Nathan Stewart-Jarrett: How’s it going? You look very fresh.
George MacKay: Well, we’ve just had the shoot so that’ll be why. The bags have been covered. [both laugh]

NSJ: I’m going to jump straight in. You spoke French in La Bête [2023, directed by Bertrand Bonello], how was it acting in French? Did it open up anything unexpected, or was there something unexpected you found when you reverted back to speaking English?
GM: That’s a really interesting question to start with. Firstly, I realised as
I got to spend time in France working with the cast and crew, that what is valued in conversation in France is a genuine want to talk about how you’re feeling and what’s really going on. Their deeper conversations come quicker with less guise, it’s their way. It’s quite an English thing to hold on to stuff, we’re always like, “I’m fine!” It takes a little while to scratch beyond that. There was a reverence for deep feeling, if you aren’t discussing that stuff then you’re not living – what’s wrong? [laughs] I really took heart in that and learned from it, I thought “God, I’m really English,” because I don’t begin with the open book answer immediately.

NSJ: You’re very warm though.
GM: Yeah, I’m warm. I don’t have a stiff upper lip kind of thing, but they were always like, “Let’s talk about love.” I don’t want to be too stereotypical, but there was a wonderful way of talking about relationships, past relationships and love because it’s not the way I’ve been used to speaking about it on home soil. In terms of the acting, I thought it was very interesting. I did another job a while ago where I had to speak German, the German grammar and the way the sentences were structured had a more forceful, direct way of speaking. I remember for that character, it really informs him. This guy is often beating around the bush not wanting to tread on toes, and he has this reverence for his two German university friends who are these trailblazers and I thought, “Oh this is why he would then enjoy this.” Part of that friendship is the fact he becomes a different person as he speaks that language because you have no choice but to be more direct and forceful. With La Bête, it was very prescribed and thought about when they drop in and out of English, especially for the 1910 version [the film unfolds across three time periods: 1910, 2014 and 2044], because English became their secret language, which was funny to me. When they’re in a room full of people, suddenly they’re almost talking dirty to each other. With acting, English is very stress- based, you hit words and you express yourself by the way you place emphasis on certain words.

So I was still speaking French as an Englishman because I was stressing certain words. I had to work really hard at speaking French as a French person would speak it, not just in terms of accent but in terms of the cadence of the sentencing, which I hope comes across. I remember Léa [Seydoux, MacKay’s co-star in La Bête] telling me that it’s on the breath, you just breathe through the sentences. Once we started rehearsing and I’d cracked it she just went, [French accent] “It’s nice to play in a different language, no?” [both laugh] It’s so thrilling for me to learn the French that was required and then to have a basic handle on French outside of that was such a thrill. It had this spark of a very private thing, it felt so intimate because I was doing something I literally couldn’t do with anyone else because I couldn’t speak French before that, but also because only Léa knew the answers to the lines we were doing. It felt wonderfully private.

NSJ: You say that French can be a very private language and at the same time open and emotional, which is what the film is about.
GM: Totally. It’s about the question, “If we don’t have feelings, what are we?” Which is so true. It’s a very simple thing, “Why wouldn’t you tell me how your day is? What is going on?” There is a real value in what is actually going on rather than a value in being able to operate on top of that. I think that’s why it was such a joy to be a part of. The other thing about working in France is that cinema started there, so there is a reverence, enthusiasm and respect for the medium, and a love of cinema that is really profound and innate. Making a French film in France was a real privilege.

NSJ: It’s an absolute dream. I never usually say I’m anxious, but I felt very anxious coming out of that film. I felt the impending doom. Not to give any spoilers, but you have a Titanic moment which is amazing.
GM: I know, I noticed that! I was like, “This is Titanic!” [laughs]

Harlot & Bones Signet Poison Ring £354.16

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