The actor and comedian returns to cinema with a very personal second film. Stay a while. He talks about his fascination with the Virgin Mary and his desire to convert his parents, the Moroccan Jews he manages on screen.
Thirteen years later coconut, the man of stage and cinema is making a second bold, surprising and personal film. In Stay a while, an autobiography in which he directs his family, tells of his fascination with the Virgin Mary and his declaration of desire to convert his parents to Moroccan Jewry. An opportunity for him to remove certain taboos and invite communities to discover each other on good terms.
My current state of mind?
Quiet. I know I’m playing with fire with this movie about faith, but I haven’t censored myself. There is nothing like a plea for conversion. This is the story of my experience. an openness to Christianity fueled by deep Judaism. There are the movies we want to make and the movies we have to make. This was a necessity.
How does this work resonate in my life?
There are some distortions, but it all starts with the fact that I discovered the statue of the Virgin as a child, when I entered the church despite the ban. It was not a mystical experience, but an emotional one. Complete relaxation.
A rare video of Charlotte Casiraghi and Gad Elmaleh’s son Raphael
Talk about me promo…
It amuses me at first when the gum has sugar and I’m still fresh.
Wooden tongue or tongue too loose?
Between the two. I’ve been watching how I express my speech for a long time so that it doesn’t turn against me. I don’t want to get hit or my loved ones get hit. I’m torn between sincerity and craftsmanship, even if this film confronts me with the truth. it allows no posturing, no lying.
Insert a language element.
One word: Mariology. It’s a study of the Virgin Mary place, but because of the way it sounds, people think I’m joking when I use it.
Is the first one good?
No, but it took me years to accept it because I was afraid of slowing everyone down, of being judged, which the filmmaker regrets… I smoothed over this complex when I saw great actors screw up the first take too.
Best and worst partners.
I don’t know anything more difficult than filming with your parents, playing your parents. Being directive with them is unnatural. When the scene didn’t work out and my mother saw my impatience, it hurt her… Paradoxically, they were also the best partners in the world, with a terrific sense of comedy. As I know them by heart, if they speak out of order, I can sense it immediately.
The secret of my shooting.
My sister, who has always been my protector, almost walked out of the shoot after I got carried away during a scene. My family was only there to cheer me up, acting is not their thing and in the heat of the moment I forgot about them for a short while.
My best film is definitely the last one.
No, except for this one. I used to be very concerned about inputs, but now, even if I hope it will work, the main thing is somewhere else, in the dialog it will cause it. It is the openness between communities that creates social problems or hinders the fight against obscurantism. As subtle as they may be, some subjects should no longer be swept under the rug.
The question I fear…
I don’t have a taboo, but it really seems to me that I have told a thousand times about my departure from Morocco, my arrival in Canada and then in France… We have covered the issue well.
Misunderstanding about me?
That Gad Elmaleh will not be my real name.
Last time I was proud of myself?
I’m embarrassed to admit it, but this morning, after doing my rubber band session, I was a wreck.
stay a while By Gad Elmaleh. It was released on November 16.
Source: Le Figaro
