The actor Jacques Weber assured Friday at the microphone of Philippe Vandel that he liked to recite texts of Victor Hugo in bars. He crossed the cap this summer, on a whim, motivated by his admiration for the French writer.

INTERVIEW

The actor Jacques Weber will be on December 6 to 8, on the Bouffes du Nord stage, in Paris, for Pascal Rambert's piece Architecture . Alongside Emmanuelle Béart, Denis Podalydès and Stanislas Nordey, Jacques Weber interprets the patriarch of a family that is disintegrating as the post-war world deteriorates. The 70-year-old actor was Thursday's guest of Culture médias on Europe 1.

A lyricism that speaks to the general public

If he is in the cast of one of the pieces of Pascal Rambert - the most played French author in the world - Jacques Weber loves the theater above all for the pleasure it gives him, far from rhinestones and sequins. This love of the scene even follows him to the bistro where he likes to declaim verses of Victor Hugo, amidst crowded tables. But what does the theater do at the bistro? "This is extremely important because it removes from their pedestal very great authors," says Jacques Weber. "I noticed that during the elections, all politicians took over Hugo, it is true that there is a very empathic lyricism with the general public at Hugo," he continues.

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Other reasons push him to want to make the writer known to the general public. "He is a multiple man: he is the grandfather, the lover, the seducer, the politician totally committed and he has a sense of the formula absolutely unimaginable," he says, before qualifying the speech on the abolition of the misery of "splendor".

From chic bistro to butchery

This passion for Victor Hugo has led him, on a whim, to push the doors of bistros. "One day I saw a bistro and I thought I'd like to play in it," says Jacques Weber. "I ended up with my sheets, on a square meter, it was packed, with red wine, sausage etc," he describes.

This first experience, which took place this summer, delighted her to the point of continuing these improvised performances. "From that moment, a very nice story was born with this Hugo at the bistro that I carried in chic, very popular pubs, rugby clubs, theaters, small, big. go everywhere! "exclaims Jacques Weber.

The actor claims to have also made several trips to the Parisian butchery of Hugo Desnoyer, nicknamed the "butcher of the stars". "It was great because I was surrounded by oxen, lambs smell meat, life," recalls Jacques Weber.