Vanessa McMahon

Regis Romele (Hors La Loi, People's Names, An Ordinary Execution) speaks about his upcoming works, Johnny( 2011/2012) and The First Man (2011). Regins Romele acts in a small role in the recently released Rachid Bouchareb film, Hors La Loi (Outside the Law) (2010) about three brothers from Algeria who's lives are torn apart by war and who are forced to make a new life outside their native land and outside the law.

-VM

I asked Regis about his small part in this controversial film (see attached article of riots when film premiered at Cannes). Regis said: "It was very interesting to work with Bouchareb but a bit too short. It was one sequence this time in a Parisian subway. I was a policeman and I arrested someone, an Algerian man, who had a fake passport. Last year I worked with Jacques Audiard (A Prophet, 2009) for a campaign against domestic violence (you can find it on my website: regisromele.com). Audiard was a very good director; a real 'artisan' craft man who was very precise like a surgeon."

Then we discussed his current projects and future ones. "For the future, I will be filming on Tuesday for the next ten days a short (35min) directed by Bruno Ballouard which is his second movie. The first one was Micheline which earned prizes and is on the road for many festivals at the moment. You can see that on youtube. It makes me think on the mood of the assassination of Jessie James with the coward, with Brad Pitt. It was very zen; you can feel the time passing. I dont know if the image will be clear enough...

"..My next film Johnny (2011/12) will be the name ofthe film and the name of the main character. He is 15/16 years old and lives in a small town (5000 people) based on the east side of France (near Troye) where the teenagers have nothing to do. I will play Johnny's father, a French soldier who fought in Afghanistan and came back with serious mental problems from drinking too much and at night beats his son when he is fully drunk. When the father (me) wakes up and he sees his son's face bruised, he asks him if he was racketed at school because if he is, he will break the neck of the f...bastards [LOL!] who touched his son. So, Johnny and his friend are crossing a different males' path...

"...Before this interview I was in Algeria for the next Gianni Amelio film called Le Premier Homme (The First Man) (2011) based on the Albert Camus novel. I was playing a French butcher in Algeria in 1924. And just before Algeria I was directed by Philippe Loiret for a commercial in Marseille..."

"...Voila! Mon actualite du moment! I wish you a good Sunday and I will leave you to take a very Parisian brunch in a Parisian cafe.   :-)

Well, I was in Dorset, England at the time we spoke and there are no Parisian cafes there so I had a Dorset cream tea instead. Thanks, Regis. We look forward to seeing more of you.

Cannes news on Hors La Loi (2010): http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10139215

Hors La Loi trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1_opLxdpzE

written by, Vanessa McMahon on July 18, 2010

 actor  Regis Romele