HOLLYWOOD MAY BECKON, but Jean Reno is determined to stay in France. One of French cinema's leading men and a sought-after name on the American studio circuit, Reno refuses to mix business with pleasure. So although his career now straddles both sides of the Atlantic, he is not drawn to the artificial world of Hollywood.
'The main difference between French and American movies is that here in the United States, people are more involved and there is so much money. Once you get in front of the camera and start shooting, however, it's the same,' he says. 'But while cinema is my work, it is not my life. Here, everybody talks about it all the time, about new scripts, who is doing what, which movies are coming out. I get sick of it. If you live inside that world all the time, as an actor you become dry.'
Instead, Reno spends most of his time at home in Paris or in the Provence countryside, although he does maintain a residence in Los Angeles. In France, he relaxes by doing the things he loves: writing music; making olive oil; cooking leek and potato soup; growing vegetables. He loves the theatre and hopes, he says, 'to build a story with words and music, something intimate, nothing big'.
Not that Reno has had much time for such leisurely pursuits. He has just premiered his latest movie, Les Rivieres Pourpres (The Crimson Rivers), in which he plays the starring role of police chief Pierre Niemans.
Based on the novel of the same name by Jean-Christophe Grange, it is a dark and complex tale. 'It was unclear when I first read it,' Reno says.
It is also remarkably gruesome. Set high in the French Alps in Chamonix, it revolves around a series of grisly murders in a university town. Throw in a long-lost child, genetic experiments, a blind nun and marauding skinheads, and it's not surprising the movie leaves many baffled.
Reno is perfect for the role of the craggy, crumpled, chain-smoking detective. 'It had been a long time since there had been a French thriller, so I was happy to do it,' he says. In France, The Crimson Rivers opened at the same time as another of his films, a more light-hearted caper called Just Visiting, in which Reno plays a travelling knight. He was also working on Roller Ball, a science-fiction action film directed by John McTiernan and co-starring LL Cool J and Chris Klein. Then there is Femme Fatale, a Brian de Palma movie with Antonio Banderas and Rebecca Romjin-Stamos which comes out later this year. Also coming is a French/Japanese production entitled Wasabi, written by Luc Besson, which Reno declines to discuss. 'It's better to see it than to talk about it. It's like love,' he says.
