In France, if you have any sort of talent, you'd better keep it here. And if you're going to go abroad, it had better not be America. The old battle - American versus Frog cinema. It's ridiculous.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
I was thinking of going to London drama schools or to New York, because France didn't accommodate the things I wanted to do in film.
Why does there exist a global American entertainment industry, but there isn't an equivalent coming from France or Italy? This is the case simply because the English language opens the whole world to the American cinema.
In movies, there are some things the French do that Americans are increasingly incapable of doing. One is honoring the complexities of youth. It's a quiet, difficult undertaking, requiring subtlety in a filmmaker and perception and patience from us.
If you make a film too American, it won't travel. It will have no life outside of its own country.
I'm very happy in France making movies.
When I say that I am going to do an American film, I didn't want to suddenly go off into a completely different world that which bears no relation to the style of filmmaking that I'm used to.
America is the only country capable of producing national movies: its culture has become a global culture.
French cinema has always been very interesting, and it's still very powerful. I think it goes to show that it's great to still have a cinema that doesn't try to emulate, for example, American cinema.
France loves American cinema because when an American remake is successful, it makes us money to produce more French films.
In France, I have lots of opportunities. Maybe now I'll be offered films in America. It's the encounter, with the director and the story that counts.