The disappeared from the black forest: Grégory Fitoussi returns to a delicate scene to shoot

Thursday February 12 at 9:10 p.m., TF1 broadcasts the last two episodes of Disappeared from the Mirkwood, series produced by Nagui. A thriller in four episodes with Helen of Fougerolles (soon in the role of Sat replacing Natacha Lindinger), Tchéky Karyo and Grégory Fitoussi, in the coats of Commander Erik Maes. A cop whose integrity is matched only by modesty. Interview.

“My mother asks me how I manage to cry on command!”

Télé-Loisirs: In one of the scenes of the series, your character cries silently. A register in which we don’t see you so often, how did you experience it?
Gregory Fitoussi : It was a scene conducive to the character letting go of his overflowing emotion. He has just hit a wall in the face, with intimate and professional consequences. The kind of situation where we can all project ourselves. Personally, it has happened to me to have the impression of knowing someone and to realize that I was dealing with another person.

How do you define the pleasure of playing this type of scene?
Huge ! In life, it is rare that I break down in tears, it can be for very surprising reasons, by the way. By playing this type of scene, we are very fragile, very vulnerable. When you start crying in front of fifty technicians with whom you have been working for two months – even if the expression is overused – you expose yourself. At the same time, we really have the impression of doing our job as an actor. The danger is not to fall “in love” with these moments. It has to be subtle, real. What I like is that it happens when we didn’t expect it.

Are the tears triggered on demand?
It’s funny because it’s a question I get asked a lot. Even my mother! So, I decided to make a film, a short film, which tells how the actors prepare. I have never seen this theme treated in the cinema. It’s quite exciting because there are no rules or magic formulas. We are not robots, we do not push a button.

What is your technique?
I create a bubble for myself and try to stay in my world. To cry or to laugh for me is first of all to put oneself in a state of total availability in relation to the situation and to let things come. There is no obligation of result

What essential things have you learned since your debut?
Do not anticipate, do not imagine the scene in advance because, on the set, it never happens as you had planned. The idea is to work as much as possible upstream to integrate as many things as possible about the story and the role and that it becomes a certain part of yourself.

“Every time I work on a character, I feel like I’m starting from scratch.”

Does the pleasure of playing change over the years?
It is abyssal, the pleasure of playing! Because the more you dig, the more you realize that you can dig more. It has no end. Every time I work on a character, I feel like I’m starting from scratch. I think you also have to know how to trust your instincts. When I didn’t listen to it, I blamed myself. The enemy of the actor, generally speaking, is to be too cerebral. I believe in being as organic as possible.

You who carry around the label of “alpha male”, do you think that producers sometimes lack imagination in their proposals?
One of the common denominators of all actors is wanting to get out of roles that have left their mark on people, where we tend to still want you. You are necessarily dependent on your physique. As an actor, you want to put yourself in danger and prove to yourself, the audience and the producers that you can surprise.

Do you think you now have the possibility?
As I get older, people think of me more and more differently. Without wanting to throw flowers at me, it is also thanks to the too similar roles that I refused. This year, for example, I have worked very little. It’s not easy, but I think it’s also up to us to steer the proposals in directions that allow us to create surprise. When I left gears – which I loved and continue to find amazing – it ripped my stomach out. But if you stay too long in a series, it becomes very difficult to imagine yourself elsewhere or otherwise. So yes it lacks a bit of imagination, but we will get there!