Nils Schneider. “Going through hard times alone would be boring, but Virginie is there and we’re doing something joyful with it.”

When we caught her in her first major role, it was in 2010 Imaginary lovers, by Javier Dolan. Nils Schneider was 23 years old and had blond curls that made him look like an angel straight out of a Botticelli painting or a Jean Cocteau engraving. Today we find it apache: By Romain Quiro, leader of a magnetic and ultra-violent gang in Paris in the 1900s. A role reminiscent of Cillian Murphy’s Peaky Blindersor Daniel Day-Lewis Gangs of New York.

Nils Schneider. “When we’re in love, we’re always stronger together”

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Between the two, we’ll see him as a young man tortured by his thirst for revenge. Black diamond, in 2017, a film for which he won a César for Best Actor. But also as a passionate (and slightly lost) lover What we say is what we do by Emmanuel Mouret, or more recently as a romantic spy in the soap opera Totems. This great career, his childhood memories, his strengths and weaknesses, but also lighter topics. so many questions addressed in this new episode of our Revue., where we read Madame Figaro through the eyes of our guests.

In the video: the trailer apache:By Romain Quiro

Madame Figaro: Lucas Bravo, one of the actors of the series Emily in Paris , Walked with a bloody face for designer Louis-Gabriel Nucci. Her fiercely gorgeous look is somewhat reminiscent of your character Apaches. What attracted you to this role?
Nils Schneider:I love French and European cinema, which is more restrained, more restrained, sometimes more opaque. But as a child, a teenager, I also really liked American cinema because it dared to make characters more colorful, larger than life, outside of a certain realism. Americans are associated with the concept of entertainment. Such a project apache:, it was a real pleasure, which was also felt on the set. Almost playful pleasure, very childish. There is a freedom in Romain Queirot, a desire to move the tropes of French cinema and to appropriate certain codes with French stories, which made me follow him a lot.

What do you have in common with your character, Jesus, the leader of that rather terrifying gang?
When I approach a character, I first look at what makes us different so that I can find a way to him. Jesus is a character that fascinated me. I knew very little about the Apaches, they are the first street gangs. They had a very unique way of dressing, they took the codes of the bourgeoisie, they had shiny yellow shoes, super fashionable hats… And they had a very unique way of speaking, with their slang. They also created their own dance, a kind of ultra-violent tango. These are groups that both fascinated and horrified Parisians. We were at the beginning of the last century, it was the young people who in fact no longer had a horizon, they did not project themselves into the future. They didn’t want to end up in a factory like their parents, they didn’t want to work and they had problems with reputation. So they were anti-police, anti-work and anti-bourgeois. They wanted to have fun with a passion for life.

Nils Schneider. “When we’re in love, we’re always stronger together”

LISTEN TO THE PODCAST!

Prince Harry has just published his memoirs, in which he describes a sense of rivalry that damaged this relationship with his brother William. You have two brothers who are also artists. Do you have a rivalry? Or are you an important support for each other?

There was never a competition, and I recently realized how lucky we are while talking to friends. There is real support, there always has been. Every time one of us takes on a role, when my brother releases his album, everyone cheers. There is really great solidarity between us.

We’re back to the clothing mishaps that befell stars on red carpets. And specifically this time in 2021, where you delicately tied the strap of your partner Virginie Efira’s sandal on the steps of the Cannes Film Festival.. What memories do you have of this moment? In general, is being in a relationship in front of photographers a source of strength or nervousness?

Red carpets are interesting because it’s nothing. I still feel kind of alive with headlights in my eyes. To return to the history of Virginie’s shoes, we climbed the stairs to the Sibyl By Justin Triet. Virginie loses her sandal for the first time, Adele (Exarchopoulos, editor’s note) is next to him and hands him over. He climbs a step and falls again. I was looking for another place and it was Gaspard Ulliel, who always had absolute class, who pushed me and said: “Look, Virginie has lost her shoe. Go ahead.” Since he had climbed the stairs many times, he knew it would create a small event.

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 aren’t always obvious, but I find that going through the joys and hardest times alone would be really boring. Because Virginie is there, we laugh about it, and it becomes a happy thing.

Marion Cotillard told us that at the age of 47. his love for people only grew. And you, at the age of 35, how do you feel about people in general?

Of course, I love people, but they are capable of anything, good or bad. It changes daily. Sometimes when I hear the news, I’m so glad my cat is there, I tell myself that the more people I know, the more I love my cat. I think I will never become a philanthropist, a cynic. I have a lot of faith in humanity, but having said that, I don’t know why, I have the face of Woody Allen coming up to me and saying, you’re really stupid, old man, you’re really naive. It is stupidity. at the same time I get the impression that humanity as a whole is running towards its own destruction, I am not very optimistic about the next 200 years, but at the same time I tell myself that it might be; youth to save him. People are capable, in any case, of doing great things.

Review: Madame Figaro is a podcast that can be found on all your platforms: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Deezer.