When we discovered him in his first major role, it was in 2010 in
Les Amours Imaginaires
, by Xavier Dolan.
Niels Schneider was 23 years old and had blond curls that made him look like an angel straight out of a Botticelli painting or an engraving by Jean Cocteau.
Today, we find him in
Apaches
by Romain Quirot, a magnetic and ultra-violent gang leader in the Paris of the 1900s. A role that evokes that of Cillian Murphy in
Peaky Blinders
, or Daniel Day-Lewis in
Gangs of New York
.
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Niels Schneider: “When we are in love, we are always stronger together”
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Between the two, we will have seen him as a young man tortured by his thirst for revenge in
Diamant Noir
, in 2017, a film for which he won the César for best male hope.
But also as a desperate (and a little lost) lover in
Emmanuel Mouret's
The Things We Say, The Things We Do , or more recently, as a romantic spy in the
Totems
series .
This beautiful career, her teenage memories, her strengths and her weaknesses, but also lighter subjects: so many questions addressed in this new episode of our Revue podcast,
where
we reread
Madame Figaro
with the eyes of our guests.
In video, the trailer for
Apaches
, by Romain Quirot
Madame Figaro.-Lucas Bravo, one of the actors in the series
Emily in Paris
,
paraded for designer Louis-Gabriel Nouchi with a bloody face
.
His violent dandy look is somewhat reminiscent of your character in
Apaches.
What attracted you to this role?
Niels Schneider.-
I love French and European cinema which is more restrained, more restrained, sometimes more opaque.
But as a child, as a teenager, I also liked American cinema very much because it dared to make characters more colorful, larger than life, out of a certain realism.
Americans are attached to the notion of entertainment.
A project like
Apaches
, it was a real pleasure that was also felt on the set.
An almost playful pleasure, very childish.
There is a freedom in Romain Quirot, a desire to move the lines of French cinema and to appropriate certain codes with French stories that made me really want to follow him.
What do you have in common with your character, Jesus, that pretty scary gang leader?
When I approach a character, I observe above all what differentiates us, in order to be able to find a way towards him.
Jesus is a character who fascinated me.
I knew very little about the Apaches, they are the first street gangs.
They had a very unique way of dressing: they picked up the codes of the bourgeoisie, had shiny yellow shoes, super stylish caps... And they had a very unique way of speaking, with their own slang.
They also created their own dance, a sort of ultra-violent tango.
These are bands that both fascinated and terrorized Parisians.
We were at the beginning of the last century, it was young people who no longer really had a horizon, who did not project themselves into the future.
They don't
didn't want to end up like their parents in the factory, didn't want to work and had trouble with authority.
So they were anti-cops, anti-work and anti-bourgeois.
They wanted to have fun, who possessed a kind of passion for life.
Niels Schneider: “When we are in love, we are always stronger together”
LISTEN TO THE PODCAST
Prince Harry has just released his memoir, in which he describes
the feeling of competition that damaged his relationship with his brother William
.
You have two brothers who are also artists.
Is there competition between you?
Or are you an important support for each other?
There has never been a competition, really and I realized recently, talking with friends, how lucky we are.
There is real support, it always has been.
Every time one of us lands a role, when my brother releases his album, everyone rejoices.
There is really a great solidarity between us.
Read also"Boys, don't make my last years a nightmare": what Charles III would have said to William and Harry
We returned to the clothing accidents that happened to stars on the red carpets. And especially on
this time in 2021, when you delicately retied the strap of the sandal of your partner, Virginie Efira, on the steps of the Cannes Film Festival
.
What memories do you have of this moment?
In general, does being in a relationship in front of the photographers cause strength or nervousness?
The red carpets, it's curious because it's not nothing.
I still feel like some kind of animal, with headlights in my eyes.
To come back to the story of Virginia's shoe, we climbed the stairs for
Sybil
by Justine Triet.
Virginie loses her sandal for the first time, Adèle (Exarchopoulos,
editor's note
) is next to her and gives it to her.
She goes up a step and again, it falls.
I was looking elsewhere and it was Gaspard Ulliel, who always had absolute class, who nudged me and said, "Look, Virginie has lost her shoe, go ahead."
As he had climbed the stairs many times, he knew that it would create a small event.
Niels Schneider and Virginie Efira on the steps of the Palais des Festivals in Cannes during the presentation of
Sybil
, by Justine Triet (Cannes, May 24, 2019) Stephane Cardinale - Corbis
When we are in love, we are always stronger together.
That's what's great about love.
Sometimes, as a couple, we go through periods of everyday life that are not always obvious, but I find that going through the moments of joy and the most difficult moments alone would be really boring.
Because Virginie is there, we laugh about it and it becomes something joyful.
Read alsoAt 45, Virginie Efira would be pregnant with her second child
Marion Cotillard told us that at 47,
her love for human beings was only growing
.
And you, at 35, what do you feel for human beings in general?
Of course I love humans, but they are capable of anything, for better or for worse.
It changes every day.
Sometimes when I listen to the news, I'm very happy that my cat is there, I tell myself that the more humans I know, the more I love my cat.
I think I will never become misanthropic, cynical.
I have great faith in humanity but saying it, I don't know why, I have Woody Allen's face that comes to me and says to me "you're really stupid, old man, you're really naive".
It's silly: at the same time, I have the impression that humanity is totally running to its loss - there, I am not very optimistic for the next 200 years - but at the same time, I say to myself maybe that there will be a youth to save her.
Human beings are capable, in any case,
Revue
is a podcast by Madame Figaro, to be found on all your platforms: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Deezer.