How does someone with a career like yours even pick new projects? An actor always starts from scratch, and when he finds himself facing a new character, he erases all pre- vious ones, because he would otherwise never be able to accept a new offer. At least that’s the case with me. When it came to this specific situation, for example, I must admit that the major stumbling block for me was that I had to portray a detective. That’s a big TV cliché, a path already taken by many and a big trap. Particularly given that this character has been portrayed by many before you... I’m always particularly nervous about portraying characters that have been por- trayed previously. Creating a character from scratch is always more fun. But if everyone stuck to that rule, no one would ever play Hamlet or any of the other legendary roles that testify to someone's acting greatness and bravura. However, what people come for when you find yourself in such a role is actually your own version of something that others have portrayed in their own way. That’s why I never fear roles that have been seen before, because I know that they can bring out the best in an actor. Does this series stir any memories for you? If you’re asking whether I watched Mai- gret as a child, I have to disappoint you be- cause I didn’t. It originally aired in 1960 and we didn’t have a television at home back then. We only got our first TV when I was 14. I wasn’t one of those kids who spent too much time in front of the small screen growing up, even once we got one. Those were admittedly different times, and chil- dren differed greatly from today’s. We did some other things, more childish things. However, I do remember that I read the Maigret novels. I loved detective novels, and I recall those ones being enjoyable to read. When I got the role in this series, I naturally read all eight books, and that was another thing that convinced me that I hadn’t been mistaken in accepting the role. How do you experience acting after a career that’s lasted so many years? - I still view it as a tool with which I can tell a sto- ry. That’s an actor’s only responsibility, and that’s the only thing I focus on in front of the camera. My job is to play a role and to be as believable as possible in do- ing so. I’m quite boring on set, because I give myself completely to my character and am preoccupied with how I’m going to play it to the best of my ability. That’s why I always approach an opportunity to conjure up something different from what I usually do with great responsibility, which can be a burden.
want to shoot it, but because I wasn’t sure I was capa- ble of doing it. Then, of course, a year later, when you think you’re ready for such a role, you don’t know if they’ve already found someone else, which, luckily for me, wasn't the case. However, even then I still had to convince myself that I was ready to engage in some- thing so big and serious, because the role of Inspector Maigret has an important and serious place in our so- ciety and in the history of television. I think any other of my younger colleagues would have behaved in the same way if they’d been offered the role of Mr Bean.
These are things that no one accepts easi- ly, because it’s one thing to have an inner desire to play such a character and quite another to stand in front of an audience on the small screen and risk being bad or ridiculous. A bit of experience teaches you to be careful of the tastiest morsels, be- cause they can cost you everything. Which aspect of Maigret attract- ed you the most? The strange thing about him as a char-
acter is that he’s not really an excessively unusual chap. He’s quite mild. Although he’s French, he doesn’t have a French ac- cent, isn’t overly fond of art like most Eu- ropeans, and doesn't have any distinctive physical features. There really isn’t any ma- terial that an actor can grab and use to build his character. He’s just a regular guy doing a slightly irregular job in a pretty unpleas- ant world. The card that I thought I could play was his thoughtfulness; his raw and impeccable intellect, because that’s really all I could play on. He isn’t naturally ego- tistical, nor is he some great performer, weirdo and eccentric like Mr Bean. When you observe him as a man, he doesn’t have a single negative trait. I must admit that everything that he doesn’t have is what attracted me to him a little. I can’t say that it was because I recognised myself in his sense of boredom, but I somehow felt as though I could perfectly easily find my- self in doing absolutely nothing of what is expected of me. I liked Maigret’s silence and his composure. That’s precisely what led me to ac- cept this role. Are you tired of being a small screen attrac- tion? I wanted something different, slow, simple and suc- cinct. I’d never tested myself in such a role and it was a challenge for me in an acting sense. Are you a good actor if your entire career boils down to just one type of personality and character that you interpret well? Or in that case are you just an opportunist? Through this role, I wanted to return to myself as an actor, and to dare to do something different.
Interview » Intervju | 67
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