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With rugged good looks, a devilish smile and a razor-sharp sense of wit, Vincent Cassel is described as a man of hidden depth who is disarmingly charismatic, often outspoken and a bundle of nervous energy. British "discoveries" often wait five years to get their next film made.As one of the most enigmatic contemporary film stars of our time, award-winning French actor Vincent Cassel has starred alongside the crème de la crème of the French and international film industry, notably Natalie Portman, George Clooney and Michael Fassbender, and has worked with top international film directors such as Darren Aronofsky, Steven Soderbergh and David Cronenberg. I'm all for that, but "discoveries" at Cannes must graduate through the ranks until they regularly bestride the competition, confident in their cinematic voice and vision. Industry whispers tell me that later announcements will point to some British films bubbling under, that this is a year of discovery. We spend too much time worrying about America. We don't encourage enough films of distinctive, poetic, personal, classy, thoughtful voice. Our industry bods say it doesn't matter but they're wrong. There should be enough youngish Brit directors by now who are part of that world cinema club, elitist though it may be to say so.
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Back then, these type of people were unseen, but now in France the biggest stars are all ghetto kids – Omar Sy, Jamel Debbouze – so things have really changed." No Cannes do for British talentĬannes will be kicking off with the beguiling form of Carey Mulligan as Daisy Buchanan in festival opener The Great Gatsby, but yet again the lack of British-directed films in the main Cannes selections revealed last week is regrettable. Maybe I'll do it, but find out what the kids from the ghetto are doing now. So what it means is I haven't been able to follow up that success." Maybe he should make La Haine 2? "Yes, I think about it a lot. On the other hand, it means no one gives a shit about my other films. What can I say to that? I'm happy, you know, I must be good because I made this film which thousands of people find a personal connection to. He told me: "Honestly, this happens at least three times a day, every day.
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In the afternoon I spent with him, up to 30 people came up to tell him how La Haine had "changed my life". La Haine director Mathieu Kassovitz was talking up his latest film, the powerful Rebellion (entitled L'ordre et La morale on its commercially unsuccessful release in France). Finally she had enough and she says in English 'Stop, what are you doing? What is this with the hands? What is in your pocket?' I told her, 'Oh, I've got a little mouse in here.'" He laughs. And me and Brigitte, we didn't share a common language, and I think I wound her up a bit.
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"I was a bit nervous and I kept putting my hands in there, you know. I had a blind date with Brigitte Bardot once and I wore this," he says, tucking his hands into the voluminous trouser pockets. "Oh, yeah, this is a favourite when I'm in London. He's wearing a beige three-piece corduroy suit, which looks good even with socks and Birkenstocks. Stamp, now 74, still oozes calm and knows he's always going to be the coolest and most handsome person in the room. The season kicked off with the haunting Theorem, in which Stamp starred as the Visitor for Pier Paolo Pasolini. I went to meet Terence Stamp at BFI Southbank last week as he celebrated the start of a career retrospective at the venue, running until the end of May.