Since winning, in 2018, only 23 years old, the Silver Bear for Best Actor at the Berlin Film Festival, overwhelming with devotion and suffering as a resilient drug addict, in Prayer, by Cédric Kahn, Anthony Bajon lives his life. That of actor that he fantasized child, eyes shining in front “Jack Sparrow, Zorro, Tintin, Hercule Poirot, all those adventure characters”. The one that made the guidance counselors disdainful and sometimes the comrades incredulous.
To his agent Grégory Weill, one of the finest and best introduced in Paris, he slipped a list of filmmakers whose work he appreciates. And, while refusing the too stereotyped roles that are stuck on him, “that of the youngest of the family who has behavior problems and does not know what to do with his life”, he checks off the directors with whom he ends up shooting. Philippe Lioret, for whom he portrayed a literate student in his TV movie Paris Brest (2020); Romain Gavras, who made him a CRS for his next film on Netflix; Katell Quillévéré, for whom he will play rapper Kool Shen in a series for Arte; Stéphane Brizé who chose him to be the son of Vincent Lindon and Sandrine Kiberlain on screen, a disoriented young man on the edge, treated in an institution, in Another world, expected on February 16 in theaters.
“I set foot in my dream”
In the wake of the shooting, the same Kiberlain, thrilled, took him on to play a musician and teasing brother in his first film, A young girl who is well, which comes out on January 26. Distributed like a prince, Bajon nevertheless stops dead in its tracks: “To say that I acquired anything would be pretentious. I’m starting my career, I’m at the observation stage: how we behave on a set, how we try to make a good film. »
Precise and without fuss – clear voice, measured effects, sense of restraint, muscular physique on which he does not make everything rest – he offers nobility to modest male characters, often surrounded by doubts, alliance of reserve and flashes of temerity. “Sensitive”, like to say the press. “In life, I hardly ever cry, but, being sensitive means being able to infuse empathy and humanity into my characters, that’s cool. »
Managed to rise to the height of his dream, the kid from Essonne, “stressed, conscientious and punctual”, adheres to it with the rigor of an athlete who goes to bed early: sports games, healthy food, no alcohol or cigarettes. “I want to do well, sometimes too much, he regrets. I set foot in my dream, but I would like to take more pleasure. I’m not completely fulfilled, because I always want more, I find it hard to take time for myself… I have to manage, for my mental health, to build myself an identity other than in front of a camera. »
While waiting, he hopes, to make his first short film, in the spring, in which he will not play, he goes as soon as possible to hike alone or walk in the forest, his beloved Michael Jackson in his ears .
A young girl who is well (1 h 38), by Sandrine Kiberlain, in theaters on January 26. Another world (1 h 36), by Stéphane Brizé, in theaters on February 16.