On the occasion of the premature release of Mine de Rien on VOD, the actor Arnaud Ducret agreed to meet us. He who plays the protagonist of Mathias Mlekuz's film, he returned to this touching story that inspired him a lot. During a telephone interview of about fifteen minutes, he returned to what makes the success of this social comedy. Arnaud Ducret is a French actor best known for the television series Parents mode d'emploi, broadcast from 2013 to 2018 on France 2. Thanks to this series in a very short format of 5 minutes, the actor began to chain roles on the big screen. Recently, he starred in Gaston Lagaffe, Les Nouvelles Aventures de Cendrillon, Monsieur Je-sais-tout and Les Profs. With Mathias Mlekuz's Mine de Rien , he finds a deeper role.
What do you think makes this film so charming?
The miners are very attached to their mine. This scenery, this landscape, this mine, that's what brings everyone together. Even now. I have a lot of messages from people who feel very proud. It's very generational. At the bottom of the mine there were tragedies. There are no differences, everyone is in the same boat. That's why they're still very proud of it and that's what makes the charm of the north too.
What attracted you most about this story: the script or your character?
I tell myself that for the moment I am not too wrong in my career. I read a movie, I read the story and then I dig deeper into the character. It's really the story that interests me first. I like the balance of this story and the cast of the other characters. This character immediately filled me, I even appreciated that he was at the bottom of the hole. I told Mathias "he will only smile at the end, when he arrives with his permission to open the park". This is really the highlight for him and that's when we will see him smile. In the film he is closed, he is a spectator of his life for a long time, he will become an actor, but he suffers a lot. He suffers until the moment of ecstasy when it works. And that was where he needed to smile. 
And then the paternal side. He has a big problem with his sons. It's something that touches me enormously. He must earn the love of his children, the respect of his children and respect for life. I liked the whole fight. I like the earthly side. When I see the people I met on the set it reminds me of my family. I come from Rouen there is a very marked side. It speaks to me. The people I met on set were the people from home, it's my uncle, it's all that.
Why did you wait 6 years to make this film?
I wasn't known enough 6 years ago. There have been some small changes in the writing. I accepted 6 years ago, but nobody wanted to edit this film. There was no funding. Why? I do not know. Maybe the rewrite worked. The producer came back with the script. I am now a little better known. I did Parents Manual so all of a sudden guys say "okay we're going to go this time". Probably because I'm more in the trend and they liked the story more. Maybe better written, I don't know.
Is this timeless dimension in the film intentional?
It's intentional, there is a 1980s side, we do not really know when it happens. The director wanted that. That's what he wanted, what he wanted to see.
Do you find this mayor played by Rebecca Finet caricatured?
Caricature… uh… I do not know. I didn't feel that way. It was more the mayor who was at school with the other characters, who made a different layout. When you go to small towns, people talk with local elected officials, it's very different, there is much more proximity. They are very earthy. For me it is not a caricature, on the contrary it is rather true. The characters are all very real. The little granny who takes care of her son with Down syndrome, for me that's life. There are plenty of people like that. I thank Hélène Vincent very much, because she sends back a lot. I would often say, "Thank you because you don't realize all that you are referring to my character." I think she brings a lot to this story. And I was not mistaken given the result.
Where did the idea for this title come from?
Yeah the title is super well found. Originally, six years ago it was Bud Park. Because Bud Park is an American park opened in the 1950s in a former mine by an American (who was called Bud Hurlbut). They wanted to call it Bud Park, but in the rewrite, someone came up with the idea for Mine of Nothing, I don't know who, but I thought it was very cool. 
How does the lockdown influence the film's results?
The start was quite slow. Despite all our promotion and the Public Prize of the Alpes d'Huez. Now that it comes out on VOD it's normal and so much the better. It's a low-budget film but money has been put into it. And then on VOD in full confinement I'm pretty happy. There will be more views. It's an industry so it's important that people find their way around. The producer of this film must find his way around.
Will the film be screened when theaters reopen?
No, no, no, no. I have another movie planned called Divorce Club which is to be released in cinemas. But Mine de Rien will have made its way and now it is up to others to take over when the industry will start again.
So what is the post-confinement period?
My show will resume in October. We have a few small dates in Rouen hoping that it will be open. And then I started rewriting it. We changed the tour and some dates, because at the moment it's complicated. We are in nothingness. And then I have three projects. There is Dupont de Ligonnès who must come out on M6 very quickly I hope. There is also Why I Live, a TV movie about Grégory Lemarchal. And then Tender and Bleeding by Christopher Thompson in which I have the main role with Géraldine Pailhas. And then other things. There is Divorce Club which is ready and which I hope will arrive as soon as possible. And other films I'm going to shoot. Check out the trailer of Mine de Rien and our review here.
Mine de rien (Arnaud Ducret) – Trailer
https://youtu.be/MWR8RVSS-DM
