“Never Dubbed”: Roshdi Zemi experienced the role of action hero Elias in this film to see in the cinema

Between Man on Fire, Jason Bourne, John Wick and The Equalizer, Elias is wearing Roshdi Zem as sharp as ever! The latter plays Elias Flores, a former special forces soldier, lonely and paranoid.

He becomes a bodyguard for 13-year-old Noor and his mother Amina, who are from the Middle East. While the ex-warrior and the young girl get to know each other, a mysterious commando targets them. Elias will stop at nothing to save her.

Back to action!

The film is directed by action specialist Florent Emilio-Siri, who notably directed Wasp’s Nest, Hostage and The Intimate Enemy. He then filmed episodes of the TV series Marseille with Gerard Depardieu and Benoit Magimel. He hasn’t returned to cinema since 2015’s Full Board.

Under the guidance of producer Matthias Rubin, the director decided to return to the action genre with this project, which he started two years ago. At that time, Florent Emilio-Siri did not know if he had anything to say in this genre that he had already studied in the past.

Also, I’m always a bit skeptical because there aren’t many French actors who can – and I say this in quotes – these very physical roles where you have to play extreme and varied emotions at all.”, he emphasizes. For a director, it is given to very few actors. It was here that Matthias Rubin was talking about Roshdi Zem to play the lead role.

“And this changes everything for me. I’ve been following Roshdi for two decades, and I’ve always wanted to work with her, but never had the opportunity. Not only is she a great actor, whose humanity we feel in each of her interpretations, but above all she has this presence, like Steve McQueen or Lino Ventura Which I appreciate a lot and which is a must for an action movie”Florent Emilio-Siri explains.

Roshdi Zemi analyzes the action scene

For his part, Roshdi Zem has decoded an action sequence from the film for us in the video, which you can watch above. For an artist, this type of shooting is very physically demanding because it requires “Lots of Endurance”.

In the sequence analyzed by the 58-year-old actor, we see him in a shootout with the bad guys while carrying young actor Jean-Michel, who plays Noor, on his back. “I had this very, very heavy weapon and this mask, in addition to the gin on the back, so many elements that make it difficult to move.”Roshdi Zemi emphasizes.

Furthermore, the actor also highlights the complications involved in portraying a silent character like Ellas. The physical aspect, of course, prevails, but the psychological dimension of the person who has experienced post-traumatic stress is just as important.

“It’s a real pleasure to play, even if I prefer the lyrics. However, there is a real difficulty in playing someone ‘metallic’. It’s always difficult to find the right tone, the right nuance to develop”he notes.

“Sports, getting physically ready for a role is part of my daily life. It’s something I’ve mastered over the years. For a role like this, we stress, double the sessions, especially with the stunts. The choreography rehearsal is very intense. There’s nothing more painful than hitting a blank spot, it hurts a lot, it’s tendinitis attacks.Reveals Roshdi Zemi.

Sports and physical training for the role are part of my daily life. It’s something I’ve mastered over the years.

Director Florent Emilio-Siri explains that this film was really conceived for Roshdi Zem. “I drew on his physique, on his sensibility, to create both mysterious characters with hidden violence. I can say that Roshdi was a kind of muse for me. We talked about his character and his problem. He drew on it. I suggested. It balances when it expresses itself.”

The main moment in the movie

As for the shooting scene that Roshdi Zemi is talking about, the filmmaker mentions “A key moment in the movie. It’s a moment in the story where we discover Elias’ abilities. Since the beginning of the movie, I’ve developed a mystery about this character who we know has war trauma.”

All action scenes in the film are organic. Each time they serve to tell a little more about the character.

“All the action scenes in the film are organic. Each time they serve to tell a little more about the character. Because I built the film to a crescendo. I didn’t choose to start Elias with a big action scene, as it is. It’s often done, but which is formatted, in quotation marks, American”Emphasizes Florent Emilio-Siri.

The latter explains that he wanted to build his work with inspiration from the cinema of the 70s: “That is, in a crescendo around the hero, for example, for example Rambo Or other films where we discover the character little by little. And here we come to the moment where we really understand who Elias is, because in the beginning he is built as a somewhat negatively charged anti-hero.

In this scene, Elias and Nouri really become a duo, adds the director. “That is, one who is a kind of instinctual animal and one who is a more reflective and sensitive character. He becomes the head, and she becomes the legs. It is he who begins to take orders from Elias, and he becomes. As a car, it’s almost symbolic because he takes it on his back.he analyzes.

A caravan of discord

The director also talks about the production of another key sequence of the film, the caravan. “My entire scene also relies on shooting extreme violence scenes shot with flash images.”

It’s all character violence that explodes in 80 frames at 1 minute 03 seconds.

“It’s all the violence of a character that explodes in 80 frames in 1 minute 03 seconds. And it’s definitely not in a training style. It would be a sequential shot. It’s organic, exposed. There are closed spaces. A reflection of one’s own mental space.”

“Because I knew that the scene could lose the audience’s attention with violence, I shot it as a dance accompanied by Indian music, lighter, but above all, which determines the pace of this scene, which is considered choreography. It took that. Lots of rehearsals to prepare it with Roshdi who was brilliant and who was never duplicated.

If you’re looking to inject yourself with a good dose of adrenaline, Elyas hits theaters on July 3rd.