Thursday October 5, at 9:10 p.m., M6 offers The beautiful spark, a TV film inspired by real events with Bernard Campan, Lionnel Astier, Laurent Bateau and Mélanie Doutey. How a mother (Mélanie Doutey) sets out to set up an inclusive restaurant run by a starred chef (Bernard Campan), by hiring young people with disabilities into her brigade. In the role of the owner of the establishment, Lionnel Astier portrays a bright and caring man. A register in which we see it too rarely.
“It made me feel really good!“Lionnel Astier discusses the filming of La belle spark, broadcast this Thursday, October 5 on M6
Leisure TV : What memories will you keep from this shoot?
Lionel Astier : We were warned that they were young people with disabilities, that they were sensitive to noise and that they tired quickly, so that we would end our days no later than 6:30 p.m. But actually, that’s not true. If we were 100% like them, without a break from morning until 6:30 p.m., we would all be exhausted! We take breaks. They don’t do it! They are always engaged! As Jouvet said, “the first thing you should look for on a shoot is a chair!” Not them! So it’s not their disability that creates their fatigue, it’s their commitment!
The rest under this advertisement
Despite your experience, has this experience taught you new things about how to play?
The reality is rather that with them, I played exactly the way I like! Of course I could do it again, but the conditions would have to be right again. That is to say with a real share of work upstream, and, at the last moment, the possibility of questioning everything if the scene requires it. This is how I love to work.
The TV film deals with the inclusion of people with disabilities in working life. Is the cinema sector proactive in this area?
In any case, for me it’s a first. And that was part of my desire to accept the project because we were equal: these young people were actors like us, period.
In the TV film, you play a luminous, benevolent character: was it refreshing to play in this register?
Yes ! Every evening, when I left the set, I went to play in the theater Funny kind with Victoria Abril, the role of a politician who is a little experienced in everything and not too nice. One day, after the TV movie, Victoria said to me: “When you were filming, you weren’t the same!“It’s true that I’m often given the role of the grump. Afterwards, I’m not unhappy because I’m lucky enough to be considered in both dramas and comedies. But there, It felt really good to play a solar character.
The rest under this advertisement
What did you do after leaving the show Alex Hugo ?
Lots of theater since we did two Parisian sales with Funny kind and we are leaving for a second tour. It took me quite a while, so I only made a few entries in On edge (broadcast on September 27 on France 2, editor’s note) and in a feature film, Cop duo, directed by Frédéric Forestier. I will also appear in Mercatomy son Simon’s series with Arnaud Ducret because they became friends like pigs and they said to themselves that I would be perfect to play the role of the bastard!
