For this 48e edition of the Caesars, which will try to restore its image after several chaotic years, it is Tahar Rahim, actor twice Caesarized for “A prophet”, who will preside over the ceremony.
1. His first role was himself
In 2005, Tahar Rahim was a film student in Montpellier when he landed his first role in a film: “Tahar the student”, signed by documentary filmmaker Cyril Mennegun.
A feature film between documentary and fiction that the actor defines in these terms for “GQ” in December 2022:
“’Tahar the student’ is a hybrid object between fiction and reality. There was nothing written formally in terms of dialogue. It’s weird because it’s a documentary about my student life and at the same time about student precariousness. I do it at the very beginning, not even knowing if one day I could be an actor, even if I was deeply convinced of it. »
“Tahar the student” will quickly turn into “Tahar the actor”.
2. He met Jacques Audiard in a car
For his first role in a series, Tahar Rahim played Yazid Fikry in “La Commune”, produced by Canal + in 2007. On returning from a day of filming, he shared a car trip with Jacques Audiard to Paris. At that time, the young actor said to himself that he must above all not open his mouth, despite his admiration for the director, he confided to “The Express” in March 2010:
“We just said hello, I didn’t really want to play it “I love what you do”. We met again the day of the screening of the film, where he said very encouraging things to me. From that moment, I felt that I had a chance to pass the casting and I worked even harder. »
A twist of fate that led the actor to the role that revealed him.
“A Prophet”, the film that revealed Tahar Rahim
3. Characters who really existed
At 41, Tahar Rahim has a prolific career, and despite forays into various film genres, a trend is clearly emerging. For most of his roles, the native of Belfort plays people who have existed: FBI agent Ali Soufan in the series “The Looming Towers” in 2018; serial killer Charles Sobhraj in the “Serpent” series in 2021; the wrongly imprisoned Mohamedou Ould Slahi in “Designated Guilty”, by Kevin Macdonald in 2020; Viscount and politician Paul Barras in “Napoleon” by Ridley Scott, which is scheduled for release in 2023…
And soon Charles Aznavour in the biopic “Monsieur Aznavour”, directed by Grand Corps Malade, whose filming will begin in the summer of 2023.
4. He changed the regulations of the Académie des César
With his role in “A Prophet” by Jacques Audiard, Tahar Rahim achieved a feat never before achieved: winning the prize for “best male hope” and “best actor” at the César 2010 in the same year.
Vimeo – Tahar Rahim, César 2010 for Best Actor for A Prophet
The following year, the Académie des César modified the rules of the competition to prevent the accumulation of awards.
5. Festival friend
An essential figure in international cinema, Tahar Rahim is invited to be a juror in a large number of festivals. In addition to the César 2023 ceremony, of which he is the president, he was a member of the feature film jury of the Marrakech International Film Festival 2022 and a juror of the Cannes Film Festival in 2021, an experience of which he has fond memories:
“Being on the jury was moving: I was trusted, I was worthy of watching the Champions League at the cinema and I was offered the luxury, not to judge (I don’t like the word), but to distinguish one film from another. […] This heartbeat, it is indescribable, talking about it would lose its value. »
As an actor, he was also nominated in various foreign competitions: at the Golden Globes in 2021 then in 2022, and at the BAFTAs in 2021 as well.
6. Fascinated by Charles Sobhraj before interpreting him
In “The Serpent”, an eight-episode mini-series released on Netflix in 2021, Tahar Rahim plays Charles Sobhraj, a French serial killer who trapped, robbed and then murdered tourists in Southeast Asia in the 1970s. before receiving the script, the actor knew the story of the killer.
It was at the age of 15 that he discovered the book “La Trace du serpent” by Thomas Thompson, which tells the story of the criminal. A kind of fascination for this character is then born, entrusts the actor to ” Paris Match “ in February 2021:
“I was fascinated as one can be by what is so far from us or what touches the ultimate evil. I imagined a film and I fantasized about being at the center of this story. I never stopped thinking about it. »
When he is offered the role, he thinks it’s a stroke of fate, wants to meet the real Charles Sobhraj, then detained in a Nepalese prison, before giving up. As he struggles to prepare for the role, a line from his character in episode 3 changes everything: “Everything I wanted in my life, I had to take. If I had waited for the world to come to me, I would still be waiting for it. » Tahar Rahim recognizes himself in these words and then understands how to interpret the criminal.
7. Married to Leïla Bekhti
The actor is in a relationship with Leïla Bekhti, another great actress of French cinema, with whom he has three children. The two spouses met on the set of “The Prophet”, they again shot together in the series “The Eddy” by Damien Chazelle, released in 2020 on Netflix.
8. The cinema to escape boredom
Tahar Rahim was born in 1981 in Belfort. He is one of ten siblings and is bored in his hometown. It was then that the passion for cinema took him:
“My life was boring and I spent my time in theaters. I went there four to five times a week, until I gave myself a headache watching three films in a row… At 14, you want movement. I needed entertainment, a space in which to emancipate myself and I couldn’t find it elsewhere. »
He thus forged an impressive cinematographic culture and claimed various influences. Fan of “Taxi driver” and “Raging bull” (by Martin Scorsese), he also likes French cinema and in particular Jean Gabin, Lino Ventura or Paul Meurisse.
9. America loves it
After the success of “A Prophet”, the Hollywood industry offered various scenarios to the young actor. He has starred in several American blockbusters, including Garth Davis’ 2018 “Mary Magdalene”; “She Came to Me” by Rebecca Miller, scheduled for 2023, and he is in the cast of “Madame Web”, a film from the Marvel franchise slated for release in 2024. Tahar Rahim confesses to “GQ” that learning of American culture has taken him some time, and that he is not yet completely at ease with it:
“You build your career like your house: floor by floor. I was not ready for the United States ten years ago. I had to work, have self-confidence, learn a language, tame a culture, a territory. »
10. He is fully invested in his roles
Tahar Rahim has often interpreted tough roles, of prisoners, killers or bosses. To put himself in the shoes of his characters, the actor has a particular method which is based on the physical and the lived experience.
It was in Kevin Macdonald’s “Designated Guilty” that the actor went the furthest. He loses ten kilos, asks for real handcuffs to be put on him and for the decor of the cell in which he is locked up to be cooled in order to feel the same physical and psychological violence as Mohamedou Ould Slahi. Intense preparation, he explained to “Paris-Match”:
“It was no longer interpretation but experimentation. […] I had to eliminate even the perception of taste, for it to be radical. I ended up not being hungry at all, and it brought me closer to Mohamedou who could no longer feed himself as he was so anxious, terrified. […] Putting myself in such danger is my way of feeling alive…”
