Spotlights Romain Duris | Romain Duris |
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Best Actor Long before Hollywood took notice, Romain Duris has been wowing audiences in Europe with some of the best performances ever by an actor of his generation. Exploring and portraying roles that are risky and rewarding, unconventional and formulaic, Duris has the tendency to immerse himself into his parts, taking on characters as unique and as interesting as himself. - - -
 - - - Born into a family of artists, Duris was an art student when he was spotted on the street by a casting director looking for a new face to star in Le Peril Jeune, a television film which was directed by Cedric Klapisch as part of the Arte series Les Annees Lycee (The High School Years) in 1993. - - - Critical Acclaim: In Duris' most defining role, he plays Thomas Seyr in The Beat That My Heart Skipped (De Battre Mon Coeur S'est Arrêté). As a dutiful son trying to follow in the footsteps of his morally corrupt father, he is faced with the dilemma of staying in that dark, sleazy world or exploring the joy of music and getting the chance to redeem himself and thus experience some sort of inner peace. The film is a remake of James Toback's 1978 film Fingers. - - - He continues: "I've been watching Romain's progress for ten years now, since Le Peril Jeune, made when he was only twenty. I've seen him evolve and mature and then one always casts someone for the simple reason that one wants to film them. I couldn't just point a camera at anyone. Romain stimulates one's appetite. One wants to move around him, to watch the way he moves." Says Romain of the role: ' What was harder for me was the beginning, to play a guy who lives in a fairly macho world, among other men, a very male world, with the presence of the father. He's a brat, a bit of a hooligan. But you needed to still feel attracted to him, because you have to stay with him for 90 minutes. So it was harder for me to get inside Tom at the start of the film. But when the piano arrives it's nice to play him because the character has a kind of madness, he has something extra. He can escape inside his head. It's like a drug. He has music, the piano. That was very enjoyable. But it wasn't so easy to find the Tom of the beginning. Critics and viewers seem to agree about Duris's amazing performance. As one reviewer noted: "The Beat That My Heart Skipped" would not be the success [that] it is without the riveting performance by Romain Duris in the lead role. He brings such an intensity of focus and so much nervous energy to the part of Thomas that we cannot take our eyes off him for the entire hour-and-a-half-plus that he is on screen. He makes a morally ambiguous character both repugnant and strangely appealing at the same time. This is one of the strongest acting jobs of the past several years, in a film that provides a rich character study along with much fine classical music." - - -
 - - - What made this portrayal a challenge to Romain are the scenes where he has to play the piano. His character is supposed to have been trained in playing the classics, and it was a sort of coincidence that his sister, Caroline, happens to be a concert pianist herself. Much of the authenticity and intensity in Romain's performances can be attributed to his insights into Caroline's actual playing. Earlier Films: Working with some of Europe's best directors provided Duris with the impetus to become the actor that he is now. In L'Auberge Espagnole (The Spanish Inn), Duris is Xavier, an economics graduate student who travels for a year in Barcelona, Spain as part of the Erasmus programme. In the film, he encounters and learns from a group of students who come from all over Western Europe. It is a fascinating insight into the lives of young Europeans, representing much of the harmony and conflict that remains to this day as part of the growing pains of the European Union. The movie is also multilingual, with dialogue in French, Spanish and English. This 2002 French film was directed and written by Cédric Klapisch, a favorite collaborator of Duris's. They have worked together on about 5 films, including a sequel The Russian Dolls (Les Poupées russes), which was released in 2005. Aside from Audiard and Klapisch, Duris has also worked with Tony Gatlif. In Exils, Duris plays Zano who, together with his girlfriend, decides on a whim to travel to Algeria. It is a delightful road movie with a pulsating soundtrack featuring Middle Eastern and Spanish gypsy rhythms. In Exils also won critical acclaim during the 2004 Cannes Film Festival when Gatlif won Best Director. An earlier collaboration, The Crazy Stranger (Gadjo Dilo, 1998), is a definite collectible item for film lovers, and features Duris as Stéphane. The story is about a young French man from Paris who travels to Romania in search of a singer named Nora Luca. It was Duris's first leading role. Duris also appeared in Arsène Lupin, Dans Paris and Le Divorce. Great Expectations: A recent New York Times article took note of the lack of charismatic leading men in Hollywood. The article made mention of three French actors who seem to be making waves at the moment, and one of them is Romain Duris. Excerpt follows: "American movie professionals are a little concerned about the lack of audience enthusiasm for new generation male movie idols. It seems that successors to the Brad Pitt- George Clooney-Tom Cruise generation of 1990-2000 are few and far between. "As a result of their growing disillusionment, producers and directors are turning their attention toward Gallic actors who are hitting their stride at this time. The French favorites are three Parisians: Romain Duris, Gaspard Ulliel, and Mathieu Amalric. These actors are particularly well received across the Atlantic because they offer the right combination of good looks and technical talent. - - -
 - - - "Charismatic, charming, and elegant, Duris, Ulliel, and Amalric electrify the screens. With an ability to move their audiences by a naturalism inspired by the American Actors Studio, and adding style and intensity, these stars can convey a wealth of emotions in a single glance or attitude. Offering radically different performances from one film to another, they can surprise us, and carry a film by their mere presence. This takes American audiences back twenty years to the days when their local leading men evoked strong emotions, such as Daniel Day-Lewis in 'My Beautiful Launderette', whom the journalist Lynn Hirscherg compares to Romain Duris and his engaging freshness in 'The Beat That My Heart Skipped'." These young Gallic stars do not conceal their desire to become international actors, and not (only) for the fame and glory but above all because they have the talent to do so and the enthusiasm to make the most of their potential. - - - Romain Duris spotlight written by Jed Medina and Kathleen Sydenham, with excerpts taken from Wellspring.com, IMDB . All Rights Reserved 2007. Comments (6)
Romain and Audrey Tautou?
written by Lukas Jamieson, July 12, 2007
2 cool french stars, is there any chance Romain is paired to Audrey Tautou again? Their work in THe Spanish Apartment is great, would love to see them again in another film, they got good chemistry together.
Audrey + Romain
written by Admin, July 14, 2007
I would love to see them both in another movie! Both are huge stars in France, and I think its about time we get to watch more of them, in a number of indie productions.
Romain is reported to have been sooo particularly great in Molier!
Duris turned down role in Casino Royale!
written by Admin, July 14, 2007
This is an interesting piece of news for all Romain Duris' fans. Contact Music reports:
French actor ROMAIN DURIS turned down a dream role starring alongside DANIEL CRAIG in CASINO ROYALE - because filmmaker MARTIN CAMPBELL made him take numerous English tests. The 33-year-old auditioned for the part of the villain in the 2006 James Bond movie, but became frustrated when he realised he would have to rapidly improve his bilingual skills.
...
written by lorena, February 18, 2008
i love the way Roamin Duris performs in his movies. I am a 30 year old woman from Argentina and I simply cannot stop watching his films. He is so talented and such a great actor i hope he contacts me one day!!!!!!
... written by lorena, February 18, 2008
my e mail address is
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i wish i had his but i don't till then Write comment
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Molière Review
I simply admire this guy, and his film The beat that my heart Skipped is one of the best films I have watched. He's quite good too in the Spanish Apartment...hope he'll do more films, 1 film every 2 years seems to be too long a wait!