Gay&Night-ZiZo Februari 2015

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/ INTERVIEW
Interview / Gaspard Ulliel
“YVES SAINT LAURENT HELPED TO
GET FASHION TO THE STREET”
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to dress me up for fun, so I grew up with that scene.
And I have been working for Chanel for ve years
now. However, there is a big difference between
the modern fashion industry and the world Saint
Laurent was a part of. Everything goes more
quickly now, the whole world changed. And the
artistic process is different. In Saint Laurent’s time,
everything was slower, more classical. Designing
clothes was considered more an art instead of
an industry. And he had less competitors. There
are so many brands, so many fashion weeks. It
is more part of a street culture; in his time, design
was considered part of the elite.”
Did he initiate these changes as well?
“A lot of things were changing in the seventies,
after the sexual liberation. The moral of society
was changing: he used that in his creations, and
changed the dressing of women. Coco Chanel got
rid of all the corsets and came with female preta-porter.
Saint Laurent extended these ideas and
designed clothes for women to wear in the street,
and at parties to dance. He helped to get fashion to
the street. But he couldn’t meet with the demands
of the industry. That was one of his reasons to
retire.”
Did you have any doubt about the fullfrontal
nudity in the lm?
“I had to accept it from the beginning, because
the scenes were in the script. I actually got used
to the idea quite quickly. In the end, I think an
actor learns about his own limits with a role that
demands you to push beyond your own limits. After
all, I like to think that your body is just one of the
tools you can use as an actor. It is the same for
the gay kiss: it reveals nothing of my own reality, it
says nothing about me as a person. So there is no
need to be shy about it.”
What do you think about the rivalry with
the other Saint Laurent lm?
“Of course it was a pity. But I think it was a
bigger problem for the producers. They had to
deal with the possible nancial problems. And they
had to deal with the fear of getting less viewers,
because the rst lm got quite some coverage
and was quite a success in France. But for me
personally, it had its advantages as well, because
our lm was postponed, which gave me more time
to prepare for this dif cult role. And for Bertrand
[Bonello, director of Saint Laurent – ed.] it was a
change as well, because he could get rid of certain
aspects of his life that were mentioned in the other
lm. When I saw the other lm, after nishing ours,
I was relieved, because our stories never really
meet. We have really different ways of exploring
and portraying his life and his work. They both
have the right to exist.”
The other one was authorized.
“It was not really authorized. But the director
of the other lm got in touch with Pierre Bergé.
And Pierre was very happy about the project and
started supporting the lm. A few months later,
Pierre heard about our project. But our producers
had decided not to ask his blessing when they
started production.”
What are your plans for your acting career
at the moment?
“The thing is, for the last year I had the tendency
to work a bit less. I had this comfortable nancial
situation because of my Chanel contract. So I had
all the time in the world to nd the best projects
and the roles that really excite me. But it was not a
really good idea: sometimes it is better for an actor
to stay in the energy of work and keep working,
even if it means making some bad choices. It is not
going to kill your career, everybody has good and
bad choices. It is a weird thing to wait for the right
project, it is better to keep working.”
You model for Chanel. Did you have to
ask for their blessing for the Saint Laurent
part?
“My rst reaction was to tell Chanel about it, and
ask if it was acceptable. They were a bit surprised,
and it took them a few weeks to think about it. But
in the end, they decided my career as an actor and
my career as a model are two different things.”
You always wanted to become a director.
Did you give up that dream?
“No, I still want to pursue that dream, it is still
there. I made a few attempts to realize a feature
lm as a director. I even wrote a script, but I was
not satised with the result. I don’t think I found the
right idea yet to develop into a feature lm.”
Saint Laurent will be available on DVD
in Belgium and the Netherlands from
the 28th of January.
Gay&Night raf es off ve copies of Saint Laurent. Want to
win a copy? Send an e-mail with your name and address
WIN:
to win@outmedia.nl. NL and BE citizens only.
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