Blueberry: INTERVIEW WITH VINCENT CASSEL


- What is the background to you becoming innvolved in this film and, above all, in this character, for whom you do not appear to have the physique required?

It all started with a slightly strange story.
I was already extremely interested by everything involving Shamanism, and when Dobermann came out, when Jan had given me “The Monk and the Philosopher” to read, I gave him in exchange books by Castaneda or ! and I believe that it was sort of from there that things got going. Jan gradually became more and more interested in the world of the Shamans and, slightly later on, I followed his lead.
Initially, there was no role for me. I was not involved with the film project. But I found the subject interesting. I thought it was very brave of Jan to get so deep into a world like that. One day he called me and told me about the role of Prosit – who is actually described in the script as a short, fat, balding fifty year old…. I was a bit put off, but ready to give it a go. And then, a bit later on, it was the character of Blueberry that he offered to me in the end.
I didn’t think it was such a good idea to begin with. It’s a role that should be played by an American. I thought it absolutely necessary to re-discuss the script to adapt it to this new situation. Jan was extremely open and then, later one, I got so involved in the making of the film that my place in this story, in the end, seems to be almost inevitable, with hindsight – and that’s rather a Shamanic sort of route after all.


- Did you know the comic strip from which tthe film is inspired?

I’d already read some albums, yes, and I read them again when the film was in the preparation stage because I’m a good student, but despite all the respect I feel for Jean Giraud, I realised very quickly that it was not actually the adaptation of the comic strip that I found interesting.
It was above all to make a Shamanic western with Jan Kounen, and to fill it with something living … I have just seen the film, which is now virtually finished, in my opinion, it’s a journey of initiation, somewhere between “The Red Line” and “Princess Mononoke”.


- How do you perceive the character of Blueeberry?

He’s a fellow who lives badly but who sees this state as being an inevitable, normal situation.
He has hidden his problems so deep down that he isn’t really conscious of them any more. There’s something pessimistic, nostalgic without really knowing why any more, about him. He doesn’t believe in love because, deep down, he doesn’t feel capable of either loving or being loved.
He lives the life of a cowboy: getting blind drunk and going to find relief in a brothel when he feels like it. And yet, something about him suggests pain. Events will cause him to face up to this bad feeling, by confronting his past and admitting that life hasn’t exactly turned out the way he thought it would.


- Could you tell us how you identify with tthis character?

How I identify? I don’t want to go on too much, but let’s just say that I met certain people during the making of this film that gave me some idea ….
Being part of this project enabled me to have regular contacts with Shamans and to go through experiences which definitely matured me a little, yes I think they did … unless it’s just the passage of time, who knows?


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