Jonathan Cohen. “I have children, and the responsibilities associated with them bring me back to earth”

The comic spring is inseparable from the characters the torch from sentinel from The flame or preparing megalomania again enters Jonathan Cohen’s filmography. He is one of the actors who portrays the artist, along with Gilles Lelouch, Pio Marma and Edouard Baer. Persistence of memory In Yes! Quentin Dupierre’s new comedy about a journalist (Anais Demostier) who pursues a Spanish artist for an interview. The mundane, fantastical, gorgeous character fits the phenomenal actor like a glove, whose fantasy continues to inspire French cinema.

Madame Figaro. – What did Dali mean to you?
Jonathan Cohen. – When I was younger, I discovered her through interviews or ads for Perrier and Lanvin. To me, he was the funny man with the big mustache on TV. I knew he was an artist later, especially when I discovered his cast clocks. To prepare for the role, I watched his interviews over and over again from the late 1960s to the 1980s. I wanted to understand his music and master his mechanisms; as he thought in Spanish, his translations were sometimes very personal. When he got stuck on a word, he lengthened the sentences enough to search, to land on his feet. These crafts were just what I needed to get me hooked.

According to Quentin Dupierre, “Dali has a sincerity in his madness.” This is what stands out for you too.
Dali said: “The only thing that separates me from crazy people is that I’m not crazy.” He was a fantastic artist, but he realized that the character he created for himself was his greatest work. He left nothing to chance, held a series of events to get people talking about him and made himself monumental. He needed to be in the center. Besides, he respected very few people, except for scientists, Picasso, vaguely, and a few Renaissance artists. He had little regard for other subjects, such as cinema, which he considered a minor art, except perhaps for the films of his friend Buñuel, with whom he collaborated. Andalusian dog.

How does the world of Quentin Dupierre fit you?
Starting Steak And rubber, I totally agree with Quentin’s cinema and his way of making films, this “home” side. He sees cinema as a craft that goes completely against the grain of time. Quentin is a rare thing. A unicorn, even. I wouldn’t dare compare myself to him, I’m less technical than him, already because I don’t know what he knows in terms of form. But I also try to put my whole heart into creating something personal.

Dali created an image for himself. And yourself?
Only in fiction. In matters of mental health in life, it is better to stay to yourself, to bet on the truth. In such comedies The torch Or the flame On the other hand, I like to invent completely crazy characters that are my outlets. And in the promo, I especially try to have a good time and not make it unpleasant for my interlocutor and the audience or reader. I’ve always had a passion for silliness, and when things get serious I feel an almost vital need to talk nonsense.

Are all artists megalomaniacs like Dali?
Of course, but to varying degrees. As an artist, you should try to believe in yourself a little. Then it all depends on each person’s ambitions. For my part, I try to be relatively discreet online, not to reveal too much outside of ads. I need to step away from all this noise from time to time to stay sane, creative. I have had the same group of friends for twenty years, I have children, and the responsibilities that come with that bring me back to earth.

“Dali represents a lost world where art was at the center,” says Quentin Dupierre. What do you think ?
Art is definitely less present than it used to be. So much has been added to what was already there. internet, news content… Art, which used to be the only salvation, is being eaten, for example, by social networks. These channels can discover new artists, but they also capture us so much that we sometimes lose our ability to really pay attention and wonder.

In life, in matters of mental health, it is better to stay yourself, bet on the truth

Jonathan Cohen

You started in the theater. Would you like to return?
Absolutely, it really annoys me. What I like the most in the theater is rehearsals, the research stage. Take the text, cut it up, try to understand it, sometimes not quite succeeding. Every day there is a new level of understanding, questioning. It is inspiring for the actor and enhanced tenfold by unique live adventures. I also really like working in a theater group. that’s what I try to recreate on set.

Are you thinking of going into filmmaking as well?
Designed for. I have a very developed script about a character in my universe. I have to shoot in 2024.

And which other artist would you like to dedicate a piece of fiction to?
My hero is the American actor Will Ferrell. From there to dedicating a work to him, I don’t know… I was also fascinated by Eduard Baer, ​​one of the great geniuses of this century. I am very proud to be there Yes! with him ! He is one of my childhood heroes. he attracted me from the first second viewing center, on Canal+. He was alien, with eloquence, poetry, humor and intelligence that I had never seen anywhere else. It is so amazing that it deserves a saga.

Yes! , By Quentin Dupierre, with Anais Demostier, Jonathan Cohen, Edouard Baer…