FIDÉLITÉ AND PAN-EUROPÉENNE PRESENT IN ASSOCIATION WITH WILD BUNCH

THE ODYSSEY

A film by Jérôme Salle

Starring Lambert Wilson, Pierre Niney, Audrey Tautou

FRENCH THEATRICAL RELEASE: OCTOBER 12th

France – 2.66 – 5.1 – 2h02

INTENATIONAL SALES

Carole BARATON & Fanny BEAUVILLE Emilie SERRES [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] Silvia SIMONUTTI Olivier BARBIER [email protected] [email protected]

Material available for download: http://www.wildbunch.biz/movie/odyssey-the/

SYNOPSIS

1948. Jacques Cousteau, his wife and his two sons are living in paradise, in a beautiful house overlooking the Mediterranean. But all Cousteau can think of is adventure. Thanks to his invention, an independent aqualung allowing divers to breathe under water, he has discovered a whole new world. Now all he wants to do is explore this world. And he is willing to sacrifice everything to achieve this.

INTERVIEW WITH JÉRÔME SALLE

Before you had the idea of making a film on this subject, what did the name Cousteau conjure up for you?

It took me back to my childhood… I was brought up in the South of France, my parents had a sailing boat, and we used to sail to all the places where Cousteau first went diving, around the Embiez, Porquerolles, all those islands in the Var region. I also remember his documentaries being shown on TV. Right from the start, the man and his work were linked to my own life…

The project took quite a long time to set up - we'll come back to that - but how did the idea first come about?

It all began with one of my children. I was talking about Cousteau at home and I saw my son had no idea what I was talking about. He didn't know a thing about Cousteau, had never heard of the films, the Calypso, nor the crew's red hats! It seemed incredible, because for people of my generation, Captain Cousteau was almost like Jesus, one of the most famous men in the world… After talking about this with other people, I realised that he was sinking into oblivion as far as the under 20s and even the under 30s were concerned. So I started to look at what had been written about him: on the Internet, in books. I watched the documentaries again, and I ended up experiencing a tremendous feeling of childhood nostalgia. I also noticed that apart from Wes Anderson's film "The Life Aquatic", no movie had ever tackled the extraordinary life of this man… So I began to unravel the details from there and I soon felt that there was a lot of mystery surrounding him: very little was known about Jacques-Yves Cousteau. He had total control over his image when filming himself with his crew, but never revealed anything intimate about himself.

I imagine that the next difficulty was choosing an angle for the story you wanted to tell, from such a full yet secretive life…

Absolutely, and I had such a hard job doing it, especially as in the meantime I directed two other films, "Largo Winch" and "Zulu". It really took me several years to get a script I was happy with… Laurent Turner, the film's co-writer, and I read everything which had been written about the man, then met the people who had known him, because all the grey areas surrounding Cousteau were stopping me from seeing who he really was - a man who lived several lives in the space of a single lifetime… First we had to carry out a huge amount of investigative journalism before we could begin the work of a scriptwriter. Once this was done, we settled down to write the script. I thought it was a good screenplay - in the sense that we got great feedback from it - but I still felt a little frustrated. I felt it was a little too classic in its approach, too much of a biopic. I think it was meeting the actors that enabled me to develop it further. Pierre Niney, whom I wanted to work with, reinforced my idea of giving more space to the role of Philippe Cousteau, one of Cousteau's sons. At this point, the opposition between Philippe and his father suddenly seemed an obvious basis for the story… So then I wrote a completely new version, taking out the first part about Cousteau's younger days. This had the advantage of allowing me offer the role to Lambert Wilson, who - fortunately - agreed almost immediately. While I was re-writing, I practically started from scratch, and yet I wrote it all in one go in the space of three weeks. Thanks to the new angle, I suddenly had a very clear idea of the story I wanted to tell. But I have to emphasise that this was only possible because of all the hard work Laurent and I had been doing for several years! I have been a scriptwriter, and I know only too well how often the authors of the early versions get forgotten, even though that is by far the most difficult part of the work. I loved working with Laurent, but I think that at that point, for the re- writing, I needed to be alone with my subject.

There are, however, two aspects of Cousteau's life that could have made you think twice about making the film: his family and his heritage…

For the first point, it's true that Jean-Michel Cousteau is still alive, as well as Philippe's children. I met everyone quite early on, telling them clearly what I wanted to do and how I was going to do it. I also told them that this would not be a documentary, but a real feature film, cinema for entertainment. The Cousteau family and even those who had worked with him should therefore not expect a hagiography. I told them: "Don't forget that this film is not primarily for you, but for the spectators who do not know the subject well"… Cousteau's status as an icon did not worry me too much. It is not the subject of the film even though of course we show Cousteau's fame throughout the world and his impact on environmental protection towards the end of his life…

It is true that "The Odyssey" is above all the portrait of a man, showing his doubts, his faults, his weaknesses, his contradictions…

Yes, and this is what struck me most when talking to people who had never met him: the extent to which their image of him could be completely different. There are those who love him and are fascinated, and then there are those who sometimes hate him, often without knowing much about him in fact. Some mix him up with his brother, Pierre-Antoine Cousteau. Jacques-Yves was awarded the Legion d'Honneur for his work in the Resistance, even though at heart, like Giono, he considered war an absurdity that barely interested him. Others, like Gérard Mordillat, have blamed him for killing sharks and for not always having respected nature early in his career. But this is precisely what is interesting about Cousteau: the evolution of his relationship with nature. He is someone who sums up the twentieth century perfectly, in terms of man’s relationship with the environment. In the 1940s he hunted under water with no restrictions, thanks to the Aqua-Lung diving regulator he invented with Emile Gagnan, an engineer from Air Liquide. Then in the 1950s he worked with oil companies, collecting samples in order to select sites for future offshore drilling! But you have to put everything back into its context. In those days, man considered himself all-powerful and nature was something which had to be tamed, its resources exploited without any second thoughts. No one ever believed that the planet would be in danger. Later on, Cousteau was one of the first people to become aware of this error. So he became one of the first ecologists. But he never tried to hide his past errors, and that is all to his credit! For example, many people wanted him to re-edit "The Silent World" in order to cut out the shocking scenes, such as the shark massacre. He refused, because he felt the film should remain as it was, to show evidence of the errors committed by man at the time - including himself.

At the end of the day, do you feel any affection for this man?

Yes, of course… But above all and like all those who worked with him, I feel admiration for Cousteau. This is a man who lived a multitude of different lives, who surmounted unbelievable obstacles, who showed true physical courage many times. A highly creative man and also a great film director because he knew how to tell stories. I would also say that he was a great artistic director because he was talented enough to choose the red hats and the black wetsuits with yellow stripes for his crew… His men felt affection towards Simone, his wife, "The Shepherdess", the boss of the Calypso, but they felt admiration for their captain…

Such a large-scale project, shot in all four corners of the world, needs quite a budget. What was the search for financing like?

It was hell! It was by far the most difficult film to finance out of all those I've made… For a French film, it is of course a huge budget, but films always need more money! I have to say that "The Odyssey" was the result of everybody's investment, by which I mean that everyone made an effort, money-wise: the actors first and foremost, but also the producers, and myself of course. We all wanted this film to exist. It was a running joke throughout the filming: "We're doing this for the planet"! I can assure you that no one did this film for the money in any case! In fact at the end of the shoot, we didn't have enough money left to shoot some underwater scenes I really needed, including one with a shark. My four producers, Nathalie Gastaldo Godeau, Marc Missonnier, Philippe Godeau and Olivier Delbosc, understood this and backed me, taking a real financial risk. I would like to thank them, this doesn't happen very often.

Do you think that thanks to this film, Cousteau will become known throughout the whole world?

Cousteau is already known throughout the whole world! And has been for a long time! He does not need this film. The thing is, young people are not as familiar with him as their parents and grandparents are. So the film will allow a new generation to discover him. Which is a good thing! And not just in France, because I think the film has been sold in many other countries.

The filming took place in lots of different countries: Croatia, South Africa, the Antarctic and the Bahamas… How did you choose these natural settings so that they fitted in with Cousteau's real life?

The first part of the film takes place in what I call a "lost paradise": a part of the Mediterranean coast that is totally free of concrete, which no longer exists in France. The Croatian islands look a little like our south coast did in the 1940s… It was a place I didn't know and which gave us beautiful scenery, which was still in its natural state. I filmed "Zulu" in South Africa and I came across a boat, which was not an exact replica of the Calypso, but was the same type from the same period. That provided one good reason to go, as well as the fact that this country is fantastic for filmmakers because there are lots of different landscapes and very competent technicians. As for the Antarctic, I was adamant about going there, firstly for artistic reasons, because there is scenery which doesn’t exist anywhere else in the world, and also for symbolic reasons, because it was Cousteau's final combat, where he succeeded in 1998 in getting the world leaders to sign a moratorium freezing the industrial exploitation of the resources of the region until 2048…

Do film directors get to savour how lucky they are to film in such places from a simply visual point of view?

Of course: being able to make this film was already an unbelievable piece of luck! In fact we all felt a little depressed at the end… "The Odyssey" was such an adventure, in all senses of the word, that we all came out of it changed, both artistically and as people. The odds of experiencing such an adventure again are extremely slim. As for the Antarctic, we went at the end of the filming schedule and I warned everyone: there would be just 12 of us, plus a doctor and a drone pilot, living in the harshest of conditions. Actors and technicians shared 5 metre square cabins, with two to a cabin… And we were all together twenty-four hours a day! It was very different to normal filming conditions… But this part of the world is so sublimely beautiful, it brought us back to basics in such a way that no-one could complain! Apart from the day where we experienced a huge storm with winds of 140 km/h, every one of us was very happy for every minute of the trip.

There are also some incredibly beautiful images in the film, such as the ballets of sharks or whales…

Yes, these are completely unique moments, crazy… I remember, again in the Antarctic, when we spent one night in a large bay called Paradise Harbour, the wind had finally dropped, and the sea became completely still because of the extremely low temperature. It was one o'clock in the morning and the sun, which never sets at these latitudes in that season, was very low on the horizon. The light was just sublime. It was impossible to stop filming, even after 16 or 17 hours non-stop! It was a unique spectacle, of unbelievable beauty, in fact quite indescribable, which we were trying to capture on camera… It is one of the last truly wild places left on our planet, and we were just passing through: it was a very powerful moment. You mentioned the sharks, and that was the same! When you find yourself face to face with a four-and-a-half metre tiger shark, it's the same mad, awe-inspiring, emotional feeling!

Let's talk about your actors, starting with Captain Cousteau, alias Lambert Wilson…

I loved working with Lambert, in fact it's not unlikely that we will work together again very soon… He is an actor who possesses everything I love about many Anglo-Saxons: a mixture of talent, humility, and respect for the team. He is a man with great moral intelligence, and enormous generosity… Cousteau was quite a tough character but Lambert is so kind (in the noble sense of the word), that I could get him to act in some very harsh scenes, without making his character hateful! He gives off an aura of goodness… I feel very lucky to have met him and I know that he was the ideal actor to interpret Cousteau…

With a spectacular physical performance in order to look like Cousteau…

I watched him suffering permanently during the filming: eating and drinking almost nothing, keeping to a draconian diet and ending up just skin and bone… Lambert was hungry all the time, but this was the price he paid to become Cousteau. I have to add that at the start, he did not have the same morphology as Cousteau at all: it is his thinness, the lean body, which creates the illusion.

There is a character in the film whom the general public is going to discover properly for the first time: Simone, Jacques-Yves Cousteau's first wife, the veritable soul of the Calypso. Audrey Tautou portrays her wonderfully…

The character of Simone is essential to the story. I think that Audrey, who is a fine, intelligent actress, understood this straight away. She also told me that as soon as we first met, she felt very close to Simone. And it's true that they have several things in common. First of all, they are both very French - independent, slightly rebellious, sometimes quite mouthy but basically very modest. Another thing in common: their ability to find their place in a very masculine world. There were very few women in our crew, and Audrey fitted in perfectly, completely at ease sitting around large tables with a dozen men! And like Simone, Audrey loves the sea - she’s a true sailor. I saw her during the storm in the Antarctic: the wind was over 80 knots and she didn't turn a hair, was completely calm and serene. I always had the impression that playing Simone was something self-evident for her. And Audrey also impressed me with her technique and by the emotion she was capable of conveying, managing to reproduce things completely accurately, after several takes, managing them, controlling them, but without us ever sensing the technique behind it.

Let's talk about Cousteau's two sons, beginning with Pierre Niney who plays Philippe, an important character, around whom the end of the story pivots.

I met Pierre before the "Yves Saint Laurent" film came out, after seeing him in "Comme des frères" by Hugo Gelin. I offered him the role of Philippe, which at that time was a much smaller role, and he accepted… So Pierre was attached to the project from the start, at the point when Adrien Brody, and then Romain Duris were being considered for the role of Cousteau. He was very faithful to the project, in spite of all the difficulties! In fact when we were together for the final part of filming, on the deck of the boat that was taking us towards the Antarctic, we threw our arms around each other and hugged. We had been talking about "The Odyssey" for so long, especially this journey to Antarctica to end the shoot, and there we were at last, we'd done it! Pierre is a wonderful actor who has something very important: a true narrative sense, what the Americans call "storytelling". I think he'll know how to use it when he begins to direct feature films, which he will surely do one day… It is a gift he already has as an actor, managing to understand within a particular scene which moments or lines he needs to emphasise, to allow the spectator to understand the story or the emotion his character is feeling at that particular moment. He has this skill, this maturity in spite of his youth. Although he’s 27, so not really all that young!

Cousteau's other son is Jean-Michel. A smaller role, but crucial in the last part of the film, which you gave to Benjamin Lavernhe…

I discovered Benjamin in "Radiostars" and I loved his performance. I've been following his work ever since. When I needed to find an actor for the role of Jean-Michel, I thought of him, and was very happy he accepted because it’s not a very big role. But it is fundamental to the story. I liked the idea of him acting opposite Pierre: they have worked together at the Comédie-Française, standing in for each other in "The Italian Straw Hat"! In fact they are almost as close as two brothers in real life.

So there are these four main characters but, around them, you managed to create a crew, with extremely believable faces and physical appearances…

In the first part of the film, we see "Les Mousquemers", a trio composed of Jacques- Yves Cousteau, Philippe Tailliez and Frédéric Dumas, who made the first underwater films at the beginning of the 1940s. In the film, Laurent Lucas and Olivier Galfione play these men: I needed good actors of course, but as you say, I also needed men who looked like real divers in swimming trunks! Laurent and Olivier also worked hard on their physiques to achieve this… As for the crew of the Calypso, I mostly cast South African actors: guys who lived in Cape Town but who had all heard of Cousteau and were extremely motivated about joining the adventure. I gave them pages and pages of stories and photos of the boat and the men who had sailed on it. Each one also had a description of his character and the role he played on board - even those who had no dialogue. And so I think that on screen, we sense how the crew evolve and how they all know exactly what their job is… Being a sailor is a state of mind, a way of life.

Have you been in contact with the Cousteau family?

Yes of course. Every one of them, I think, at some point! Jan, Philippe's widow, visited the set, in fact. I met her three or four years ago in Washington where she lives. We had lunch together, she began to tell me about her life, and to talk about her husband who died when she was expecting their second child… As I listened to her speaking, and saw her cry almost 40 years after her husband's death, I found the story of her life and love so beautiful that I decided to make Philippe's role more important in the film… Philippe Cousteau had the characteristics of a true movie hero, including his tragic end. But I really did meet all the Cousteau family, or almost all of them! When I look at the number of Cousteau names in my phone contacts, I see that there are more than there are members of my own family!

You mentioned the Calypso: let's talk a little more about this vessel which is at the centre of the film and is more than just a piece of décor… practically a character in its own right…

Filming on a boat is hell! A nightmare from beginning to end. Everything is complicated. The English have a very nice saying, (and as I used to have a boat, just a small one, I can confirm this): there are two good days when you own a boat, the day you buy it and the day you sell it! But all the same, I love that boat which I had spotted years ago. My production designer Laurent Ott did a fantastic job on board. As did Matias Boucard my DP with whom I was working for the first time, and for whom it was only his second film… I believe the choice of crew is really important for a film director. I try to be faithful and I couldn't have carried out this difficult adventure without the various head technicians around me, most of whom I have been working with for years and who follow me around the world. Stan Collet, my editor, Brieuc Vanderswalm, my first assistant, Carine Sarfati who was already with me on my first film, “Anthony Zimmer”. And of course Laurent Ott, and Matias Boucard - the new boy.

Did you take this boat to the Antarctic with you?

No, because for a start, you cannot sail wooden boats there because the wood would not resist the pressure of the ice. In fact this almost killed Cousteau and his crew on board the Calypso, which was wooden, and therefore not at all adapted to the extreme conditions of the Antarctic. I am not quite as bold as Cousteau! We went with a boat that was authorised from a technical point of view, but also from an ecological point of view, which is imperative in order to get permission to sail in the Antarctic, which is a huge protected zone, thanks to Cousteau in fact! All the shots of the Calypso in the Antarctic were added digitally later. And sadly, we also had to do the same thing to add fish during the scenes shot in the Mediterranean because these species have disappeared or become too rare in the past 70 years…

A word about the music. Once again you asked Alexandre Desplat to do the soundtrack, which is a simple, yet spellbinding theme…

I think - and I told him this - that it is the most beautiful theme he has ever written for me. When a composer gives you this kind of music, it's a gift… Alexandre sat down at his piano, looking at images from the film, and he found the notes right in front of my eyes. It was very moving. He understood what I was looking for in terms of mood as well as emotion. At the end of the studio recording, I stole his sheet music and gave it to my children, who also play the piano, so that they could learn it! However they're not quite up to scratch yet…

Here you are at the end of this long journey you and Captain Cousteau have been on for years. How do you see your "Odyssey" now?

The thing that makes me happiest is to see that the film has touched all those who have been able to see it up to now, in the same way that the story touched me. I remember the moment when I had just finished the final draft of the screenplay, written all in one go over three weeks. I had been working non-stop for hours and hours and I began to cry… That is the state I was in as I wrote the final pages. I hope that this emotion will be shared by the spectators because "The Odyssey" is a film which talks about very simple subjects, which are essential for most of us, like our relationship with the nature surrounding us or the complicated family relationships which life sometimes damages. I must add that this adventure changed me as a person as well. I was already sensitive to ecological issues, but I came out of this even more so. Biodiversity, global warming… These are crucial subjects for the years to come. We talk about them a lot but we do little about it, far too little. And finally, the filming was so difficult that it ended up giving me unbelievable strength! It is surely the influence of Cousteau rebounding on us: he had this crazy ability to make possible things the rest of the world deemed impossible… Well, I think that by making this film, we followed his example.

INTERVIEW WITH LAMBERT WILSON

Before you were approached about this project on Captain Cousteau, what did you know about this man and his life?

His story took me back to my childhood. Everything was familiar: in the same way that De Gaulle, Catherine Langeais or Léon Zitrone were! French TV icons my family and I watched religiously. Not with my parents but with my grandparents, because my father was often away acting on stage so we didn't watch TV together very often… Cousteau was very present, and so were his crewmembers, like Philippe or Bébert. There were very few TV channels at the time, so whoever appeared on television became an obvious conversation topic for everyone. And because of the heroic music of the documentaries and the incredible images they showed, Captain Cousteau's adventures were a dream for kids my age. And even though there were sharks for example, it never seemed really dangerous, just fun, exciting, almost like going on holiday! It really is a generational thing: recently in Italy I met some fishermen who told me they used to play at being Cousteau or Falco just like I did, when they were kids in Portofino near Genoa… When I told them I was making "The Odyssey", it was something very important to them…

Was it this almost sentimental attachment to the character that made you agree so quickly when you read Jérôme Salle's screenplay?

I remember the moment my agent called me to talk about the film. I was in London standing outside a theatre and I didn't hesitate for a second! Jérôme and I met very soon after that, he gave me the script and for me, there was never any question of not doing it… The angle of the film was not at all what I was expecting. I had heard it was going to be some kind of Cousteau biopic, from his youth to his death. Jérôme had already worked on the story a lot and had realised that finding an actor physically capable of playing the character over a period of 60 years would be complicated and more expensive. I also think that it would have been a little tedious. The idea of concentrating the story on the relationship between Cousteau and his two sons, Philippe and Jean Michel, was the right choice. Obviously it meant skipping certain fundamental subjects, such as his invention of the aqua lung in the 1940s, enabling divers to breathe under water, or the making of his first films which led to the triumph of "The Silent World" at Cannes in 1956, or the final part of his life after Philippe's death, which was very important in ecological terms… Although I was frustrated to begin with, telling myself selfishly that it was taking away acting possibilities, I didn't think this when I saw the film. Jacques-Yves Cousteau's very essence can be found in "The Odyssey", with all his faults, his qualities, his contradictions and his relationship with his family.

So you had this kind of immediate desire to portray Cousteau, but after that, did you feel any kind of pressure or responsibility playing a man who for a long time was the French general public's favourite Frenchman, as was the priest, Abbé Pierre, another of your great roles?

Yes, that's exactly what it felt like: Cousteau and the Abbé were successively number 1 and number 2 in the Journal du Dimanche list of favourite celebrities for years! With hindsight, it was far more risky getting me to play Abbé Pierre than Cousteau: I was too young at the time, too tall… With Cousteau, I shared a few physical traits with him, tall and gangly, same shaped nose… Of course I had to work on it but there was such a mass of information about Cousteau, unlike Abbé Pierre. For this kind of exercise, directors and actors have to understand very quickly that what we are giving the public is a sensation, a glimmer of a character, not an imitation. At the end of "Winter 54", I still didn't look like Abbé Pierre, but the finest compliment came from the members of his community who said that they had felt him in my performance… In "The Odyssey", I may look quite like Cousteau, but I hope that some sort of truth and sincerity will come across, and in particular, I hope that those who knew him will be convinced…

As well as the physical preparation, which we’ll return to, much of the preparatory work was based on studying the mass of existing documentation about Cousteau, including his books…

I’m one of those actors who need a model to put my performance into focus. If one is trying to transform oneself, the model must be accurate… With Cousteau, the sheer volume of existing material is almost overwhelming! Firstly there are all his documentaries, in which he appears. Then there are many books, particularly the one by Franck Machu, a huge volume called "A Filmmaker Called Cousteau" which has the advantage of being a biography seen through his films. The story begins with his first black and white films, made with the Mousquemers, then approaches "The Silent World" as well as all the episodes of the TV programmes: everything Cousteau filmed is listed and mixed with elements about his life. It is enthralling… I also read Jacques- Yves Cousteau's own book: "Cousteau, My Testament: Man, Octopus and Orchid", a sort of great ecological manifesto which doesn't say much about his life but is interesting. And there is a very good English book called "The Sea King" by Brad Matsen, which is extremely objective. Anyway, for a whole year before the filming, I literally gobbled up anything about Cousteau in order to feed my inspiration. Another important element: the work on the costumes and the make-up, which was achieved by watching the images over and over again. And Jérôme Salle got me to listen to recordings of Cousteau's voice, in particular Jacques Chancel's "Radiotelescopie" programmes. Honestly, when I listened to those, it felt almost as if I'd stuck my fingers into an electrical socket, with the hairs on the back of my neck standing on end! Meaning I sometimes got the impression that Cousteau was right there, next to me… However I gave up on the idea of trying to imitate his voice, and concentrated more on the rhythm of his speech. I talked to Laurent Gerra, the impressionist, who is one of those enigmas, capable of capturing and reproducing a vocal range. It would have meant too much time and work, with the risk of missing some of the more important aspects of Cousteau: a mixture of charisma, fierce egocentricity but also an incredible ability to convey energy and the idea of freedom to others. He was a weak character in terms of his dislike of conflict, the way he fled family or professional tensions, but one who could convince you to follow him to the end of the world or to take out your chequebook to finance his projects!

He was also a man who built his dream with Simone, his first wife…

Yes, with and without her at the same time, and this is one of the paradoxes that make him interesting. This selfish choice of freedom was made by them both. Whatever anyone says or whatever we know about them, Simone and Jacques-Yves were a couple and they chose this incredible life travelling the world. It reveals a lot about them… To begin with they impose this way of life on their children who follow them as best they can, only learning to read at the age of 8, living like little savages. When the parents wanted to travel further afield, the boys were sent to boarding school… Simone chose this eccentric life and afterwards, she remained alone on board the Calypso with the crew. I had never really made a proper sea crossing; I had mainly sailed near the coast. For the film, we went to the Antarctic, and through the Drake Passage, one of the most dangerous seas in the world. I understood right there and then! The excitement of being out at sea, without the slightest bit of land in sight, the total freedom, I felt it in my flesh… Cousteau's divers, for example François Sarano, told us that at the end of one expedition, they stopped at a port in the middle of a storm off the coast of New Zealand. They just gave themselves enough time to fill up the fuel tank and restock the food supplies, and then the Calypso was off again into the midst of the storm! Neither Jacques-Yves nor Simone wanted to remain in port. I think that deep down, they were both fleeing the rest of mankind, even though he spent part of his life going to the United States to find money to finance this flight…

Let's also talk about your physical transformation to create a body resembling Cousteau's, i.e. a diver's body…

It was somewhat of a failure for me. I think that an American actor (Matthew McConaughy for example) would probably have pushed the boat out further! The difficult thing with Cousteau was that I had to be very thin, but at the same time, I had to do very physical things, like diving. The problem is that below a certain weight, you are weak. I had to swim under water carrying these very heavy oxygen cylinders, with 14-hour days of filming, so I needed to have enough energy. I lost ten kilos quite quickly, without putting on any more during the filming. In fact Jérôme carried out a permanent surveillance of my meals because he thought I was too bulky! I do regular weight training and my body was supposed to be like a diver's: more lean than muscular…

Learning to dive also took real discipline too, I imagine…

It was a like being handed a gift! Ever since I was a child, as soon as I get in a pool, a lake or the sea, I spend my time under water. I had even gone as deep as 3 or 4 metres, by decompressing a little… No one ever told me that all I had to do was put on some oxygen cylinders in order to breathe and be the happiest of men! I remember that when my brother and I were children, we did diving exercises in our parents' pool in Bandol (near where Cousteau had lived) by having competitions to place objects at the bottom of the pool. For "The Odyssey", I had to learn professionally, of course! French law states that we have to have a recreational diver certification, but also a commercial diver certification because we are diving for work… That meant an extremely thorough medical, with a lung X-ray, electrocardiogram, eye and ear exams etc… And then there was a four-day diving exam, which is what oil rig divers have to take. I’m very proud of that qualification… The only problem was during our first lesson (with Pierre Niney, Jérôme Salle and Brieuc Vanderswalm, the assistant director). We were in Marseille industrial port in extremely dirty water. We couldn't see our instructor who was just a metre away, and we were standing in mud, silt and oil… We had to do lots of exercises where we had to take off our masks under water. I immediately got an eye infection. Awful! Fortunately, for the next few days, we went to the islands nearby and were able to enjoy ourselves a little at the same time. In fact I'd like to acknowledge the fantastic guys who trained us, in particular Philippe Le Meuner, all of them were so incredibly calm, efficient and kind. Diving was a real revelation to me. I went mountain climbing for "Five Days One Summer" by Fred Zimmermann, I had to train as a fighter for other films, and I've been horse riding regularly since I was a child. But with diving, I met some completely different people. They are all peaceful, calm, nature lovers, reassuring in their promptness to help their diving buddy. These professionals weren’t with us all through the filming, but their presence at the beginning, in Croatia, with the sun, the warm water and the magnificent scenery, helped the whole crew - actors and technicians - to form a close bond.

Croatia, which was being used as the French Riviera in the 1940s and 50s…

Yes, a kind of lost paradise before the arrival of concrete… A part of the Mediterranean that has been preserved, and is slightly old-fashioned. It was a marvellous time: we would go off walking over the great pointed rocks which I had seen as a child in La Ciotat or Cassis. It all had a strange yet charming sense of travelling back in time… Then we went to South Africa, but that's completely different: Cape Town is like an enormous studio. We could recreate scenes in Paris, New York or Marseille!

How would you define the film?

Now we are getting to one of the most interesting points of the film: "The Odyssey" is definitely not a hagiography of Captain Cousteau. The film shows that the oil industry financed his early work, and that he agreed on compromises with the American TV channels so that they would finance his films, that his relationship with wildlife fluctuated and that his real ecological conscience was awakened much later on. This may surprise the audience, which has a very different image of Cousteau…

There are two possible ways of looking at the man. The first is admiring but basic: like the Abbé Pierre, they are well-loved personalities but we do not really know them. The second way surprises and annoys me! Amongst a certain section of supposedly more aware, Parisian, intellectual types, there is a kind of desire to destroy the icon! For example some people insist on associating Cousteau with the open anti-Semitism of his brother, Pierre-Antoine, who wrote some absolutely appalling things. These people are completely misinformed! You mention ecology, but he acknowledged his mistakes by going very far in the opposite direction, and succeeded in getting a moratorium to protect the Antarctic for the next 50 years. He was one of the first people to set off the alarm bells, which all well-informed people hear ringing today. When he made "The Silent World", he had no idea of the extent to which the ocean was in danger. The threat can be traced back to the beginning of the industrial revolution… But at the beginning of the 60s, Cousteau was the one who got the scientists at the Monaco Oceanographic Institute to agree not to bury nuclear waste at the bottom of the ocean! He is a true hero of mankind whose message has gone practically unheard. All the things international organisations are saying about industrialisation, overfishing, global warming: Cousteau was the first person to speak out about these things. So putting him on trial over his lack of environmental awareness is stupid and unfounded, and talking about him through this film is a way for me to put his message back into the heart of the debate. But this does not prevent the film from showing Cousteau from every angle…

He was only human, then?

Yes absolutely. He certainly had his faults… in his private life (but who are we to act as moral censors?) he was a womaniser, who had relationships with many women during his travels. The part I find less easy to excuse is his relationship with his children… I found similarities to the way my father was with me. They were both men capable of sharing all the excitement and value of their work with you, yet at the same time they abandoned you by hardly ever being with you and in particular, they hated the fact that you encroached upon their territory by becoming rivals… Cousteau had a kind of passionate paternal love for Philippe, but he expressed it by showing great harshness. He loves him, but also wants to punish him for his talent. Some scenes were quite upsetting for me. I'm thinking of the one where father and son meet in a restaurant in Los Angeles. In Philippe's voice I heard the sort of recriminations I could have made to my own father. Yet I was the one who was embodying the very things I hated! As for Cousteau's financial opportunism, I must admit that I understand that. He needed a lot of money to live this dream, which has benefited so many people. He understood very quickly that he was the most important and visible cog in the machinery of the media. This saga needed a hero and he put himself at the centre, probably through narcissism, it's true, but also knowing that people needed a point of reference for it all to be viable. When he went to America to negotiate millions with the TV companies, it was because the oil industry had cut off his finances. I think this is a great story because that was when a new adventure began, which put him back at the centre of his true occupation: Cousteau was more than just an underwater explorer, he is a filmmaker. From that moment onwards, he concentrated on the photography, constructed his own cameras, invented things. Louis Malle himself said that he had learned a huge amount working with Cousteau…

Talking of filmmakers, what about Jérôme Salle? How would you describe him, as a man and as a filmmaker?

Jérôme is a real chameleon, thanks to his intelligence! He is a man of ideas, an intellectual, with whom you can talk philosophy for hours or discuss theories about a character. But he is also a man of action, a decision-maker, a group leader. It’s astonishing! The Jérôme I met at the beginning over a cup of tea to discuss the project, was the essence of subtlety. When we went off to train as divers, I discovered his sense of competition, a real he-man, always willing to take up a challenge! During filming, Jérôme was always the first one to put on his wetsuit, even when it wasn't absolutely necessary for him to dive! He is also a filmmaker, and there are not many people who are able, on the one hand, to film very psychologically intimate scenes between two characters and on the other, to launch themselves into large-scale stuff with planes, or men underwater surrounded by sharks! He always remains completely unperturbed - in fact he loves it. When Pierre Niney and I were on the ice floe together, we were supposed to be sharing a moment of subtle emotion between father and son, on a piece of ice where we were not allowed to move so as not to leave any marks behind. Jérôme filmed the whole thing with a drone, and he was a true leader. When I send him messages, I still call him "Boss"! He's the only director I've ever done that with…

So Pierre Niney plays Philippe Cousteau, one of your two on-screen sons…

The beautiful thing about a film shoot is when you realise that the actor you are acting with has the same ideas as you. Like myself, Pierre was playing a character he wanted to develop at length and defend. I admire him as an actor enormously: he has incredible finesse and intelligence. He is a quick, funny, sensitive adventurer. I particularly admire his ethics with regard to his relationship to other people. Pierre is an elegant person… He is also very ambitious in the noble sense of the word: he wants to do things properly. In fact it was very touching to find myself in an almost paternal relationship with an actor who is very similar to how I was at the same age. At the age of 25, an actor is very determined. He wants to act, to learn… Pierre is very demanding with himself, he wants to leave an impression, and in this case, he wanted to create a real person, to make Philippe a hero. He worked on his physique too, and was an intrepid diver. I was almost jealous of him! It was a film about Cousteau after all, and he was the one who got to swim with sea lions and sharks! But joking aside, I would say that the fact that we filmed in all four corners of the globe meant that a bond was formed between us all… In fact the main difference between Pierre and me is that we are not starting out in the same world: he is totally part of the generation of smartphones, tablets and Twitter!

Another important character in the film, who the audience is going to discover for the first time: Simone Cousteau, beautifully played by Audrey Tautou…

When we saw the film and the lights came up in the auditorium, I turned to Audrey straight away and just said "Hats off to you"… She is extraordinary in the role, she manages to create Simone's character in a very subtle, unique way. Audrey knew how to take inspiration from the real Simone even though very few books or documents about her exist. She was an admiral's daughter, so a seafaring girl, a middle-class girl who chose to leave society. Simone also experienced pain in her marriage, and to piss Cousteau off, she decided to remain on board the Calypso, leading the boat, as the head of the crew. All those men really respected her: for those who are still alive, she is untouchable! Audrey knew how to portray Simone's psychological evolution: she goes through the film becoming increasingly bitter, but remaining tender, gracious… I loved her performance! And she is one of those actresses, like Signoret, who is capable of going from great beauty, to something self- destructive… Simone Cousteau was a highly intelligent woman, who was always very attentive to what was happening around her, but also capable of toughness. I think that Audrey has something very close to that. She is someone who loves the sea, who feels at ease in the company of men. She was very at ease on board the ship… during the trip to the Antarctic, we were both ecstatic, rushing around filming everything! She has created a very unconventional role which I am sure will help her to open up an unbelievable range of possibilities…

You have already emphasised this: the boat you filmed on is an essential element of "The Odyssey". When you were on board this replica of the Calypso, and you became Cousteau for the film, did it give you goose bumps?

Yes, absolutely: the first time I stepped onto the deck it was crazy! I had dreamed of this ship so much, I had read so much about it, seen so much footage of it, that it was a very weird sensation. I remember when I arrived at the port in Cape Town and I saw the boat, I couldn't believe my eyes! Everything becomes unique, for example when you enter the control deck… you know, "The Odyssey" was not just any old film: we all approached the story, this family, this adventure, at close range. Of course we were playing characters, but characters we knew or after meeting the people who had known them. For me there was a culminating factor in all this. At the end of the film, I weep over the death of my son, Philippe, with my other son Jean-Michel, sitting on a bench overlooking the ocean. Frankly, at that moment, I really was crying for Philippe. I didn't need to think of my loved ones, which is a technique actors use in order to cry on screen… This story had become my own. My sorrow was Cousteau's sorrow for his son. That had never happened to me before…

Does this mean that the film will remain a very special moment in your acting career, after forty years of working with some great directors?

Yes, if only because it is very rare to get the chance to play a character over such a long period of his life, between the ages of 37 and 70. All the make-up artistry by Rick Findlater to achieve this was exceptional. For me, "The Odyssey" was a great accomplishment. It is the type of film I dreamt of making when I first discovered cinema: large-scale, epic… I loved watching David Lean films, or "Out of Africa" where there were intimate dramas then suddenly, you get totally blown away by the scale. So of course, I have enjoyed making the art house films I've acted in, but what Jérôme offered me was impossible to refuse, as this type of film is very rare in France. And I am convinced that the most precious things in life, more than personal accomplishments, are travel and encounters. I was particularly spoilt in that respect!

INTERVIEW WITH PIERRE NINEY

What was your first reaction when, very early on in the project, you received Jérôme Salle's proposal?

I felt very lucky to get to read a screenplay for such an ambitious film, which is very rare. A great adventure film, poetic, about an extraordinary family, which brought attention to the beauty and fragility of our planet.

Philippe Cousteau's role is truly at the heart of the story of "The Odyssey". How much did you know about him before working on the character?

That he was Captain Cousteau's son, that's about it! I had everything to learn about him!

Philippe is a less well-known character. Yet he co-directed quite a lot of the documentaries with his father. And Philippe was a very important character in the Cousteau adventure and a very prominent member of the crew. But Jacques-Yves Cousteau was such a leader, a pioneer, a "monster" of charisma and energy, that Philippe, who died young, has naturally been erased a little over time. This is also the subject of the film, and a very interesting one too, I think.

How did you learn more about him? For example did you meet his wife, Jan, or his children?

I did a lot of research. Watching the films, of course, the ones he appeared in and the ones he directed. But also looking at photos, reading interviews and talking to the former crewmembers of the Calypso who we were able to meet. These men, who were Philippe's colleagues, were also witnesses to his lack of awareness of danger. They told me about the crazy risks Philippe used to take in order to get a picture. This daredevil side to Philippe was an important factor. It reflected his desire to overtake his father, I think.

But the most precious resource was his letters: a very private and privileged access into Philippe's world. I only obtained this access thanks to meeting his wife Jan. Jérôme put us in touch with each other and we met in Los Angeles a few months before filming started. She was kind enough to tell me a lot about her relationship with Philippe, and his personality. She was a great help in my preparation for the role, opening up her archives to Jérôme and me, and giving us a lot of information about Philippe's life. These private letters were key for me. In order to understand the man, but also the very strong, unique love story they experienced. Letters sent from the opposite side of the world by two lovers, talking about their lives, their plans, their family, the state of the world… Totally inspiring.

The part of Philippe brings a personal dimension to the film, which goes perfectly with the breath of adventure running through it. Was that the main challenge of the project for you?

Philippe was capable of great love, which he experienced with Jan, great admiration, which he had for his father, but he was also quite a solitary character.

He was very close to nature and to animals. Jan told me that he often preferred the company of birds to that of men. His ecological conscience comes from his contemplation of nature, landscapes, the sea…

The fact that he passed on this awareness, which was completely unheard of at the time, to his father, was a decisive element in my desire to play Philippe. I think that today, it is of the utmost importance to keep on telling people, reminding them again and again that we must take care of our planet.

Philippe was an explorer, a diver, a pilot: how did you prepare physically for the role, in particular, the underwater scenes? What memories do you have of this part of the filming?

Jérôme wanted me to prepare physically: to exercise and also to learn to dive, of course. I did a diving course in Marseille with Lambert and Jérôme before shooting started. It was an amazing discovery for all three of us. An important moment in the project, I think.

There is something very meditative about diving, it imposes a slow rhythm, which rests the mind, I find. For Lambert and me, it was the opportunity to really meet each other properly… under the water. I really liked the fact that our first real encounter did not take place around a table, working on the dialogue and the text, but instead, it was something much more basic and intuitive, 20 metres under the sea. We were already at the heart of the film - at the heart of the relationship between Jacques and Philippe.

"The Odyssey" gave you the opportunity to travel to Croatia, to the Bahamas, South Africa, the Antarctic: what were the great moments of these voyages?

There were so many of them. I will always remember the scene we shot in the middle of the ocean in South Africa. Lambert and I had some dialogue together on the surface of the water, when suddenly, in the middle of the scene, a huge hump- backed whale came out of the water a few metres away from us. Cue general stupefaction and fascination! I couldn't believe my eyes. It swam around us, then suddenly a second one appeared, and both swam around us for a good half hour. So in the end we carried on with the scene… surrounded by hump-backed whales in the middle of the ocean.

We had several incredible moments like these. Good ones and also some tough ones… I'm thinking of the extremely powerful storm we were caught in, in the Antarctic. With 170 km/h winds. Slaloming between icebergs at night…

Did you ever just become a simple spectator of the marvels you had in front of you?

Almost every day we saw the most incredible things. Sometimes it's impossible not to just stand and stare at these sights. A whale jumping out of the water just a few metres from the boat, a school of dolphins that were curious about our filming, an iceberg collapsing before our very eyes in the middle of the Antarctic, diving with sharks feeding just a few centimetres away… I saw some of the most incredible sights in my life thanks to this film.

With Lambert Wilson, you shared some beautiful moments on screen. Tell us about working with him, and your relationship when you were not actually shooting…

Lambert also has a special link to the theatre, and therefore to the text and theatrical composition. We have the same culture, a common pleasure in acting. Which helped, I think, to recount a quite complex relationship between a father and a son. A relationship made up of mutual frustration and admiration, where Philippe was trying to make his mark yet his father was always the centre of attention. Sometimes he totally disagreed with his father, but he loved him.

Lambert has a natural elegance and his sensitivity was a real advantage off the set too. When you are living in such unusual conditions as those we experienced in the Antarctic, where we were stuck on a boat together for two weeks with just a small film crew, literally at the mercy of the wind and the tides, it is good to have someone as gentle and considerate as Lambert.

Tell us about Audrey Tautou who plays your mother, Simone…

I was impressed by Audrey's creation of the role of Simone. I hadn't seen this as such a strong, touching role when I read the script. She knew how to bring out the weaknesses and tender aspects of the mother.

Your brother in the film, Jean-Michel, is played by Benjamin Lavernhe, one of your close friends since you acted in the Comédie Française together. Did this bond help with acting together?

I first met Benjamin at the Cours Florent acting school. I was immediately struck by how inventive and in-tune he was as an actor. Then we studied at the Conservatoire National together, then I asked him to act in my series "Casting(s) on Canal+ and our paths crossed again at the Comédie Française. Benjamin is a close friend and a great actor. Acting with him is always a pleasure… and a return to childhood too because we always have fun together. Too much, perhaps. I can remember being in fits of laughter with him a couple of times during filming.

It is rare to have such a large-scale film such as the "The Odyssey" in French cinema. What kind of director was Jérôme Salle and how did he lead the project?

Jérôme had had the idea for the film for a long time. It was a story he was very attached to and a family he knew a lot about. Jérôme also has a very clear idea of what he wants to do technically and artistically. In spite of the concentration needed to direct such an ambitious film, we always felt that he took great pleasure in being on set. The contagious excitement he had about telling the story of this epic family history was a real motivating factor for everyone.

For example, for a long time, it was thought that we would film a lot of scenes in a studio, in particularly the voyage to the Antarctic, which was technically very complicated. But one day Jérôme phoned me and said: "Pierre, it's going to be very complicated, but we're going to go to Antarctica…" Then he explained to me that it was impossible for him to tell a story of adventurers while being stuck inside a studio. He had to develop the film in a more authentic manner, get closer to the subject. So we went! And now, I can say that the voyage, as well as diving with sharks, filming in natural landscapes… all inspired us enormously and gave a real stimulus to the project.

Jérôme is extremely good at creating atmospheres, capturing and filming magnificent images, while at the same time directing the actors with real consideration.

For the last few years you have worked on some very different projects, all very ambitious. What was your lasting impression of "The Odyssey"? Does it stand out in your acting career?

“The Odyssey” will always be an amazing adventure on a personal level. I learnt a lot. These voyages raised my awareness of many things, but in particular the immense fragility of our planet. The observation of the damage in the Antarctic is extremely alarming. Philippe is the emissary of this message, but he also expresses hope too. He is the one who says to his father at the end of the film: "It’s not too late".

I was very pleased to take on this role and become the emissary of this message… the emissary of these men who dedicated their whole lives to showing us, and in the end, protecting, our planet.

If I asked you to choose just one single image, one moment of this adventure, what would it be?

Our final day of shooting in the Antarctic. We were leaving Deception Island after filming the final shot of the film, leaving behind us a beach covered in volcanic smoke. It was an eerie image, and there was a palpable emotion amongst our little crew on the Zodiac. The end of long months of filming, and probably the last time we would ever see that magnificent sight.

INTERVIEW WITH AUDREY TAUTOU

The real revelation of the film, even for those who know a little about Cousteau's life, is your character Simone…

Absolutely, and I realised when preparing for the role that even some real Cousteau fans knew practically nothing about this woman, even though she had been the true captain of the Calypso for almost 40 years.

So how did you go about researching such a character?

I must admit that I didn't know anything about her either and I learnt about her as I looked for archives on her. There was not much to go on… I only found one interview, for example, for "Le Grand Echiquier". Simone Cousteau kept out of the limelight: she didn't like being filmed. On the other hand, there are quite a lot of photos of her, which I used, as well as a very detailed biography, which was a mine of information. I also met two of her companions from the Calypso, two men who worked with the Cousteau couple for many years: François Sarano, a diver and oceanographer, and Roberto Rinaldi, an underwater cameraman. Two wonderful characters who told us some incredible anecdotes… when you listen to them, you can feel how attached they were to Simone, and how important she had been to the crew…

Now that you have played the role of Simone Cousteau, and therefore know her better, how would you talk about her?

I would say that she was not a conventional woman. Simone wanted an independent life, she was very different to the stereotypes of the time! She was a real adventurer and a true sailor… I think she is the woman who has sailed the most in the world: she spent 40 years on a boat. I think her life was incredible, completely atypical. I know (because I found this out, and people talked about it) that she also had a very strong personality with a caustic wit, not unlike myself in fact! She was also Cousteau's eyes on-board, whenever he was away travelling the world to promote his films or to find money to finance his next adventure…

And we know that during his absences, Jacques-Yves Cousteau had quite a few affairs with other woman. How do explain the fact that Simone, who was probably perfectly aware of this, stuck by him in spite of everything?

I think that the Calypso was her whole life… She even wrote a letter directly addressed to the boat, saying that the day the ship stopped sailing, she would carry on living but it would be as though she had died inside… I also think that Simone really loved Cousteau and that she carried on loving him, even though she sensed, or maybe knew, that he had a double life. But her life on board with her sailors (her "chaps" as she called them), helped her put up with everything else, particularly her husband's absences and infidelities. This didn't stop her from feeling very hurt by it though…

Simone Cousteau was also a mother and we see in the film that the two sons are treated a little distantly at the beginning: taken off all over the world by their parents and then sent off to boarding school…

It was probably linked to how Simone was treated by her own parents. They didn't spend much time with her; for example they sent her to boarding school in Japan where she spent some of her childhood. So she had no strong maternal figure upon which to base herself, especially as her own mother was a society lady, something Simone had always refused to become, finding it too superficial… her relationship with her sons Philippe and Jean-Michel was quite different, but just as clumsy, I would say, and in the end, resembled what Simone herself had experienced. She did not conform to modern parenting codes, which say that a mother should completely dedicate herself to her children…

She was a strong character, a type of character you often get asked to play: I’m thinking of Amélie Poulain, Coco Chanel, or even Mathilde in "A Very Long Engagement"…

All these woman have something in common: they do not want to follow the path which has been marked out for them in advance. They are independent and want to build a life that resembles them. I can't remember ever having played weak or submissive women. I don't think anyone has ever offered me those types of roles!

Jérôme thought of you for the role of Simone Cousteau very early on. What was it like working with him on an epic like "The Odyssey"?

It went really well. You need a real captain to manage such an expedition, and Jérôme has all those qualities! We met right at the beginning of the project. He talked to me about Simone, about her character, and explained the angle he wanted to take in his film. Jérôme is very sensitive to human relationships, but also has the strength of character to embark on an adventure of this type. We shot practically everything outdoors, in conditions which were sometimes very complicated. In spite of the difficulties, he never made any concessions or got discouraged.

Let's talk about your on-screen husband, Lambert Wilson, who plays Cousteau…

We first met when we did "Not on the Lips" by Alain Resnais, but I only really got to know him when we spent 5 months filming “The Odyssey” together. And I wasn't disappointed! First of all, Lambert is a brilliant actor and I feel that the more films he does, the more astonishing and amazing his performances get. On a personal level, he is very sensitive, considerate, kind, and extremely funny. It was an important encounter: I like him very much indeed…

During filming he had to follow a strict physical regime to play his character. Did that have any effect on your complicity, which was necessary for playing an on-screen couple?

No, not at all, and when I said this man is amazing, I also mean it in this sense too. Lambert had to follow a draconian dietary regime, hours of preparation and make- up: he carries the film on his shoulders, and yet he remained so pleasant all the way through. We got on well right from the start…

Say a few words about your two on-screen sons: Pierre Niney who plays Philippe and Benjamin Lavernhe who plays Jean-Michel…

I felt very lucky to be their on-screen mum! They represent the best we have in talented young actors. They are intelligent, talented, inspiring boys and they are very funny too… Apart from all these very sincere compliments, I don't know what else to say about Pierre and Benjamin! They were wonderful, and it was an exceptional experience for all of us.

You went to Croatia, Antarctica, South Africa, the Bahamas… What impressions did making this film leave on you?

For me, making "The Odyssey" was like a dream come true. Right from the start, I told Jérôme that I would do the film, on the condition that I would be part of the voyage to the Antarctic! I had always wanted to go there, and for me, there was absolutely no question of me missing out. The whole film was one long journey: spending days right in the middle of the ocean suited me just fine. Once again, it is one of the things I had in common with Simone: being on a boat is where I feel happiest, and I've felt like that ever since I was a child! I had a teacher who introduced me to sailing, and I loved it right away. It's a passion that has never left me, even though I don't get the chance to sail as much as I would like… Sailing a boat is second nature to me.

You have already worked on ambitious, large-scale films. I'm thinking of Jean-Pierre Jeunet's films or "The Da Vinci Code" by Ron Howard, for example. How did making "The Odyssey" compare?

I think of it as an incredible adventure. When you realise we went round the world on a boat, seeing amazing wildlife, having to constantly adapt to conditions, while telling a story about family and love. This film enabled to see at first hand all the beauty of the world and the dangers that threaten it… I'm not an environmental specialist, but I feel concerned by this. Meeting members of the Cousteau team, who have made it their life's mission, made me even more aware of the environmental issues.

CAST

Jacques-Yves Cousteau Lambert WILSON Philippe Cousteau Pierre NINEY Simone Cousteau Audrey TAUTOU Philippe Tailliez Laurent LUCAS Jean-Michel Cousteau Benjamin LAVERNHE from the Comédie-Française Albert « Bebert » Falco Vincent HENEINE Etienne Deshaies Thibault DE MONTALEMBERT Daddy Roger VAN HOOL Jan Chloé HIRSCHMAN David Wolper Adam NEILL Frédéric Dumas Olivier GALFIONE Henri Plé Martin LOIZILLON Philippe Cousteau as as child Ulysse STEIN Jean-Michel Cousteau as a child Rafaël DE FERRAN Eugénie Clark Chloé WILLIAMS

CREW

Director Jérôme SALLE Screenplay Jérôme SALLE and Laurent TURNER Adaptation and Dialogues Jérôme SALLE Original Music Alexandre DESPLAT Director of Photography Matias BOUCARD Production Designer Laurent OTT A.D.C Editor Stan COLLET Costume Designer Carine SARFATI Sound Marc ENGELS, Frédéric DEMOLDER, Sylvain RETY, Jean-Paul HURIER First Assistant Director Brieuc VANDERSWALM Continuity Elodie VAN BEUREN Casting Gigi AKOKA Hair and Make-up Rick FINDLATER Special Effects Supervisor Marc JOUVENEAU Postproduction director Susana ANTUNES Executive Producer Christine DE JEKEL Production director Olivier HELIE Produced by Nathalie GASTALDO GODEAU, Philippe GODEAU, Olivier DELBOSC, Marc MISSONNIER Co-producers PAN-EUROPEENNE CURIOSA FILMS MOANA FILMS WILD BUNCH TF1 FILMS PRODUCTION CASA PRODUCTION VERSUS PRODUCTION VOO BE TV With the participation of CANAL+, OCS, TF1

With the support of the European Media Programme and Tax Shelter du Gouvernement Fédéral Belge and Inver Invest

Wallonie

There is no affiliation, association, sponsorship, or other connection between this film and The Cousteau Society.

International Sales: WILD BUNCH

© 2016 PAN-EUROPEENNE - CURIOSA FILMS - MOANA FILMS - WILD BUNCH - TF1 FILMS PRODUCTION - CASA PRODUCTIONS - VERSUS PRODUCTION