Lambert Wilson: "Michael Lonsdale was a man of great spirituality"

INTERVIEW

After more than sixty years of career, actor Michael Lonsdale passed away on Monday at the age of 89.

The actor, known worldwide for his role as a villain in the James Bond

or in

, had also triumphed thanks to

, for which he obtained the César for best supporting role in 2011. Lambert Wilson, who plays alongside him in this film directed by Xavier Beauvois, remembers a man who is deeply religious.

"He was a man of great spirituality, of a great sense of religion. I witnessed that during the filming of 

, a film about monks, about men of faith. was very steeped in faith and religion, "said Lambert Wilson, Monday on Europe 1.

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Michael Lonsdale been successful in his life?

Here is what he said on Europe 1 ...

"He had to wait for his reunion with God with great impatience"

“The news [of his death] saddens me and at the same time it makes me happy for him. Michael Lonsdale was a very religious man and I think in a way he had to wait for his reunion or his meeting with God. thinks he was looking forward to that moment. He spent his life in prayer, in meditation, "said Lambert Wilson.

"I had experienced the same thing with Abbé Pierre, who did not understand why he had remained alive for so long when he only wanted to find his creator. I think the same something applies to Michael Lonsdale. I think he was such a believer that, no doubt, he had to expect something of the order of the marvelous when he left. I wish him that. "

"He was more a priest than the priests"

Lambert Wilson also portrayed a "lonely" man, who "liked to live in his corner" but also of a great culture.

"He was an actor too, not just a man of faith. He had intelligence, speed and culture too. He is a man of dual English and French culture, very quick intellectually and very cultured. And he was also extremely funny, "he said.

Lambert Wilson also shared an anecdote from the filming of

in which

the two actors play two of the eight French monks of the monastery of Tibéhirine, assassinated in Algeria in 1996. "We went one Sunday to a religious service in Morocco, in a small village where there were three nuns and an Italian priest who was celebrating the Mass. In fact, he was much more learned about Catholic rites than the people who were our accompanists. He was more priest than the priests, in a way. On the set, he kept saying how to celebrate the Mass, how to place objects when the person advising us had spent eight years in the monastery. He was extremely severe and learned about rites and religion. "