What is it about? Louis is a very nice guy. And in his law office, that’s not a compliment. The day the doctor misdiagnoses him with a serious illness, the worldview of others changes: we pay attention to him, ask questions and listen to the answers, Louis finally exists! So he is obviously hesitant to say that it works great.
“One day we noticed that it lasts 2 hours 40 minutes!”
Rudy Milstein pushed his cast to improvise while filming I’m No Hero, which hits our theaters this week. The result: the director found himself in a lot of hurry at the end of the shoot. He recalls: “And because we didn’t have a lot of money, we couldn’t do it in 18 months! We had to find a balance between the written text and these little moments of life that I wanted to know. From the beginning to the editing, everything is magical: we drink the moments to the end and the film is there!”
“Except for one day, we notice that it’s two hours and forty hours long! And we can’t see where to cut it at all! And it’s not like what we imagined! So we work, we rethink certain moments. We rewrite. Until, after a few weeks, the film is finally will not appear and the spell will repeat itself.”
The birth of the project
I’m Not a Hero Rudy Milstein wanted to write a movie about appearances: how someone can abandon their principles in order to seduce, be accepted by a group, progress socially, and please their parents: “The character of Louis, played by Vincent De Dien, is a young lawyer who gets caught in a tornado with pesticides allegedly responsible for his cancer. He’s a nice, naive, pretty likable guy.”
“However, throughout the film he does immoral things. And we accept him because he’s a good guy. Good intentions forgive everything? Under the guise of laudable intentions, can we allow ourselves to behave sometimes? Or, conversely, do our actions define us? Who are we? All of these questions kept me alive while writing the script.”The film director confides.
Geraldine Nakash and Vincent Dedien
Choice Vincent Dedien
Rudy Milstein cast Vincent Dédien as Louis’ character. The two men crossed paths in the theater over the years without knowing each other. The director explains: “I’ve seen him perform many times and every time I find him brilliant; I love his imagination, his poetry, his madness, his charm. He is a person who is very cheerful in life, but also has a certain childhood sadness. His eyes, his naivety.. .we must love him.”
“He was perfect for the role. His whole body embodied the character. He followed me everywhere, with generosity, precision and accuracy. We built this character together, I loved this collaboration. This is a real chance to be able to do the first film. To create this relationship.”
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The director plays in the film!
Rudy Milstein plays an important role in the film: the role of Bruno, Louis’s neighbor. A stroke victim felt little emotion. Director says: “I enjoyed the role. Moreover, it was so special that I thought I would save time if I didn’t have to explain it.”
“Bruno is very atypical: with just one nuance, he can become unsympathetic, psychopathic or just stupid. I knew how to fit into the film. We shot all my sequences at the end of the shoot, so it was surprising to join another one. Actors in a different relationship.”
The meaning of the title
Rudy Milstein wanted neither good guys nor bad guys in his film. For example, the character of Helen (Geraldine Nakashi), a representative of a cancer survivor’s association, seems a priori despicable, even though she is altruistic: “But does he really think of the sick when he defends them? Isn’t Louis right to tell him that they have an interest in getting the money now rather than fighting for years for a lost cause?”
“In short, I wanted everyone’s problems to be more complex than ‘he’s good, she’s bad’, etc. The title (which is not a reference Balavoin…): I am the hero of the film, but “I am not the hero”!”The director recalls.
Source: Allocine

Rose James is a Gossipify movie and series reviewer known for her in-depth analysis and unique perspective on the latest releases. With a background in film studies, she provides engaging and informative reviews, and keeps readers up to date with industry trends and emerging talents.