
Behind a great actor lies a great drama teacher
Delighted to be back at Le Régent College, Vincent Perez arrived
early today to welcome the pupils as they were being dropped at
school, an amazing surprise for the children and parents alike!
The teachers and their students then gathered in the library to view
three pre-selected scenes of Fanfan la Tulipe, a 2003
cloak-and-dagger film starring Vincent Perez and Penelope Cruz.
After each viewing, the actor faced his audience and, displaying
genuine interest and heartfelt complicity with the children,
answered lots of engaging questions about acting in general and his
filmography in particular.
Replying to the last question -"how did you become an actor?" -
Perez concluded the insightful Q&A session by demonstrating how true
the saying is "when there is a will there is a way". Indeed, born in
a family with no ties to the movie industry whatsoever, acting was a
young boy’s dream. Determined to make it come true against all odds,
Perez studied long and hard and realized his ambition. A powerful
lesson for us all.
The rest of the day hinged on two workshops ran by Vincent Perez.
His mission: inspire creativity as Le Régent College is getting
ready to stage its first school production, Willy Wonka and the
Chocolate Factory. Drawing on his experience as a stage actor (he
recently finished a tour playing the protagonist’s role in the
theatrical adaptation of Les liaisons dangeureuses), and as a film
director (he will soon release Alone in Berlin), he guided the
pupils brilliantly.
He was introduced to each young actor, was given a script and the
children played the given scene. Perez then pulled up his sleeves
and set to work. The air filled with "OK, let’s start again",
"much
better, can you feel it?",
"and go",
"keep that energy",
"don’t lose
the momentum". Very passionate about his teaching, he snapped his
fingers, clapped his hands, twitched his face, gesticulated with
arms and legs to better convey his message, and enthusiastically
demonstrated attitudes and facial expressions.
Our young actors were exhausted at the end of the rehearsal process
but greatly inspired and bubbling with excitement and enthusiasm.
September 3, 2015:
Vincent participated in a press conference announcing the
opening of a new independent British international day and
boarding school in Crans-Montana, Switzerland. The woman in these photos is Laura
Chaplin, granddaughter of Charlie Chaplin.
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