Jean-Pierre Léaud | |
|---|---|
 Léaud at the2000 César Awards | |
| Born | (1944-05-28)28 May 1944 (age 81) Paris, France |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1958–present |
| Spouse | |
| Parent(s) | Jacqueline Pierreux Pierre Léaud |
| Awards | Silver Bear for Best Actor Masculin Féminin (1966) Best Actor (Thessaloniki Film Festival) 1996Pour rire! [fr] Honorary César FIPRESCI Prize (2000) The Pornographer (2001) |
Jean-Pierre Léaud,ComM (French:[ʒɑ̃pjɛʁle.o]; born 28 May 1944) is a French actor best known for being an important figure of theFrench New Wave and his portrayal ofAntoine Doinel in a series of films byFrançois Truffaut, beginning withThe 400 Blows (1959). He has worked withJean-Luc Godard,Agnès Varda, andJacques Rivette, as well as other notable directors such asJean Cocteau,Pier Paolo Pasolini,Bernardo Bertolucci,Catherine Breillat,Jerzy Skolimowski, andAki Kaurismäki.
Born in Paris, Léaud made his major debut as an actor at the age of 14 asAntoine Doinel, a semi-autobiographical character based on the life events of Frenchfilm directorFrançois Truffaut, inThe 400 Blows. To cast the two central characters, Antoine Doinel and his partner-in-crime René Bigey, Truffaut published an announcement inFrance-Soir and auditioned several hundred children in September and October 1958. Jean Domarchi, a critic atCahiers du cinéma, had earlier recommended the son of an assistant scriptwriter,Pierre Léaud, and the actressJacqueline Pierreux. Patrick Auffay was cast as René.
Truffaut was immediately captivated by the fourteen-year-old Léaud,[1] who had already appeared withJean Marais inGeorges Lampin'sLa Tour, prends garde ! (1958). He recognized traits they both shared, "for example a certain suffering with regard to the family...With, however, this fundamental difference: though we were both rebels, we hadn't expressed our rebellion in the same way. I preferred to cover up and lie. Jean-Pierre, on the contrary, seeks to hurt, shock and wants it to be known...Why? Because he's unruly, while I was sly. Because his excitability requires that things happen to him, and when they don't occur quickly enough, he provokes them".[1]: 129 In his final interview, Truffaut mentioned he was happy with how Léaud improvised within the flexibly written script.[2]
Jean-Pierre Léaud, then in the eighth grade at a private school inPontigny, was a far from ideal student. The director of the school wrote this to Truffaut, "I regret to inform you that Jean-Pierre is more and more 'unmanageable'. Indifference, arrogance, permanent defiance, lack of discipline in all its forms. He has twice been caught leafing through pornographic pictures in the dorm. He is developing more and more into an emotionally disturbed case".[1]: 129 But this unstable boy, who often ran away with the older students on their nights out, could also be brilliant, generous, and affectionate. Extremely cultured for his age,[1]: 130 he was already very good at writing, and he even claimed to Truffaut that he had written a "verse tragedy",Torquatus.[1]: 130
Throughout the production ofThe 400 Blows (Les Quatre Cents Coups, 1959), wrote Jay Carr, "Truffaut would take Léaud to see rushes of Godard'sBreathless each evening. They'd sit up late talking film with Godard, Rivette, Rohmer, Eustache, Orson Welles."[3] Upon the filmmaker's death, the actor reminisced Truffaut was the first person he admired and that he "spoke to children like they were adults. He realized that children understood things better than adults did. He was purely intuitive. We operated in a sort of complicity."[3]
During and following the filming ofThe 400 Blows, Truffaut's concern for Léaud extended beyond the film set. He took charge of the difficult adolescent's upbringing after Léaud was expelled from school and kicked out of the home of the retired couple taking care of him. Truffaut subsequently rented a studio apartment for Léaud. Truffaut also hired him for assistant work onThe Soft Skin (La peau douce, 1964) andMata Hari, Agent H21 (1964).[4]
Léaud starred in four more Truffaut films depicting the life of Doinel, spanning a period of 20 years—after the short-filmAntoine et Colette in 1962—beside actressClaude Jade as his girlfriend, and then wife, Christine. Those films areStolen Kisses (1968),Bed and Board (1970) andLove on the Run (1979). Truffaut stated that Léaud was the source of inspiration for the Antoine Doinel character and "I created some scenes just because I knew he would be funny in them—at least I laughed during the writing as I thought of him."[2] He also collaborated with Truffaut on non-Antoine Doinel films likeTwo English Girls (Les Deux Anglaises et le Continent, 1971) andDay for Night (La Nuit américaine, 1973) and became the actor most commonly affiliated with him. Although Antoine Doinel is his most familiar character, he often found his performances in other films to be compared to his Doinel character whether there were legitimate similarities or not.[5]
Léaud is one of the most visible and well-known actors to be associated with theFrench New Wave film movement and, aside from his work with Truffaut, collaborated withJean-Luc Godard (nine films),Jean Eustache,Jacques Rivette andAgnès Varda. The early 1970s was perhaps the peak of his professional career when he had three critically acclaimed films released: Bertolucci'sLast Tango in Paris (1972), Truffaut'sLa Nuit américaine, and Eustache'sThe Mother and the Whore (both 1973). In the Bertolucci film, Léaud appeared in the same film as a hero of his,Marlon Brando, although the two men never met, since all of Léaud's scenes were shot on Saturdays and Brando refused to work on Saturdays.[6]
In March 1966, Léaud won theSilver Bear for Best Actor at the16th Berlin International Film Festival for his role inJean-Luc Godard'sMasculin, féminin.[7] He was nominated for aCésar Award for Best Supporting Actor in 1988 forLes Keufs and was awarded anHonorary César for lifetime achievement in 2000.
Léaud acted in films by other influential directors, such asPier Paolo Pasolini,Jerzy Skolimowski,Aki Kaurismäki,Olivier Assayas,Tsai Ming-liang,Bertrand Bonello andAlbert Serra.
He is married to the French actress Brigitte Duvivier.[8]
Commander of theOrder of Merit, Portugal (12 January 2017)[10]| Year | Title | Director | Role |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1958 | King on Horseback | Georges Lampin | Pierrot |
| 1959 | The 400 Blows | François Truffaut | Antoine Doinel |
| 1960 | Boulevard | Julien Duvivier | Jojo |
| Testament of Orpheus | Jean Cocteau | Dargelos | |
| 1962 | Antoine and Colette | François Truffaut (2) | Antoine Doinel |
| 1965 | Pierrot le Fou | Jean-Luc Godard | A Spectator |
| Love at Sea | Guy Gilles | Cameo Appearance | |
| 1966 | Le Père Noël a les yeux bleus | Jean Eustache | Daniel |
| Made in U.S.A. | Jean-Luc Godard (2) | Donald Siegel | |
| Masculin Féminin | Jean-Luc Godard (3) | Paul | |
| Alphaville | Jean-Luc Godard (4) | The Waiter | |
| 1967 | Weekend | Jean-Luc Godard (5) | Saint-Just |
| La Chinoise | Jean-Luc Godard (6) | Guillaume | |
| The Departure | Jerzy Skolimowski | Marc | |
| 1968 | Stolen Kisses | François Truffaut (3) | Antoine Doinel |
| 1969 | Pigsty | Pier Paolo Pasolini | Julian Klotz |
| Joy of Learning | Jean-Luc Godard (7) | Le Rousseau | |
| 1970 | Bed and Board | François Truffaut (4) | Antoine Doinel |
| The Seven Headed Lion | Glauber Rocha | Preacher | |
| 1971 | Two English Girls | François Truffaut (5) | Claude Roc |
| Out 1 | Jacques Rivette | Colin | |
| 1972 | Last Tango in Paris | Bernardo Bertolucci | Tom |
| 1973 | The Mother and the Whore | Jean Eustache (2) | Alexandre |
| Day for Night | François Truffaut (6) | Alphonse | |
| 1979 | Love on the Run | François Truffaut (7) | Antoine Doinel |
| 1981 | Help Me Dream | Pupi Avati | Mario |
| 1985 | Treasure Island | Raúl Ruiz | Midas |
| Détective | Jean-Luc Godard (8) | Inspector Neveu | |
| 1987 | Les keufs | Josiane Balasko | Commissioner Bullfinch |
| 1988 | 36 Fillette | Catherine Breillat | Boris Golovine |
| 1989 | Bunker Palace Hôtel | Enki Bilal | Solal |
| 1990 | I Hired a Contract Killer | Aki Kaurismäki | Henri Boulanger |
| 1991 | Paris Awakens | Olivier Assayas | Clément |
| 1992 | La Vie de Bohème | Aki Kaurismäki (2) | Blancheron |
| 1993 | La Naissance de l'amour | Philippe Garrel | Marcus |
| 1995 | One Hundred and One Nights | Agnès Varda | Jean-Pierre |
| 1996 | My Man | Bertrand Blier | Monsieur Claude |
| Irma Vep | Olivier Assayas (2) | René Vidal | |
| 2001 | The Pornographer | Bertrand Bonello | Jacques Laurent |
| What Time Is It There? | Tsai Ming-Liang | Jean-Pierre/Man at Cemetery | |
| 2004 | Folle embellie | Dominique Cabrera | Fernand |
| 2005 | J'ai vu tuer Ben Barka | Serge Le Péron and Saïd Smihi | Georges Franju |
| 2009 | Face | Tsai Ming-Liang (2) | Antoine/King Herodes |
| 2011 | Le Havre | Aki Kaurismäki (3) | The Informer |
| 2012 | Camille redouble | Noémie Lvovsky | The Jeweller |
| 2014 | La collection: Ecrire pour... la trentaine vue par des écrivains (2014 TV Mini-Series) | Cameo appearance in "Rosa mystica" episode | |
| 2016 | The Death of Louis XIV | Albert Serra | Louis XIV |
| 2017 | M. | Sara Forestier | Lila's father |
| 2017 | The Lion Sleeps Tonight | Nobuhiro Suwa | Jean |
| 2018 | Alien Crystal Palace | Arielle Dombasle | Horus |
| 2019 | C'è tempo | Walter Veltroni | Himself |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Academics | |
| Artists | |
| People | |
| Other | |
