- Gérard Depardieu, Les valseuses (US: Going Places), France, 1973. Casting was spread over six months…mainly because auteur Bertrand Blier’s producer hated Depardieu. ”You seen his chin? And that nose?! Women won’t fancy him!” Blier stuck to his guns; it was his book he was filming, after all. He wanted Depardieu (“I’ve read your book and I’m Jean-Claude!”) and Patrick Dewaere from the new Paris café-theatre trend.. “One look was sufficient,” said Blier. ”They were the best.” And Dewaere’s lover, Miou-Miou, became their Marie-Ange. Producer Paul Claudon had voted for Leotard or the two Jacques – Weber and Spessier. Daniel Auteuil also tested. “So he says,” said Blier. “I don’t remember.” His “scandalous”trio exploded into immediate stars, Depardieu still is, 50 years, 249 films later; Blier wrote four more of them. “It’s a pleasure… because he is such a mighty actor. The greatest! He is capable of playing – formidablement – any role.“
- Patrick Dewaere, La meilleure façon de marcher, France, 1975. Claude Miller, ex-assistant to Carné and Demy, and Truffaut’s production director, wanted Léotard for his first feature. The politician’s brother was as every bit as fragile as Dewaere and yet Miller saw them both as the virile moniteur show-off at a boys’ summer camp, humilating one of the team by outing him as a cross-dresser. Dewaere was keen on playing a baddy. “Patrick had the physique of a small bull,” said Miller, “but inside he was Dostoievski.” Having made Le Juge Fayard dit “Le Sherif” with Patrick in 1976), it was Léotard who persuaded Dewaere to accept Claude Lelouch’s offer for Edith et Marcel… the film the actor was about to start when he committed a never explained suicide.
Birth year: 1940Death year: 2001Other name: Casting Calls: 2