A few years before “Kaamelott”, Alexandre Astier participated in a France 3 TV film in which he played a very small role, but doesn’t really have good memories of it.
Like many actors, the author of Kaamelott Alexandre Astier started with small roles. Guest of the show LEGEND presented by Guillaume Pley, he returned to one of his very first roles, which was not a very good experience, in a TV film we found (see below):
One day I do a (…) very small role in a TV movie. I was really young, and I had to serve pizza in a pizzeria. And me, as my mother taught me, she tells me: ‘Don’t go serving pizza if you’ve never served pizza, be respectful of the guys who really serve pizza, don’t make fun of them’.
“So I show up at a pizzeria”he continues, “I get hired for three days to serve pizzas and as a result (…) you understand a lot of things when you do service: keep your eyes open at the door when it goes ‘ding ding’, how many of you there are, your look at the thing, you don’t leave the room without taking something, a whole bunch of little things (…).”
Alexandre Astier is currently working on the next Kaamelott films using AI
“And when I got into the TV movie, pretty much everyone made fun of me. Because, ‘What are you going to think? We ask you to play a waiter, go play , don’t worry. And I think that (…) that meant a lot of things.”
“I said to myself: ‘Well you know what, guys? Yes, I’m going to take the piss. If you don’t feel like it, don’t do it. There is no story of Actor’s studio, no method, no show off, it’s taking a small step towards a little additional truth. There’s no small role, there’s no small way of doing things.”
France 3 With Macha Méril
We found this TV film: it is Belle grandmother 2 – La Trattoria, broadcast on France 3 in January 2003, two years before Kaamelott began on M6. Carried by Macha Méril and Victor Lanoux, this time it is no longer their son Thibaut who is talking about him (as in the first Belle grandmother) but their daughter Charlotte, who wishes to open an Italian restaurant with her husband.
We can indeed see Alexandre Astier appearing in several scenes, speaking Italian:
France 3
Alexandre Astier and Patrick Farru
Alexandre Astier also doesn’t have very good memories of the quality of writing in Belle grandmother 2:
“The lines in these TV films are not very well written. There aren’t many very good dialogue writers in France – at least, not there. There are a lot of lines that stick with you , it’s difficult. So we won’t see you that much, small roles and small projects don’t necessarily lead to big ones.”
Astier is currently refining Kaamelott Second part, which will be composed of two two-hour films, which will be released a few months apart. To be continued, bunch of pegus!