Pierre Niney Cringes at His First Movie Role 18 Years Later: “It’s Catastrophic!”

Pierre Niney is far from fond of his performance in “Nos 18 ans,” the first movie of his career, which he described as “catastrophic” during the show Belle époque.

As pointed out by host Pierre Lescure, Niney played “the son of Michel Blanc and the grandson of Bernadette Lafont”, to which Lescure exclaimed: “What a lineage!” Niney quickly responded:

The lineage was impeccable. The film, not so much…

“But I have a lot of affection for it since it was my first time in cinema. I am grateful to everyone who made this possible. Plus, I had the chance to see Michel Blanc work. I admired him greatly even then, and his incredible acting nature and sense of elegance and restraint really struck me on set.”

Yet a “Disastrous” Performance

“Everything I do in this film—and I am sincere when I say this—I could see it with another young actor in my place, I was 18 years old, I would tell him ‘don’t pursue this career.’ What I did in this film is disastrous. It’s everything one should not do. I was the opposite of Michel Blanc: everything was forced, everything was overstated.”

“From the moment they yelled ‘Action,’ the sense of reality had vanished two years prior because I was too caught up in hitting marks [on the floor] and… honestly, it was a disaster.”

“Nos 18 ans” also featured Arthur Dupont, Julia Piaton, and Venantino Venantini under the direction of Frédéric Berthe. Berthe has directed five films from Alive (2004) to Les Invincibles (2013) and has since been working on television, on series like Balthazar, Les Innocents, Astrid et Raphaëlle, Les Randonneuses, and Mademoiselle Holmes.

Pierre Niney is currently on a promotional tour as he stars in Yann Gozlan’s “Gourou,” set to release on January 28 in cinemas, where he plays a life coach whose life takes a dramatic turn.

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