Thursday March 21, 2024, Stéphane Freiss gave an interview to Paris Match. The opportunity for the actor to talk about his career, but also to look back on his coronation, during the César ceremony in 1989.
Chouans, Without roof or law, The big role, Camus, Bienvenue chez les Ch’tis… During his career, Stéphane Freiss played in many successful films. In 1989, at the age of 29, the actor won the Caesar for best male hopeful for his role in the film Chouans, by Philippe de Broca. However, the cinema did not offer him roles for several years afterwards. Thursday March 21, 2024, for Paris Match, he declared: “I arrived in a period where cinema was in complete change. The whole generation of filmmakers embodied by de Broca and Molinaro was being replaced by authors who were more interested in social problems: the suburbs, AIDS … Me, I entered the profession at the tail end of this old generationwith a dazzling role that was not representative of my time”.
In complete transparency, Stéphane Freiss indicated: “I made a certain audience dream, but I did not fit into the reality of the profession. On top of that, I went to collect this reward in a very flamboyant way, by jumping from a rope, dressed in a swashbuckling costume. Maybe it was a lot and people in the trade misinterpreted it. So yes, it closed doors for me for a few years.”. Monday February 19, 2024, on the set of C à vous, on France 5, the actor was invited to review his awards ceremony. “I don’t like it at all, at all!“he then admitted, before confiding: “I was at the time, and I still am a little, terribly shy. I said to myself, if by chance I have it, I’m going to be unable to say a word. The only way to do it is is to go beyond my inhibition by doing something”.
Stéphane Freiss: “I didn’t have to write verses”
During the show, the actor then indicated: “With Philippe Noiret, we said to ourselves, if one of us has something that day, even if only to wear the incredible costumes that we had and which had been made to measure, we are going to do something. I was nominated, so I did it, but I was blacklisted a lot!“ Faced with Anne-Élisabeth Lemoine’s astonishment, Stéphane Freiss slipped: “On the evening of the Caesars, each Caesar winner has his own table with his Caesar, there was no one at mine”. According to him, his passage would have cooled his colleagues. “They said to themselves: ‘He’s doing too much’ and they’re not completely wrong! I could have spoken normally, I wasn’t obliged to write verses, but since I was at the same time at La Comédie French, I wanted to do everything at once“he added.