Body-swap stories are always a challenge, just based on the fantastical premise itself, and Léa Seydoux knew that, heading into “The Unknown.”
The actress shared with TheWrap during our TIFF interview and portrait studio that it would be “impossible to embody” her character fully, but even so, she didn’t want the film to be a “performance.”
Seydoux stars alongside Niels Schneider in the film, written and directed by Arthur Harari. It centers on David (Schneider), a photographer who takes a mysterious pill at a party, hooks up with a woman he vaguely recognizes (Seydoux), and then wakes up in her body. To make matters more confusing, she’s not in his body, but rather, a terrified young woman named Malia (Lilith Grasmug) is.
That meant that Seydoux had to play a man in a woman’s body, but the actress explained alongside her co-star and director that she didn’t overthink trying to tap into Schneider’s mannerisms.
“When I was walking and standing, we wanted something off,” she explained. “So that’s why I have this way of walking that is a bit clumsy. But I didn’t really try to impersonate Nils. Not really. Because I was not looking for — I didn’t want this to be like a performance, you know?”
“I didn’t. I just wanted it to be more incarnated and embodied in a way,” Seydoux continued. “You know, it’s not something — even like in films when I watch, it’s true, most of actors, they love to be performative in a way. But it’s not really what I’m looking for. I’m looking for things to be, yeah, incarnated in a way that is maybe a bit more. I’m looking for truth, which is like a bit abstract to say that, but I’m always looking for something that will provoke a physical emotion.”
“It was like an experimentation, like a lab,” Schneider added.
