Xavier Dolan had directed the reveal of
A Long Engagement
in his drama
Just the End of the World
.
In the shoes of a young man with a terminal illness who reveals to his family that he has little time left to live, Gaspard Ulliel received the César for best actor in 2017. comedian was unable to attend the ceremony and had instructed his director to read his acceptance speech and discover it at the same time as the public.
Read alsoGaspard Ulliel, the tragic end of a secret actor
“His
departure is inconceivable
”
“I think of him all the time, his departure is inconceivable. I need to say personally how much I loved him and why. I'm thinking of his family, his son...To his beauty and his talent
, "admitted Xavier Dolan, still very moved by the sudden death of his friend.
The director, notoriously hypersensitive, could not bring himself to go to his funeral.
“
I wanted to come to the funeral.
But I do not know.
It was far and then it was public.
There were a lot of people.
I was a little scared with the Covid”,
he repeated in the Canal +
program En aparté.
“
Gaspard
liked words, liked to think.
He often looked up before speaking, as if looking up at the sky for a bit.
Everything that came out of his mouth was relevant, weighed, measured, cultivated.
He was a scholar, curious.
He spoke well and then he spoke when he had to speak
, ”welcomed Xavier Dolan.
Read alsoWeakened by two calamitous editions, the Caesars are playing their all-out and their honor tonight
Master of ceremonies for the Césars, Antoine de Caunes let slip that the 47th César ceremony “
will dedicate the evening
” to Gaspard Ulliel and “
make a beautiful opening extract
”.
A “dignified and sober”
tribute
to the image of the deceased.