Leading French Agent Laurent Grégoire Talks Marion Cotillard, ‘Call My Agent’ & And How To Create A Successful Acting Career — Thessaloniki Film Festival
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French agent Laurent Grégoire led a freewheeling masterclass at the Thessaloniki Film Festival in Greece Thursday, where he dug into the tricky negotiations he has overseen as the advisor to some of the industry’s biggest names, including the story behind Marion Cotillard’s 2008 Oscar win for La Vie en Rose.
Grégoire, who is the co-founder of the Adéquat agency and represents French talents like Marion Cotillard and Omar Sy, told the audience that the producers of La Vie en Rose — which follows the life story of the iconic French singer Édith Piaf — had originally wanted one of his other clients, Audrey Tautou, to star in the film.
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At the time, Tautou was at the height of her fame following the success of her 2001 comedy Amélie. Grégoire said he set up a meeting between Tautou and the film’s producers. The meeting, however, quickly went sour when Tautou was informed of the film’s premise and responded: “Who is going to be interested in a film about Édith Piaf?”
Grégoire said the producers immediately lost interest in casting Tautou, so he suggested Marion Cotillard for the role, but they were reluctant and only decided to meet and ultimately cast her after he put up a strong case for Cotillard.
“So you see what the role of an agent can be. What a strategic role they can play,” he concluded.
Cotillard became the first French actress to win an Academy Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role for a French-language performance for her role in the film.
Grégoire spoke extensively about his relationship with his clients as well as acting as an art form, saying he believes that time in the theatre is an essential part of shaping a successful acting practice.
“I don’t think you can be successful without a career in theatre first. There are only a few exceptions like Catherine Deneuve,” he said.
Later during the discussion, Grégoire also discussed what he said are the unique challenges that come with the acting profession.
“The great difficulty for an actor is not having a job. When they are left with no money and no job, it is a very unstable profession,” he said. “The rest of us have a more steady job with a more steady income. When you’re an actor, anything might occur, and anything might change.”
He added that this is why actors must have good agents because they will always have a “very good ally” to guide them through their careers. Although Grégoire did not romanticize the partnership between talent and agents, saying on several occasions that: “This is not a personal relationship because you pay your agent.”
Elsewhere during the session, Grégoire briefly touched on the popular series Call My Agent. The show follows the chaos of a French talent agency and was inspired by the lives of real-life agents including Grégoire.
Grégoire said the show was also the international launchpad of his own real-life client Camille Cottin, who plays a high-profile agent on the show. Grégoire said Cottin is now working in Hollywood but before the show, her chances of international acclaim “were very slim.”
“Our profession became more known to the broader public,” he said of the show’s success.
The masterclass ended on a positive note with Grégoire highlighting what he described as the global and inclusive evolution of cinema over the years.
“I started working in a cinema that was 100% French. 100% national. Cinema has become a more open space,” he said. “Thanks to the development of technology, things have changed, and people can work in many different European countries.”
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