What drew you to the project?
I met Jacques and I found an extremely calm guy, confident about the subject and very humble. And he has an unusual capacity to listen. I felt I could work with him. He has the strength and richness of those who allow themselves be convinced by ideas. And Guillaume was in the film. In fact, Guillaume himself had told me about a project he’d direct in which we’d play two brothers and he said to me: “Jacques’ script is so good – this is the film we should do.”

What drew you to the role?
Playing the crook interested me straight away. This was the first time I’d played one and since the schoolyard, playing with a gun has always tempted me. Guns are key props for all actors and they have a huge amount of power. Every character, no matter how dark, is alive and is human so you have to make them breathe. It was fascinating to take him on and all his screw-ups. This guy has nothing and has never had anything. What do you want when you’ve never had anything? Love and thus a little dignity. And an outwards appearance too, because that’s the quickest thing to take on. And you end up with a petty bourgeois mentality. That’s why we paid particular attention to the evolution of the character’s appearance, to his suits which are increasingly well cut, and in the money that he spreads around. Money gives him a few happy days.

You invest a lot in the visual definition of your character.
Because I like it. I come from a theater background and I believe in costumes. I don’t always know what effect the costume will have but I feel what it does to me when I wear it and when I walk. That’s why I always insist that my costume does something to me, that it moves me, that it bears witness to what I have become, how this skin and these bones are covered today. Because once it’s on, it’s me. And the feeling follows. It’s the same with wigs and make-up. I wear a very thick moustache less to evoke the 1970s than to reinforce the brutal side of the character. I knew that even from far off, his mouth would be barred with a fairly thick black line that would harden the mask and thus the whole character. All of this preparation really helped me.

Even if the film isn’t a real autobiography of the Papet brothers, did meeting them help, inhibit or just nourish the character? How did you handle the relationship to reality?
The fact the guy exists or has existed is almost sacred. It doubles the role in one go. There are two of us in the same identity and it adds an extra element to the role. When you play a real person, it’s not that you have to answer to anyone but you’re not just playing any old made-up character either. In any case, being underwritten by the trust of the director is essential. I was offered the role of the crook because Jacques thought I could bring it to life and be credible. When I met Michel Papet, I firstly thought he was hugely sensitive. And the most amazing thing is that loyalty which also exists between the Papet brothers in real life. The character was born from that, and also from the impression you can make on your partners. It’s what you see in their eyes that also makes the character.

That’s also true of your female partners...
Working with Marie Denarnaud was all about rhythm and inspiration. On the first day’s shooting with her, we started with the supermarket scene where she comes back with the ring without having opened the box. She stands there, 20 meters away, the gift in her hand, very emotional. The ambiguity in her performance made me think she was going to give it back. Us guys who knew what was going to happen next in the scene started without mentioning this misunderstanding. We rerouted the start in order to better come back to what was needed from the scene. Seeing your partner coming towards you, feeling yourself tremble, feeling that your body is responding on its own, that it isn’t cerebral but from an exchange with the partner who is giving you a secret message – to you and nobody else. The other woman in Gabriel’s life is Monique, played by Carole Franck. In her character, she gave me everything she’d had to endure with mine, plus a conviction of being able to look after herself but without hiding the love she still has and always will have for him. Then they had that little girl together. It was 25 years of trouble after all. That’s true faithfulness. The greatest gift a director can give you is your acting partners.