“I’m running a campaign for make-up artists for Caesar”: How were Pier Nin’s masks created in The Count of Monte Cristo?

Maximum Masks for Pier Nin in The Count of Monte Cristo! As we told you during the release of Matteo Delaporte and Alexandre de la Patellier’s film, the different identity that Edmond Dantes takes on is a strong point of the feature film shown at the recent Cannes Film Festival.

And it was on the Croisette, a few hours before the official out-of-competition screening, which was greeted with a twelve-minute standing ovation, that we interviewed the team on this topic. Both Pierre Nini, who needed several hours of daily make-up to transform himself and create different aspects of his character, as well as directors and screenwriters.

Which leads especially to the balance they had to find in order not to have an Edmond Dantes who was unrecognizable or too recognizable, at the risk of breaking the tension and emotion that Alexandre Dumas was looking for in this adaptation, which had to cross the line. Soon 3 million viewers and will reach the goal set by its producer Dimitri Rasami.

A success that can also be extended to the next Cesar. And why not with a new category, as Pierre Nin and Laurent Lafitte are campaigning to create an award for makeup artists that already exists in England (BAFTA) and the United States (Oscar). If it were to happen in 2025, we already know the name of the big favorite, thanks to the work of Pierre-Olivier Persen.

Comments collected by Maximilien Pierrette in Cannes on 22 May 2024 – Editing by Arthur Tourneret