On Handigang TF1: Theo Kurin entrusts his new acting career

Already appearing on a small screen in Plus belle la vie, Theo Courin has taken his first steps as an actor in need of the TV movie Handigang, which was shot before appearing in the France 3 series but which will only be released at 9:10 p.m. At TF1. With Allociné’s microphone, he announces his decision to stop sporting competitions to address new areas such as comedy. What are his future projects? What was his experience at Handigang like? Answer.

Alocine: We all know you as an athlete. What pushed you to start this new acting career?

Theo Kurin : Just because the opportunity arose. I started at Vestiaires on France 2, but I did my part. It really wasn’t a great movie because I had to be myself. In the first incarceration I was contacted by a movie agent and I agreed because it was a chance.

Then there was Handigang and Plus belle la vie. I agreed because the movie was amazing and seemed inaccessible to me. I’m from the village, my parents could not afford acting lessons and there is no artist around me. So when I heard that I had to go to castings, I was glad that it materialized and I found a real passion in this profession.

Disability notifications were not necessarily disabled for the same LGBTQ + reason

What made you want to take on this role?

Already, the opportunity is extraordinary: on TF1 with prime time as the lead role, it is incredible. While reading the script, even if I do not want to be a speaker for people with disabilities, the subject touches me.

Sam’s story shocked me, I never had a teenage crisis because I left my parents’ house at the age of 13 to study sports in Vichy, almost 500 miles from them. I have never done anything stupid and that is exactly what I liked about this scenario: the opportunity to do what I have never done before. What I like about cinema is the personification of people I am not.

Finally, this movie is a continuation of what you have been doing for years using a different format …

That’s why I agreed to the project. This film is about difference, we are talking about disability, but also about homosexuality, for example. We talk about all the differences and this is a message that I have been trying to convey for years. And then, you do not need a disability to send disability messages for the same LGBTQ + reason … as long as you are motivated!

It’s best when we get together! This is really the message I want to convey and this film is an example of that. Obviously, it is based on the adolescence of a person with disabilities, but it also speaks of homosexuality, which is a very important subtlety. Vincent (played by Arthur Legrand) suffers more from his homosexuality than from, for example, cystic fibrosis.

It was also an opportunity to kiss a man for the first time in my life. For reference, this scene was filmed on the second day of filming. I did not know Arthur yet, it was very funny, this sequence connected us.

I want to get away from my swimming image

You do not swim in the TV movie, it may be a surprise for your fans …

Exactly what is pleasing about the TV movie is that it tells the story of Sam and not Theo. I want to get away from my swimming image. Then, if I am offered an extension, I will do it. But, it was important to set the scene differently.

How to identify with Sam?

Just wanting something to happen and also daring. Sam, like me, dares to break codes, say what he thinks, respond to teachers, or be independent. The first thing I wanted to do when I got out of the hospital was be independent. I could not stand the help of loved ones because I knew I could do it alone, even if it required training. Sam can not stand the help of his mother more and more.

Was it hard to reveal yourself so much?

In no time! As long as those around you are kind, that’s true. The shooting may have seemed impressive, but the people who participated in this project knew that it was not just a TV movie.

Did you hear the fight scene?

No. On first reading I did not like this sequence much because I was inactive. Only for a moment did I complain to someone. So I told Stephanie Pilonka (the director of the TV movie) that I wanted to fight too and she said ‘OK’. He brought in a stuntman and a crew who wrote me the choreography.

This is one of the scenes where Stephanie watched the combinations the least because she was afraid something would happen to us.

We worked all morning, I remember it all my life. It seems to me that this is one of the scenes where Stephanie watched the combinations the least because she was afraid something would happen to us.

Finally, this is a very powerful scene because it can happen in real life. Stephen’s strength lies in the fact that he knows how to measure things. To fight, we went for something new that I had never seen before.

Do you find yourself in this mother-child relationship?

Yes, and that’s exactly what I liked about Stephanie because she added scenes that I suggested to her. I found that the contact scene between these two characters was lacking because my parents helped me a lot when I was young, for example, with prostheses. When we were taking Alessandra Sublet with me, I really saw a mother in front of me. During the scenes where he helped me, it was simple and easy, natural. Although there were a few cameras around us, it was very natural.

Have you ever encountered the same problems as your character during school or elsewhere?

Access issues are not really relevant as I was able to walk very fast again with my prostheses. On the other hand, I have friends in wheelchairs and can see well what difficulties they have in Paris or other cities in France. The problem I was experiencing at first, but no longer, was the gaze of others. Why did everyone look at me like I was an alien overnight?

Then one day I realized that the gaze of others was human. I also look at others sometimes. For example, if I meet a blue man on the street today, I look at him not because I judge them, but because I am not used to watching them. And when people look at me on the street, it’s the same, there is no special judgment. When I heard this, I just started living again.

How did you feel about this shoot back in high school?

Honestly, it was nice. In addition, there were real students who did extra. I laughed as I went back to high school, even though I hated it at the time. In fact, I think I prefer to go to high school for fictional purposes.

We are talking more and more about people with disabilities …

Are we talking enough about the inclusion of people with disabilities in France?

We talk about it more and more. I am very positive.

A few months ago you crossed Lake Titicaca, today you are in the lead role in a TV movie. არისWhat is next?

Is my next sporting challenge, the Santa Fe Coronda race, held in Argentina. I want to play other roles and I am also obsessed with television. I wish one day I could have my own TV show and be able to do both: comedy and animation.

You have announced the cessation of sports competitions. Are you planning to fully concentrate on your acting career?

No, because from time to time I will continue to challenge myself. I decided to quit the competition because I was facing classification problems, but it’s true, now I have time for other requests, going to castings, shooting a movie or TV series, presenting TV projects. It’s easier now.

I did not have a single minute to put it all together. I am 22 years old, I do not want to get tired and have no taste for what happened at the age of 30. It is important to find a balance. Today I am very happy, I like the diversity of my life. I have been promoting my book for a month, now I am on Handigang and besides, I am practicing. I am currently writing a short film with a friend, they will shoot and play this summer.

My dream is to play a role that does not require disability and my second dream will be to film a movie with even more tricks, even if I play a person with a disability.

Finally, what would be the ideal role for you that you dream of playing?

Frankly, I think a billion roles will interest me. A little anecdote, once, I had a discussion with the producer, I said that it is not normal that disabled characters in the movie are played by able-bodied people. And this producer told me something very interesting and true in my opinion. He told me that it is also the work of an actor, the embodiment of people and people who we are not at all. Acting means playing comedy, melancholy, euphoria … but also playing blind, in a wheelchair, paraplegic … then, I thought to myself … if we see anything. In this sense, it means you can also see how I play someone with a disability or even a normal role.

One of my dreams is to go to a casting with pretty tall curly hair and that is it. Obviously, my handicap will appear, but I do not care, and the director must be in the same state of mind. Then I have to make sure I have the qualities to play the role. Conversely, I also like to embody the role of a person with a disability, as we did in the case of Handigang, as it allows us to add even more truth.

So my dream is to play a role that does not require disability and my second dream will be to film a movie with even more tricks, even if I play a person with a disability. The day we shot the movie trick, my favorite part was in the shooting, it was never done in my life and I liked it.