Karim Leclou. “My son is the most precious thing I have in the world”

Kareem Leclou has khaki green eyes that light up as he talks about a scene from his favorite movie. “These scenes that turn the heart,” he said on this Parisian morning in October, his face drowning in an innocence reminiscent of Toto, adorable. the child. Cinema Paradiso. Sitting on a couch in an 18th century apartment^e district, the actor reveals himself with his expressions. As he speaks, we see a small wrinkle in the middle of his forehead and the hollows of his dark circles, the legacy of a life lived to the full.

Then after a moment of silence comes this eloquent sentence. “The acting profession is greedy,” he says. “It’s true, there’s something strange about Karim,” assures actress Letitia Dosh. A selfish need to feed on history, culture, and real-life scenes to infuse them into her characters, to which she devotes her life, Karim. tries to make the world a better place with heart and elegance.” The actress answered him Jim’s novelby the Larrieu Brothers (released last August).

Deep humanity

Since his first speeches, c Prophet (2009), Jacques Audiard, or the emerging filmmakers of the 2010s, such as Rebecca Zlotovsky or Elie Wajeman, have created a sense of renewal. “Karim has the power of Jean Gabin. He can express violence or great tenderness, but there is always a deep humanity in his eyes. It creates an immediate sympathy with the viewer,” says Cleman Cojitore, who directed it. A drop of gold (2020): Kareem Leclou plays Ramses, a somewhat crooked mediator from the Gut d’Or district, a character full of contrasts of rudeness and gentleness, deceit and intelligence.

“We’ve seen it a lot in naturalistic cinema, but it can be deployed in many different registers,” adds the director. During his fifteen-year career, Karim Leclou has become one of France’s most beloved actors. A peripheral dealer is castrated by his mother The world is yoursBy Romain Gavras, Police North Yard, By Cedric Jimenez, hairy amnesiac he is my man Release of Guillaume Bureau or prisoner for forty-eight hours Time outBy Ève Duchemin, his characters often possess the class of prudent heroes.

The art of subtleties

Today, 42-year-old Karim Leclou stars in the third season of the seriesHippocrates (Canal+), Thomas Lilty’s nervous series. Alongside Louise Burguen is actor Arben Basha, both a hero and an impostor.Thomas Lilti asks us about the concept of public service, the frustration of professionals who try to save lives without the means to do so eventually setting himself up to treat patients outside of legality.“My character is full of nuances between my passion for medicine and my flaws,” he adds.

In the cinema, the actor interacts with Adele Exarchopoulos, Francois Civil and Elodie Bouchez in Gilles Lelouch’s “L’Amour ouf” In this mural of love, immersed in the 1980s, he plays a father who sees how his the son leaves and he loses the right path. “He is a humiliated person, unemployed, trying to survive,” says Karim Leclou. The actor likes how the film emphasizes destinies that contradict social determinism. “All the philosophies of the world evoke a concept that can move even the most hardened of us; freedom, therefore the ability to change. For me, this is the message of this film.”
He cites Steinbeck, Melville, Marx and Kafka as the reason Karim grew up in a two-room apartment in Saint-Cyr-l’École, Yvelines, where his parents divorced when he was 7 years old.

Her father, Mustafa, an immigrant storekeeper of Algerian descent, sleeps in the living room to give her a bedroom. “He was an extraordinary man with an extraordinary career. A proletarian, of course. But thirst for culture,” says Karim modestly. While going to work at 4 o’clock in the morning, his father read a ten-page book every day.

At home, he listened to Jimi Hendrix and shared his passion for cinema with his only son;Do the right thing, Scar face, Dances with Wolves…we watched so much together.” From his Breton mother, a receptionist and passionate about Gainsbourg and Jean Ferrat, Karim says he inherited a sense of respect and discretion . “My son, he is the most precious thing I have in the world.”

Ability to transform

As a child, Karim did not envision a specific future.After selling BTS, he started doing odd jobs selling telephone lines at France Télécom, where, out of boredom, he manufactured their replicas. Scar face Enthusiastic about the show that premiered in Paris in the 2000s, he decided to join the Cours Florent. Then something opened up, I realized that I should not be seductive, but visceral.” For one of his first castings. the prophet According to Audiard, Karim spent an entire day rehearsing at McDonald’s with Taha Lemaisy, a friend he met at Cours Florent with whom he still studies his roles; it was madness.”

“I don’t look like John Wayne. My face is pretty normal,” he laughs. Then we review the media descriptions of his physique: “cocker spaniel”, “tender lamb” or “beaten dog” look, “sometimes worried, sometimes worried”. “The whole Villeret airs,” or even a “Ventura-style structure.” Karim Lecloux listens with a smile, not hiding his pride in overcoming obstacles. Through his game, he was able to turn his weaknesses into strengths. “His ability to transform is impressive,” testified Cedric Jimenez, who directed him. North Yard.

Karim lost 20 kilograms for this feature film. “But for that Time outBy Ève Duchemin, where I play a man addicted to drugs, I took 30 of them,” he says happily. For: For Francewhere he played a baker, learned how to make a baguette and played a heart surgeon In animal repair, He participated in two weeks of open heart surgery in Salpetriere.The last role is that of an officer of Polish origin De Gaulle by Antonin Beaudry, for which he had just finished shooting and for which he delved into international relations during the Second World War.

Related actor

Karim Leclou does not follow any acting method during his interpretations, we find the humility and modesty of great actors. Praised by all directors for his curiosity, he is one of those rare actors who remembers the names of cinematographers, directors, costume designers and record masters with whom he has worked. the way that cinematographer Laurent Tang North Yardcaptures the nervousness of movement,” “the precision demonstrated by Sylvain Verde, director of photography. A drop of goldto use the lights of the city to sculpt images in his own way.’

He also praises sound engineer Thomas Grimm-Landsberg he is my man as well as “the work of costume designers”, Charlotte Richard (Vincent must die), Judith de Luz (Jim’s novel) and Joanna Georges Rossi (For France) We’ll hear him go through about thirty people’s names in over an hour of casual conversation. “We must never forget that cinema, despite its stars, is above all a collective profession,” he repeats before disappearing out the door. :

Hippocratesseason 3, by Thomas Lilti, from November 11 on Canal+.