Frank

Gerard Depardieu calls Juliette Binoche 'nothing' in provocative interview
French star expresses incredulity that Binoche, an actor with more than 50 films behind her, has achieved such acclaim

Lizzy Davies
guardian.co.uk
Thursday 26 August 2010 13.59 BST

To most people, she is one of the foremost French actors of her generation: a popular and versatile performer with almost 50 films in her repertoire and an array of international awards on her mantelpiece.

But Gerard Depardieu is not most people. To him, quite simply, Juliette Binoche is "nothing".

In a no-holds-barred interview proving once again the rambunctious star's lack of social graces, Depardieu expressed incredulity that Binoche had met with such acclaim.

He asked: "Please can you explain to me what the secret of this actress is meant to be?

"I would really like to know why she has been so esteemed for so many years. She has nothing. Absolutely nothing!"

Binoche, who won the award for best actress at this year's Cannes film festival for her role in Abbas Kiarostami's Certified Copy (Copie Conforme), is one of the most established actors in contemporary France, impressing critics both at home and abroad.

But in the eyes of the 61-year-old Jean de Florette star, she does not meet the standards of her female counterparts. "She is nothing," he reiterated in the interview with the Austrian magazine Profil. "Compared with her, Isabelle Adjani is great even if she's totally nuts. Or Fanny Ardant – she is magnificent, extremely impressive. But Binoche? What has she ever had going for her?"

Depardieu was equally dismissive of French director Leos Carax, who cast the 46-year-old Parisienne in Les Amants du Pont Neuf. "Carax needed six years to shoot his film with Binoche, which turned out not even to be a film but just a piece of shit," he said.

Observers pointed out that Depardieu has another reason to hate Binoche, who is more given to directing her rage at political leaders such as Nicolas Sarkozy and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad than at her fellow artists: she has an Oscar, and he does not.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2010/aug/26/gerard-depardieu-insults-juliette-binoche