{"id":164829,"date":"2018-02-21T11:54:49","date_gmt":"2018-02-21T10:54:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/berlin030.de\/?p=164829"},"modified":"2018-02-21T11:54:49","modified_gmt":"2018-02-21T10:54:49","slug":"omar-sy-optimistische-figuren-mag-ich-sehr","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/berlin030.de\/en\/2018\/02\/21\/omar-sy-optimistische-figuren-mag-ich-sehr\/","title":{"rendered":"Omar Sy: &#8220;I\u2019m Very Fond of Optimistic Characters&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Omar Sy scored his big break six years ago with the comedy \u201cThe Intouchables.\u201d The film grossed 320 million euros worldwide, and in his homeland France, the son of a Senegalese father and a Mauritanian mother became the first black actor to win the C\u00e9sar for Best Actor. <\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Hollywood soon came calling. There, Sy appeared in &#8220;X-Men&#8221; and &#8220;Jurassic World.&#8221; In France, he followed up with comedies like &#8220;Samba,&#8221; &#8220;Monsieur Chocolat&#8221; and &#8220;Two Is a Family.&#8221; Now, at 40, he appears in cinemas as a likeable conman in \u201cDr. Knock \u2013 A Doctor with Certain Side Effects.\u201d [030] staff member Dieter O\u00dfwald spoke with the actor.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Monsieur Sy, in your new film you play a medical charlatan who extracts money from his patients \u2014 how much do you trust doctors?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Sy<\/strong>: It\u2019s been quite some time since I needed to see a doctor. But I have an excellent relationship with doctors and trust them completely.<em>\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>And now the inevitable question: Have you ever given an interview without being asked about &#8220;The Intouchables&#8221;?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Sy<\/strong>: Of course, I still get asked about &#8220;The Intouchables&#8221; all the time, given its huge success. It really doesn\u2019t bother me at all, I\u2019m incredibly grateful for that film to this day. I\u2019m certain my career wouldn\u2019t have taken this form without it.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>&#8220;The Intouchables&#8221; took in 320 million euros worldwide. Did you, as an actor, actually see any of those profits?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Sy<\/strong>: Don\u2019t worry, I got my share! (<em>Laughs<\/em>)<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Were there ever times when all that fame went to your head?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Sy<\/strong>: No, I\u2019ve always tried to keep living a normal life and that\u2019s worked out pretty well. If the audience loves your work so much, there\u2019s really no reason to complain.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>What interested you about the story of &#8220;Doctor Knock&#8221;?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Sy<\/strong>: The eponymous stage play is very famous in France. For me, it was a chance to appear in a film adaptation of an absolute classic. Such a character role is a new level for me as an actor.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"DOCTEUR KNOCK - EIN ARZT MIT GEWISSEN NEBENWIRKUNGEN | Offizieller dt. Trailer | ab 22.02.18 im Kino\" width=\"780\" height=\"439\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/gMblRQOcL9Q?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>You\u2019ve appeared in Hollywood blockbusters like &#8220;Jurassic Park&#8221; and &#8220;X-Men&#8221; \u2013 did you miss the big trailers and swarms of assistants for actors on this smaller film?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Sy<\/strong>: Not at all. The job of acting always remains the same. Filming in France is much more comfortable for me though, because I can work in my native language.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>You\u2019re reluctant to talk about the topic of successful black actors because you think it\u2019s outdated. Nonetheless, it\u2019s surprising that &#8220;Doctor Knock&#8221; is so easily accepted in 1950s provincial France. Do you see that as a fairytale utopia?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Sy<\/strong>: Definitely, for us it was fascinating that in this little village every resident has their own quirks. That\u2019s why we pose the question: Is having a different skin colour a greater difference than sporting a strange beard?<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Once again, your Doctor Knock is a charismatic, likeable character. Wouldn\u2019t you fancy playing a villain for a change? <\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Sy<\/strong>: Why not? If you\u2019ve got a good script for me, send it my way. (<em>Laughs<\/em>) Overall though, I\u2019m very fond of optimistic characters. The audience, too, prefers to see me in such roles rather than as a villain. In a world that\u2019s as complicated and full of problems as ours, I enjoy spreading the message that pleasant things do exist.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Are you still nervous in front of the camera?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Sy<\/strong>: I\u2019m less nervous in front of the camera than I am in the run up to a project. The weeks before the first day of shooting, I\u2019m pretty excited. Once the clapperboard goes for the first time, it\u2019s too late for nerves.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Your &#8220;X-Men&#8221; director Bryan Singer lost his job following accusations of sexual harassment. Your fellow countrywoman Catherine Deneuve sees the #MeToo movement as more of a witch hunt. How do you see it?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Sy<\/strong>: Discussions are always good. When people who feel they\u2019ve been treated unjustly have their say, it can only help the cause.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>You live in Hollywood \u2013 what do you miss most about France?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Sy<\/strong>: Luckily, I never really get the chance to miss anything about France. I regularly return home to visit family and friends. So I don\u2019t suffer from homesickness in Hollywood.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Omar Sy scored his big break six years ago with the comedy \u201cThe Intouchables.\u201d The film grossed 320 million euros worldwide, and in his \u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":164837,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[82,17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-164829","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interview-kino","category-kino"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/berlin030.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164829","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/berlin030.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/berlin030.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/berlin030.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/berlin030.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=164829"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/berlin030.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164829\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/berlin030.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/164837"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/berlin030.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=164829"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/berlin030.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=164829"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/berlin030.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=164829"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}