Romain Duris and Paul Kircher. “The joy of watching each other and being together fueled our roles”

It is a film whose images haunt you for a long time, which no longer makes you look at a bird of prey, a dog or the shadow of a forest in the same way. after The fighters In 2014 with Adele Haenel, and the series Advertisement Vitamin In 2018, director Thomas Caley signs on the animal kingdom, presented at the opening of the Un Certain Regard selection of the 76th Cannes Film Festival. Romain Duris and Paul Kircher, revealed High school student by Christophe Honoré, commenting on a father and son whose family is torn apart when his mother is struck by an illness that no one knows how to explain; he gradually turns people into animals.

Anxieties due to the epidemic, the refusal to escape from “normality”, but also adolescence, the relationship with nature, the virtues of change and transformations… Thomas Caley signs a rich film that borrows as much from the fantastic as from the fantastic. teen movie than a comedy. All inhabited by hybrid creatures that gradually reveal themselves to our gaze, “creatures” to those they frighten and repulse, but whose strange beauty we tame images. Romain Duris and Paul Kircher themselves still seem surprised.

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Madame Figaro: What tempted you? the animal kingdom when did you read the script?
Romain Duris:We were coming out of a very strange period that marked us all, the period of the coronavirus. We were in everyday life that was already slightly transformed, and from the first page of the script it obviously resonated, while going further with these animal transformations. I wonder how people, or young people, will manage it. And how is the father going to manage his relationship with his son, trying to protect him, but growing through it all? It was like a continuation of two complex years, with cinematic dimensions and a magnificent and rare history.
Paul Kircher: What I loved was this journey of transformation from adolescence to adulthood told through fantastic storytelling and comedy. All this is specific to the universe of Thomas Cale, which I already liked a lot The fighters.

You mentioned COVID, but how does this film relate to other aspects of our time?
RD- This is a film about how one deals with difference. How we accept it, how we tame it, how we want to direct it, park it in the centers. Manage it as well as possible and therefore control it.
on our ability to adapt to the PK-Et change. It can also be a driving force, a force that propels us forward.

There is an inside Animal kingdom many images that stay in your mind for a long time. Is there a scene on set that you’ll never forget?
RD- There’s a scene in the kitchen where father and son come across a scary place. They confront each other and end up in a dead end. We realize that we are witnessing the separation of two worlds that are becoming different. It’s a scene with a lot of fury, a lot of intensity. We started filming around 4am, almost in a trance. It was a very strong moment.

Video: Romain Duris and Paul Kircher on the Animal Kingdom poster

What did you learn from each other while filming?
PK- I learned a lot from Romain, he gave me a lot on set. It is thanks to him that I was able to “dig” this film so much. I had the opportunity to be with him for 3 months and be able to observe him. He is inspirational in the sense that after doing so many films to where he is today, he finds a balance between his work and life. As an actor and as a man, he taught me a lot.
RD- I also enjoyed watching this fanatic who is so often caught off guard. And even then, because we stayed close. The pleasure of watching each other, listening to each other, being together really fueled our roles.

It sounds like a question we inevitably ask ourselves when we leave the movie. If you had this disease, which animal would you want to transform into?
RD-What needs to be said already is that when you leave the film, you almost want to have this disease. We want to be alive rather than stay with these people who are sometimes… a bit extreme. What animal would you like to be, Paul?
PK-A dog for its agility, speed, sense of smell, closeness to the ground. It is small, it goes fast, it can cause pain. But it is not the strongest animal either.
RD-Me, a deer, it excites me immensely. There are a lot of them, but at the same time it is very wild. I like how they appear and disappear. I like it when you see them at the edge of the forest, at dusk or in the morning. When I get on the train, I always try to see one. When that happens, it gives me strength.