Pierre Niney – Guru: “There is nothing more fun than growing up with a director”

After the triumph of Monte Cristo, he returned to a darker and ambiguous atmosphere with Gourou, a societal thriller that he co-imagined and produced. Fincher,
social networks, technology, imposture… For Première, Pierre Niney is redefining his playing field.

This interview originally appeared in issue 570 of Première. Comments collected by Gaël Golhen and Leonard Haddad.

Premiere: A year and a half after the hyper-success of Count of Monte Cristodo you feel like you are at a major turning point in your career?

Pierre Niney: No. Other questions (he smiles) ? No honestly, that’s the kind of pressure I really don’t want to put on myself. On the other hand, I wanted to come back with something different, yes. Not a historical film, not costumes, not an adaptation, and Gurua project launched well before, was ready at the right time: a contemporary thriller, with a societal anchor, resolutely modern, yes, it was good timing. But tell me “be careful, there is momentum to be confirmed, don’t miss it,“no, I don’t put it in those terms, because that can only inhibit. I’m looking for good stories to tell, stories that I have the feeling I haven’t seen a thousand times before. When I shoot a film with Gondry in his aunt’s house, where we discover every morning what we’re going to do because he himself doesn’t necessarily know, or when I do Monte Cristothese are two very different approaches, but in both cases there is a story that interests me. Or a process. Good stories remain the rare commodity of cinema in general and of French cinema in particular, which is no exception to the rule on this point. We’re trying to bring together the Holy Trinity: a good story, with an interesting role to play in it and a good director.

This is your first production for the cinema, it can’t be trivial.

OK, but it’s also my third film with Yann (Gozlan), and I went to find Wassim Béji to produce it with me, with whom I had already done An ideal man, Yves Saint Laurent, Black box, who knows Yann, who knows how to work with him. So I see it at least as much as a continuity as a turning point, as you say. Afterwards, if I had already co-produced Fiasco for Netflix, this is indeed the first feature-length cinema film, the first in a long series I hope. We already have other projects in the pipeline. I have very different desires, I accompany a YouTuber who I find very talented on a horror film, with elements of comedy, à la Get Out – I’m not sure yet about playing in it… On this level, it’s true that there is a revival.