- Jean-Claude Brialy, L’Ami de la famille, France, 1957.Cassel’sloss became Brialy’s “first real role – as Raymond Bussieres and Annete Poivre’s son, Mcheline Dax’s nephew, Pascale Audret’s brotherand Beatrice Altariba’s boyfriend.”
- Jacques Charrier, Les drageurs, France, 1959. Jean-Paul Belmondo and AlainDelon were also candidates for actor Jean-Pierre Mocky’s directing debut.
- Sami Frey, La verité/The Truth, France, 1960.Many entered the fray only Sami exited with ultimate honours – winning the role and the girl. Brigitte Bardot!
- Yves Barsacq, Tout l’or du monde, France-Italy, 1961. Old Wave réalisateurRenéClair was directing Bourvil in three roles while all the few agents in Paris were trying to get their young clients into the last dozen roles – walk-on villagers. The future great agent, Gerard Lebovici, called Costa-Gavras, one of Clair’s two assistants, and recommended Claude Berri, Marcel Bozzuffi, Jean-Pierre Cassel, FrançoiseDorleac, Serge Rousseau. Costa passed on the bad news: None match what we want. Lebo told Costa: “Tomorrow’s French cinema will be be you and me”…and later in the 60s, Lebo offered him a film about the French Public Enemy #1 Mesrine – with Jean-Paul Belmondo. Costa quickly owned up to the revulsion he felt about the criminal and the film was never made until a two-parter in 2007 – 23 years after Lebo’s murder in 1984.
- Anthony Perkins, La ravissante idiote.(US: Adorable Idiot; UK: A Ravishing Idiot),France, 1963. Cassel lost BB again. And he had found the Charles Exbrayat book and brought it to Edouard Molinaro and BB- desolée,very sorryweneed a stronger box-office co-star.The gay Perkinswas far fromidealand eight movies later, Brigitte made it up to Jean-Pierre by insisting (after talk of GeorgeChakiris) that he be the bear to herdoll in L’ours et la poupée,1970.
- Vittorio Gassman, A Wedding, 1978.Didn’t feel his English was good enough. “Admirable film.Regrets éternels.”Director Robert Altman never held the refusal against him and call up Cassel a dozen years on forthe ambiguous Pere Tanguy inVincent & Theo, in Tarascon, France.
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Paul Freeman, Raiders of the Lost Ark, 1980.
- Jean-Louis Trintignant, Eaux profondes, France, 1981. Réalisateur Michel Deville first planned it with Cassel – he had, after all, suggested filming the Patricia Highsmith novel while they made Le Mouton enragé (Love at the Top) in 1973. Their version never took off. When Deville tried a second time, he first contacted Jacques Dutronc and then his other Mouton star, the impeccable Jean-Louis Trintignant – who he had also directed in the French dubbing of Kubrick’s The Shining. (JLT also dubbed HAL in 2001). Now he was half of a venomous couple, tolerant at first glance but Machiavellian and cynical, killing any guys getting too close to his wife, Isabelle Huppert (making up for no women in the novel) A twisted, disquieting character – which pleased JLT. “Enormously.”
- Michel Duchausssoy, L’instinct de mort & L’ennemi public numéro 1, France-Canada-Italy, 2008. Jean-Pierre died before playing Pierre André Mesrine, father of gangster Jacques Mesrine, the 1959-79 French Dillinger -bank robber, kidnapper, killer (39 victims,at least)played by his son, Vincent Cassel.They had previously shared three movies: Métisse, 1993, Valse nocturne, 1995, Les Rivières pourpres,2000.
Birth year: 1932Death year: 2007Other name: Casting Calls: 9