Sortand remember a Camille Razat who has been working since he is 12 years old, and who has harmoniously passed through From fashion to TV to cinemashe gradually concludes: “I never look at the past, it’s a waste of time.” Certainly his departure from the series that made him know to the massesEmily in Paris (his character, Camille, will not be in the fifth season, shot in Italy), is already a subject for archives.
However, since Camille Razat is one of those actresses who do not miss an opportunity To thank your agent (he will do so also during this interview, but he will also have words of affection for his mother), the reporter – who on successful series Designed by Darren Star, it is very little prepared – a gambled of the exit strategy.
After four seasons of Emily in Paris Dozens of proposals will have arrived …
Not at all. The series was a powerful engine because it made me know globally. And this is rare for a French actress. But Emily in Paris It is a world in which everything is exaggerated, both the acting and the details it contains. You have to learn to stay over the lines, something that works only in that context, does not open other doors. At the beginning it was not easy for me to recite in such a great way (it really uses the adjective Grandiloquent, editor’s note), but this is how the series works, it is like a bongbon that can only be enjoyed once, a pleasure that produces a sense of guilt. And then I live in France, where we love to categorize people. If you make her debut with a success, you are sure that they will only propose photocopies: are you good at the comedy? From now on you will do only that. We discussed with my agent. And I was granitic: “You have to say no to everything!” After Emily in Paris I wanted something very serious, and I wanted it to come out as soon as possible. Because if they put you in a box you don’t free you anymore.
Camille Razat is Camille in Emily in Paris. Cr. Marie Etchegoyen/Netflix © 2022E
Then he shot the film of the transition, Prodigieuses (who in fact came out in France in the autumn of 2024, in Italy it will be seen next season, editor’s note), the true story of the twins Diane and Audrey Pleynet, pianists who discover they have a rare disease that risks compromising their future.
Exactly. And it was a very thoughtful decision. I wanted to show a part of me that I had not yet highlighted. And it is no coincidence that it is a film where talent brings with it a large part of suffering. Then there will be the Mounia Meddour film (the Francoalgerina director of You don’t know Papichaeditor’s note), a love story set in the Paris of ’44, during liberation, a film with a sublime script. I hope to continue to alternate serious things and, every now and then, a comedy, I like to have fun. And also have some fear.
Camille Razat and Mélanie Robert in Prodigieuses, their characters are inspired by the real twins Prodigio Audrey and Diane Playnet.
What cinema nourished her when she was a child and then teenager?
I do not come from a cinephila family, culture did not have a large space in our house. There was only one ritual, every Wednesday: with my mother we watched a horror movie. I liked it very much! I never wanted to be an actress, I wanted to study, my dream was journalism, but at the age of 18 I arrived in Paris and I said to myself that I had to try to do other things before I put myself on the books. A theater course would have helped me to introduce myself to others, it would have improved my diction, it would have given me more security, shaped the body language. By doing it I discovered texts that I had never read and that traumatized me. In the good sense of the term. Oops, I had to change my plans.
Camille Razat in a scene of prodigieuses.
Did the family encourage it?
Not at all. It was hard. I studied literature with the prospect of finding a serious, safe job. The show brings with it the idea of uncertainty, mine were not happy at all. But in the end they accepted. They are always restless, even if I can say that I have messed up, but they let me do.
Curious that you say that French cinema categorizes the actors. It is the most varied cinema in Europe. What attracts it then? America?
No, I want to continue working in France. Although it is difficult for those who have a barbie physique convince that you can be a dramatic actress. But it is ridiculous: you can have a barbie physique and a great talent for the tragedy. And you have to be careful not to let yourself be trapped. I love my agent for this. Even if you need time to make the jump. But I have no problem waiting, I don’t miss the time.
Is this why he created his production company?
I did not do it to find projects for me: it seemed to me that a piece was missing in my work, the size of the collective. I did a lot of sport in my life and I have always chosen team sports. I know when you are on a set there is a collective that is temporarily formed, a sort of family, but when does the set close that it is of us actors? Let’s go back to dealing with our ego and wait for someone to call us for another role. I couldn’t. I needed to be an engine for others, I wanted to give energy to projects and nourish people I love and who reciprocate me with their creativity.
Camille Razat and Lily Collins in an Emily scene in Paris (Netflix).
What projects interest them?
For now with my company, Tazar, we only produced short films, five in two years which is a lot. I am interested in discovering countries other than mine, languages I don’t know. The first was prophetic, unfortunately: set in Russia, he spoke of the war before the war broke out. And the use that would have been made of artificial intelligence in the conflict. Then there was the second, on abortion in America, where restrictions were then introduced. And another one on the privatization of space. And here Elon Musk has manifested himself on the political scene. He makes me a little afraid if I think about it, but we know: the gaze of the cinema contains a magic.
When does not work how to have fun?
Video games! Nothing relaxes me more. And I do sports. Then I go a lot to the cinema, even to see three films in a row. But what I prefer is to stay chez moiin Paris. I left the village where I grew up. I studied in Toulouse, but I love Paris. I always come back, at least once a month, in the countryside, my family continues to live there: I can’t stay too long, I love my mother, we write a thousand messages a day.