Citizen of the world
Gérard Depardieu never possessed the exceptional qualities of his two contemporary rivals known the world over. He has neither the divine handsomeness of an Alain Delon nor the indefatigable athletic dash of a Jean-Pierre Belmondo.
He is aware of this and has made a career his own peculiar way, playing the long-nosed sword-fighting knight in Cyrano de Bergerac, a comical cartoon character in Asterix & Obelix or even few minutes short roles such as with Indian actors in Life of Pi.
He is neither concerned with his image as a movie star nor motivated by the challenging role a script can offer him, says a critic. “He just lives his own life, inventing characters on a day-to-day basis.”
Depardieu is conscious of the changing world and the domination of the pensée unique over individualism which used to be a legendary French tradition. He hates inventions like ‘international community’ or ‘populism’ that are created to end all discussions in a single shot.
That explains his close friendship with a number of world leaders who are generally not considered as part of the international community.
In his book The Innocent which is more of a commentary on the France of today than an autobiography, Depardieu says: “Intellectual discussions are a thing of the past in my country. I see that more clearly when I am abroad. Reasoning and logic don’t exist anymore.”
Depardieu is a passionate reader of Russian literature and a fan of writers like Fyodor Dostoïevski and Henri Troyat. He personally knows Vladimir Putin who has granted him Russian nationality. Late Cuban leader Fidel Castro made a similar gesture while he was alive. Following Castro’s advice, Depardieu invested in a number of Cuban business deals. His friends say his motivation was not money making but to demonstrate his affiliation with a small country that has defied a number of times in the past the world’s greatest power.