It’s complicated not to have the greatest respect for Roschdy Zem. The course of the man and that of the actor are remarkable. Coming from Moroccan immigration and extreme poverty (born in Gennevilliers, slums of Nanterre, HLM of Drancy, etc.), he rises by force of will, intelligence, talent, to the very forefront of French actors.
In forty years of a very eclectic career, he escapes socio-ethnic reduction from above, reveals himself to be a performer of astonishing ease and regularity, and finally shines in very great roles. After that of the marvelous Commissioner Daoud in Roubaix, a light (2019), by Arnaud Desplechin, which won him a César, we will count that of informer Hubert Antoine in State Scandal Investigation as one of his accomplishments.
You shared the poster with Thierry de Peretti, then an actor, in 1998 in “Those who love me will take the train”, by Patrice Chéreau. Does your relationship date from that time?
Not at all. Thierry was part of the Amandiers de Nanterre group, I came from elsewhere. We met very briefly. We lost sight of each other and then found each other again on this film, which I arrived on rather late, when the project was very advanced and they were already almost ready to shoot.
Why so late?
Probably because I wasn’t tipped as the first choice.
Are these things that are admitted, in the profession?
No, we don’t talk about it, it remains tacit. It’s not so bad. This allows you not to theorize too much about the character and to quickly get into the flesh of the role.
Unlike your partner Pio Marmaï, who was able to meet his model in the person of journalist Emmanuel Fansten, you will never see Hubert Avoine, who died in 2018. How did you build this fascinating informant character?
It is a job that involves several stages. The documentation, first, and there, my interlocutor is Thierry de Peretti, who knows the business inside out. Then, the tapes of dialogues between the informant and the journalist, which helped me enormously. His voice, his words, his tone allow me to find the character, to let him inhabit me. But there is also, of course, a part of creation, of play, which depends on the way in which you appropriate it, especially since I am, in truth, one could not be further from him.
It is its margin of uncertainty that makes this film so precious, and it relies a lot on the status of your character, who makes you wonder if he is a whistleblower or a mythomaniac…
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