A month after the actor’s terrible disappearance, a former Comédie-Française resident recalls the tremendous elegance of the man who, like him, played Yves Saint Laurent on the big screen.
The pain is still excruciating a month after Gaspard Ulliel died in a skiing accident. During a ceremony in the Saint-Eustache church, his family and celebrities from French cinema paid him a final homage. Pierre Niney was one of a thousand people who came to see him before he died. On the broadcast this Tuesday, February 22nd, we have a special guest. On Canal +, the actor evoked the one who may have become a rival, without ever becoming one, with emotion. Only the César for best actor could decide between the two men who were linked by the same role, that of designer Yves Saint Laurent.
Finally, in 2015, Pierre Niney defeated Gaspard Ulliel, who was battling for the Saint Laurent by Bertrand Bonello in the same category. The former resident of the Comédie-Française recalls Gaspard Ulliel’s “elegance” towards him in particular. “He wasn’t a close buddy, but the way he always behaved with me, even when everything led us to be afraid of each other, I always thought that was very classy of his character,” Pierre Niney says.
“We had an odd exchange during our shoots. Because as soon as I finished mine, he began his. That there were two productions, at the very least, engaged in a cinematic battle. That, in turn, was aided by the media, which sought to oppose the projects, simplify the problem… and sell them. We all know that the confrontation sells more than the nuance.
If they weren’t close friends, the 32-year-old actor remembers Gaspard Ulliel as a person with a “really huge heart.” He says, disturbed, “It definitely feels wrong to me to talk about him in the past tense.”
Two years after Pierre Niney, Gaspard Ulliel was awarded the César for best actor in 2017 for his performance in Xavier Dolan’s Just the End of the World, adapted from Jean-Luc Lagarce’s play of the same name. In 2005, he won the trophy for best male hope for his performance in Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s A long engagement Sunday.
The actor’s memory will be recognized during the 47th edition of the César Awards, which will take place on February 25. “Sober, respectable, in his image,” adds Antoine de Caunes, who is the eighth master of ceremonies this year.