John Malkovich: “It's not easy speaking English with a French accent”

The American actor talks about his time on The New Look and talks to us about his relationship with France and fashion in Apple TV+'s new Prestige series.

He is Lucien Lelong. In New lookThe new Prestige series from Apple TV+ (airing on Canal+ in France), John Malkovich He puts himself in the shoes of the famous couturier who invented Christian Dior. Having left his workshop open during World War II, crushed by the moral dilemma of occupation, Lelong agreed to sell it to the Nazis. For the 70-year-old American actor, a flamboyant role in the streets of Paris, in clothes, he believes in the premiere.

In New look, you play a Frenchman but in English and with a French accent. How was this exam given to you?
John Malkovich : A few months before shooting the series, I was already shooting for the film in France and in French Totally burnt! There, it's true that I'm doing a sort of French accent, but it's not really a French accent. It has just the flavor of a French accent. I think they liked it because most of the actors in the show were French and their English positions were very hit and miss. So I think the idea is to make the pronunciations the same.

How about filming in English with a French accent?
It's okay, I understand why we do this. But it is true that it is not easy to speak English with a French accent without French sounds. I've already done that in the past for a little silly film Johnny English. For a detective series that reenacted Agatha Christie's murders in a dark way. I played a version of Hercule Poirot that was not well received by the fans, with an accent that displeased many…

What is your relationship with France today?
I have a very special relationship with your country. In less than a month I will return to my vineyard in Provence (in the village of Lacoste in Vaucluse). I still have a house in France where I go whenever I get the chance. Unfortunately, I can't go there very often because I'm still working a lot. and before New lookto Completely burnt, a film by Gilles Legardiner with Fanny Ardant, I was very happy in Brittany. I stayed in a small village in Ille-et-Villain, a few kilometers from the plateau. It was adorable.

You're a big fan of fashion, and you've created a clothing line (“Technobohemian”). Did this help you? New look ?
Not really that much. The series doesn't have much to do with fashion. After all, talking about the personal life of Coco Chanel and Christian Dior is a background. My character, Lucien Lelong, was not a great designer, but he found a lot of talent that he coached and supervised, whether it was Dior, but Balmain or Balenciaga. Later, the series mainly focuses on the moral dilemmas of the fashion business under Nazi occupation.