It was actually quite easy to work with Uggie, because he's a really well trained dog. Very talented. I just had to follow him a little bit, improvise a little bit. Sometimes he'd follow me. Especially because of the sausages I had in my pocket.

It's quite pretentious, really, isn't it? The notion the audience is going to be interested in you for an hour and a half. Think too much about that and anxiety takes over.

This is a universal, unique movie, it has potential to cross barriers. But we never thought about that on set, when we were doing the film. We knew that in making a silent movie, we were doing something a little bit under the wire, a bit interdit. It's a pastiche, but for the French taste, you would have thought.

What matters to me is my own estimation, and I'm very tough on myself. I need to be proud of what I've done and I work hard for it. I had a very Christian upbringing... lots of guilt. A good thing, It keeps you sane.

I watched Gene Kelly for his smile, for his energy. Vittorio Gassman for his movement. Clark Gable for his mustache. And I watched Lassie who was happy as a dog.

I'm happiest on set because I'm not myself. I'm someone else. The moustache, the dinner jacket. It's not me. You're always this sort of double, and it's liberating. Imagine being stuck with yourself... all those doubts.

For me, I loved it. I only want to make silent movies now.

I don't care about my image.

I don't want everyone to like me, and I don't choose who likes me. You have to give them the choice, give them the option.

I don't want to become a superstar and not see my family anymore.

I feel very at home in an empty church. I feel the most protected. It's very mystical.

I like simple things. I like being in my family in the South and playing petanque.

I love dancing in general and making girls dance. My generation doesn't do it enough.

I think I'm more demanding than any wife.

I want to work with a director who becomes my brother, my father, for two months. You give yourself over to that person.

I wasn't dyslexic, I was just very slow. I passed my time daydreaming.

I'm not an American actor. I'm a French actor. I'll continue in France. If I could make another silent movie in America, I'd like to!

I've never concerned myself with the labels people want to put on you. What matters to me is my own estimation.

In France, I have lots of opportunities. Maybe now I'll be offered films in America. It's the encounter, with the director and the story that counts.

It was always about the story rather than the character.