The Belgian Wonder
Jeremie Renier, the Dardenne Brother's favorite actor in tMF profile!
by Jed Medina & Kathleen Sydenham

Playing pivotal parts in 4 diverse and exciting European films in 2007, Jeremie Renier is one of today's busiest young actors. He may not be too familiar to the American movie-going audience but he has his share of triumphs both in the box office and in the awards arena all over Europe.

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Award-winning roles: Appearing in the award winning L'Enfant, which won the Palm d'Or in Cannes, Renier played Bruno, a young thief who, together with his barely legal girlfriend Sonia (Deborah François) hustle and get involved in petty crimes to help support their newborn baby. After finding it difficult to make both ends meet, he sold his child but changed his mind later. It was a very effective performance by Renier, one which earned him a nomination as Best European Actor for the European Film Awards.

Says Sheila Benson @Interview:

“Almost never off screen, Bruno evokes callousness itself, bluffing, swaggering, utterly unconscious of the enormity of his act until L'Enfant's final devastating scene of comprehension--and awakening. The film debuted at Cannes last May, where Renier saw it for only his second time and was shocked when it unexpectedly carried off the festival's top honor.”

"I was really shaken," says the actor. "There was a standing ovation for quite a few minutes. It was very moving."

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The Dardenne Brother’s Preferred Actor: Reportedly, the irony of Bruno's immaturity is that Renier was only a child himself when he starred in the Dardennes brothers' breakthrough hit, 1996's 'La Promesse.'

"La Promesse touched a lot of people. I had offers of work because of it, and that meant a lot. The downside was that I didn't want to be the guy with only this movie in his career."

“The performance by Jeremie Renier is up there with anything Roddy McDowell did as a young actor.” Says one critic. The film went on to win at the Cannes.

It was a sort of rediscovering Jeremie when it comes to the Dardenne brothers’ casting of him again, this time for another winner at the Cannes. What the Dardenne brothers directed in L’Promesse, is but a young boy, who is now a matured young man with a list of notable films to his credit. Says Renier:

 "I had to work with them again, I was wondering what I had become, as an actor and as a man. I was not that 14-year-old child anymore--were they going to like me? But it was wonderful."

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Comments (1)

Great actor

He is a great actor. He is excellent in L'enfant, which is one of my all time favorite films!

mg , November 12, 2007

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