Gaspard Ulliel Quotes

I love living intense situations, which leave their mark and enrich existence. The birth of a child totally changes the perception of the future. With my son Orso, a Corsican name, like his mother Gaëlle Pietri, I filled a void I didn't know existed.

Chanel is the greatest fashion house in France, but I was hesitant when they first asked me. I thought it could be risky for me to do a fashion campaign. I'm not like Brad Pitt or Gerard Depardieu, who already have established themselves as actors - I'm just starting. I didn't want to be known as a Chanel model, over an actor, but I told myself it was the perfect project. Chanel is classy and highly respected. I like being associated with a fragrance more than I think I would with clothes, it's more abstract you know?

Many people talk about this scar, and a few directors before [Peter Webber] were seduced, if I can say so, by this scar. I'm going to phone the surgeon and thank him for it. [laughs] I was six years old and a dog was sleeping in a garden, and I just jumped on his back like I would have done on a horse. And so he just hit me with his claws, and that made a nice little scar. But it looks like a dimple. It's nice, and it might help, sometimes, to express feelings in my acting. I'm not really conscious about this because I can't really see my face when I'm acting.

I think I was around 17 years old when I had my first parts in feature films and that’s when I really started to get interested in all of cinema, not just acting. After high school, I went to film school for 2 years. That was a great moment for me because I discovered a lot of directors from around the world and a lot of different types of genre. It would’ve taken me a long time to make these kinds of discoveries on my own without school, so I’m really thankful. At the time, I wanted to express myself with my own films as a director, but as I was getting more and more offers as an actor, I had to stop those studies to focus on acting. I feel trapped now because I really enjoy acting. But it’s true, I wake up every morning with this idea stuck in my mind that I want to write and direct my own film one day. As I work more and more on different sets, I see how hard it is to be a director. It’s insane the amount of work and confidence that goes into it. I’m so respectful of filmmakers and I admire what they do. I hope that one day I’ll find the right subject and the confidence to try it. I’m still young.

Since I became a dad, my life has been turned out completely differently. From then on, I try to devote time and energy to my son. On set, I am far from him physically but also in my head. Between these periods, I therefore devote all the time he needs to him.

I have to thank my surgeon who did a great job. It [his scar] almost looks like a dimple. When I was maybe 6 years old, I stayed at my parents’ friend’s country house in France and they had this huge dog. The dog was sleeping on a tree and I jumped on his back like I was riding a horse or something. The dog wasn’t aggressive or mean, but it was just totally surprised when I did that and he tore up my cheek with his big paw. But it’s true, maybe the scar helped me in some way because it adds something to my face. It’s very interesting because it’s asymmetrical. It’s like a dimple that I only have on one side of my face. Many directors have used it for scenes in their films. The most memorable one was in Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s A Very Long Engagement where I’m kissing Audrey Tautou and she runs her finger across the scar. [Laughs]

I love music. My secret dream has always been to be a jazz musician. I tried the saxophone for a year or two when I was younger, but unfortunately I had to face the fact that I was not really talented !

I think one really memorable experience for me was on a film called Strayed by André Téchiné, a great filmmaker in France. That was an experience where I learned the most because he wouldn’t leave me alone, even for a second, between takes. [Laughs] He was really focused on his actors and that was really wonderful. I was really young at the time and that was a really important film for me.

I wasn’t directly connected to Marty. It’s the Chanel people who phoned me saying they were interested in working with me on a campaign. We had a lot of discussions about it. At the time, they hadn’t chosen a director. One day, they came to me with the idea of asking Martin Scorsese and of course I said, ‘That’s a great idea. I would be the happiest man in the world to work with him.” So that’s how we ended up working together. I pinched myself on the set every day—“Yup. I’m not dreaming.” [Laughs] It was really great because Chanel gave Marty and me total freedom. He works so precisely and you can see that his team loves him so much that they work really hard. Marty knows exactly what he wants, how he’s going to get what he wants, and knows when he has it. This shoot only lasted 4 to 5 days.

Maybe I'm lying to myself, but jealousy is a feeling that I think is totally foreign to me. In this environment, however, the competition is strong — seeing a role pass is sometimes a disappointment — but I would never draw jealousy from it directed towards another actor. On the other hand, I would have liked to have other talents. Like becoming a musician. Pianist, to be precise: I would have loved to know how to play the piano, although I have no gift for it, I have already tried, it's a waste of time (laughs). But all artistic gifts make me dream, like painting...

It's a huge upheaval. What was of extreme importance yesterday seems trivial today. Fatherhood brings you back to something very concrete, fills a void you weren't necessarily aware of, gives you a reason to live.

Biggest regret: Being compelled to stop my cinema studies to work as an actor. Even though I’m so passionate about acting today, after high school I was so eager to become a filmmaker. Still in my mind today...

Current obsession: Finding some used pack of 665 Polaroid film. It’s a black and white film with a positive and negative at the same time!! I’ve been an amateur photographer since my teens. Before digital killed it all, I loved using this great film in my rare Konica Instant Press camera.

Moreover, like everyone, I think, injustices make me angry, even if I am not attached to a particular cause, that I am not campaigning for an association. Sometimes I blame myself, because in my position, I should probably be able to speak for something. But marking my choice is difficult for me. From global warming to child abuse to poverty, my head is spinning. You know, I'm a bit of a nihilist, or at least I define myself as an entropy: for me, the mess in our world is only getting worse. Yes, I know, I say this when I had a child, which is still a huge message of hope. It's a paradox, I know.

I don't often use the word pride. Even if sometimes the feeling is there, I can't quite admit it to myself, I try to keep humility. But looking back, I think I'm pretty proud to be where I am today. Especially when I think back to the shy and withdrawn child that I could have been. I suffered, like surely many children, from a lack of confidence. This is also why my journey began by chance, and why it was arranged in a somewhat winding way.