‘It’s one of the hardest things I’ve ever done’: Matt Dillon is stunning as Marlon Brando in Maria

“I made this film because I couldn’t resist!“From the beginning, Matt Dillon seems very grateful and exhausted by the idea of ​​portraying one of his film role models: Marlon Brando.

For the French film Maria, which hits theaters this Wednesday, Matt Dillon reprises his role as an actor in Bernardo Bertolucci’s highly controversial Last Tango in Paris. Maria repeats the life of the actress Maria Schneider, tells the crucial periods of this woman’s life: adolescence and chaotic relationship with her parents, her sensational debut in the cinema with the filming of Last Tango in Paris, her descent into hell. His meeting with Nori, a young woman who will see him in a new way.

“At this point in my life, I can truly acknowledge how important Marlon Brando was to me. (…) I think there was before Brando and after Brando in terms of interpretation. He’s very different from an actor like John Wayne, for example. You see what I mean. It brought vulnerability and spontaneity. (…) He is just a hero for me.”

For Mariam, the actress had to learn French, and as she tells us in the video interview above, everything that came with the role was one of the hardest things she’s ever done.

“I had to learn the text in French, which was not even included in the film“, he smiles at our microphone.”I don’t speak French, but I learned it for this role“, he continues.

Our meeting with director Jessica Palud and actress Annamaria Bartholomew:

Regarding the choice of Matt Dillon to play Marlon Brando, director Jessica Palud explains:There were two solutions: either find an actor who was Marlon Brando’s stunt double. Or anyone who could have awakened him to what he represented: Hollywood glamour, myth. Matt Dillon is Rusty James, the actor whose poster was in his teenage bedroom.“

He adds: “He told me that, like Brando, he sometimes performed a monologue from Last Tango in Paris when he was younger. Like Maria, she became an actress very early and was not prepared for this sudden plunge into the industry. What happened to Mary could have happened to him.“

“There was something beautiful about Maria and Brando’s relationship, the sincerity in Marlon’s kindness. In one scene, they talk to each other as equals, and she confides in him how troubled she is by this particular shoot. However, at one point everything got out of hand. I think after shooting the scene, Matt Dillon said to his idol, Marlon Brando: How could you do that?“

Matt Dillon on our mic also talks about Maria Schneider as an actress.

“Maria Schneider’s performance in this film is incredible. This aspect also goes into the background. I think it’s important to recognize how talented he was. This powerful performance should not be ignored, even if it breaks.

Maria Schneider is played by Annamaria Bartholomew (lead in Audrey Divan’s L’Événement and recently seen in L’Empire by Bruno Dumont), whose performance Matt Dillon highlighted on our mic. “I must say that I really liked working with Annamaria. He is a very good actor and also very natural.“

and about director and screenwriter Jessica Paludi, “Only a man of his sensibility could create such a thing from a film, the empathy that emanates from it“.

Maria is currently in the cinema.