Actor

I think American audiences like gangster movies. You know, it's part of the culture.

I have a physical background. It's not like I'm a kung fu master, but my real training was dance school, and through that, I move to this thing called Capruera that I used in 'Ocean's 12.' I can pretend that I can do a lot of things, but then, I don't really master anything.

They say the day you lose your parents, you start to look like them.

I feel like the so-called bad guys are never totally bad. I guess it's the closest thing I can do to reality: people act nice but nobody really is nice. We all have to balance that with something dark.

The idea of telling a story in reverse destabilises your ordinary moral reactions. That's one of the points of art - to challenge your preconceptions.

Female influence came from my grandmother and my aunt. They would sing Corsican love songs while cleaning the house and dress all in black and say melodramatic things like: 'I want to die.'

French people are never happy with what they have. They're always complaining. They're happy when they're complaining.

I have learned that acting is not about beauty.

I was a dancer, and my father was a dancer, so I really grew up in that environment.

I come from an acting family, my father was an actor, and I had to fight my way and just create my own identity.

I don't really shop any more. I only do it when I have to. I think it is very overrated.

I think people have a misinterpretation of Method acting, because Method acting is a wonderful thing. The thing is, if you take it too seriously, it's like religion. You start to think it's the truth. But it's not the truth. It's just a way to get somewhere.

My problem is I can't show any of my movies to my daughters. It's tough. 'Beauty and the Beast'... they liked it. But that's the only one, really. Otherwise, they've always been dark or violent.

I ran away from three different boarding schools before joining a circus school, and eventually I became an actor. The only thing I learned at boarding school was never to send my child to one.

I love Cartier. They are the classic French jeweller.

I'm producing more, but I think to direct, one has to have a burning desire, and that's not me. I'd rather do something else.

I think it's much harder to have a long dialogue scene than an action scene. An action scene is long, but it's not really hard. It's kind of boring, really. It looks good at the end, but to shoot it, it's not the most exciting thing.

As a younger actor, I had delusions. I would dream of Scorsese and De Niro; I would meet people, and it would be like this, and it would change moviemaking in France, and Paris would become the center of the world.

My character in 'La Haine,' he's not bad; he's unhappy, and usually, people are like that. Most of us are angry.

My father danced a lot. He was called 'the French Fred Astaire.'