The Butterfly Collector by Adam Dickson: A man's view on life and relationships

I really enjoyed reading The Butterfly Collector, the story of Peter Calliet, a man at the edge of a crisis, angry with a life he feels he's got no control over. 

He has it all, a prolific property development business, money and a perfect girlfriend who is planning their perfect wedding and a very settled and organized life to follow. But that's not what he wants. 

So when he encounters the mysterious and reluctant Natalie, he takes on the challenge to seduce her, risking all in the process. 

Peter is not necessarily likeable but he has a lot to deal with, including a demanding teenage daughter and the death of a friend years before still hunting him. 

But ultimately he, like all of us, is just in search of happiness, at the risk of hurting other people. 

The Butterfly Collector depicts an honest and realistic view on life in general and relationships in particular from a man's perspective.

The Butterfly Collector is available to buy on Amazon in Kindle or paperback version. 

 Laurent C. is a UK based French actor and translator
Contact: 07708362408  

contact@franglais-moi.co.uk

My review of Ride! by BAFTA winner John Foster

I went to see Ride! by BAFTA winner John Foster at the Lighthouse in Poole, Dorset last week-end. I was really looking forward to watching the final play and see how it had developed since I’d read an early 20min version for John in one of our Doppelganger Dialogues.

When I read it, although I am the completely wrong person for the part, I really connected with the character and felt his pain all the way through from the early surprise and denial to the real fear from the realisation that there can be only one outcome to that story.

The script has now evolved into a full length play delivered with masterclass as a virtual one hander by Shaquille John in a wonderful performance where he delivers through his spoken thoughts and convoluted body moves all the emotions he is going through. He also speaks his tormentors’ words managing to smoothly switch from one character to another, finding truth in ever characterisation.

The subject matter is as relevant as ever with the growing open racism trends brought by the likes of Brexit here and Trump’s election in the US making it acceptable to engage with such backwards and short-sighted thoughts and behaviours embraced by nationalism.

Although Shaquille John is the one shining here for his outstanding performance, huge credit must be given to John Foster for a very relevant, thoughtful and intelligent script tackling a difficult subject matter, the abduction and murder of a black delivery guy by members of the Ku Klux Klan only 20 years ago!, Charmaine K Parkin for a very original direction and use of recordings of the Shaquille’s delivery of some parts of the script, managing to break the performance in scenes without any actual breaks or the actor ever leaving the stage, and finally Ben Waller for the additional sound effects and music giving the show a very authentic Deep south atmosphere. And finally producer Junior Jones for bringing this masterpiece to the stage.

The standing ovation at the end said it all!

 Laurent C. is a UK based French actor and translator
Contact: 07708362408  

contact@franglais-moi.co.uk

An interview with Laurent C. Lucas

Q: How did you get started as an actor?

Laurent C. :  I developed an interest in doing impressions at an early age and was quite good at making people laugh impersonating personalities. I auditioned to get in Neils Arestrup’s acting school, the ‘Theatre-Ecole du Passage’ in Paris and got the opportunity to work with renowned stage directors such as Olivier Py at the Theatre Granit in Belfort in particular. 

Q: What kind of roles are you best at playing?

Laurent C. : I definitely favour ambiguous, antagonist characters as I can play nasty but charming at the same time, with a bit of French Je Ne Sais Quoi! Being fluent in English, and a Native French speaker, I enjoy the ability to combine both.

Q: What has been your big moment so far as an actor?

Laurent C. :  I have to say shooting The Time of Their Lives, a feature film by Oscar nominated writer/director Roger Goldby, with Golden Globe-winner Dame Joan Collins, BAFTA-winner Pauline Collins, and Italian heartthrob Franco Nero, the original Django. Set partly in England and France, I play a French detective involved in the enquiry after dramatic events take place in France. 

Q: Is there a director that you particularly admire and that you would like to work with?

Laurent C. :  It would have been John Cassavetes. He was able to get the best raw emotions out of his actors and to depict life on film like nobody else, refusing to compromise to please the big studios.  

Q: Do you have a wish list of directors you’d like to work with?

Laurent C. : To name but a few, and starting with France, Luc Besson, Jean-Jacques Beineix, Jacques Audiard, Quentin Tarantino, Sam Mendes, Martin Scorsese, the Cohen Brothers, Francis Coppola and Paul Haggis. There’s a mix of genres and Indie and big budget films, but I think the connection is that they all developed stories around tormented, ambiguous, antagonist characters.

Q: What is your background?

Laurent C. : I grew up in the 70s and 80s watching American series on TV, such as Wild Wild West, Magnum PI, and Columbo in particular where I admired the way Peter Falk impersonated the character. I later watched him in Wim Wenders’ Wings of Desire, and it’s through his work that I discovered Cassavetes.

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Aside of acting, I have two other passions: Pink Floyd and Ferrari

I have never had the chance to watch Pink Floyd live before or after Roger Waters left, but I have had the privilege over the last few years to watch the new rendition of The Wall by Roger Waters at the O2 in London, and more recently, watch David Gilmour at the Royal Albert Hall, again in London. It felt like such a privilege to be able to listen and watch them perform live. Both concert were equally amazing, in two radically opposite ways. The Wall was a full on show on a grand scale (the 100 foot long wall made up of 242 individual bricks, doubles up as a background screen where top of the art imagery is being displayed, in a massive 20,000 seats venue). In opposition, David Gilmour's performance, although including some laser show and projections on the compulsory disc shaped screen, was mostly a lean, down to basics concert, a band of musicians playing their favourite music for the delight of hundreds of fans in a relatively small but very pleasing to the eyes and ears venue.  I've now heard that the remaining members of Pink Floyd David Gilmour, Roger Waters and Nick Mason are going to reunite for a North American tour. I only hope that they will manage to pocket their (strong!) differences long enough for the tour to finish first, and more importantly to prolong it and take it to Europe! Probably just a dream considering the latest exchanges between Waters and Gilmour over press interviews about playing Pink Floyd songs during the tour... 

But the mention of Nick Mason brings me nicely to my second passion: FERRARI! Definitely a dream to most apart from the few privileged who can afford to pay the high purchase price and subsequent running cost of a supercar. But this week, the dream came true, albeit just for a few days, for I was the temporary keeper of a Ferrari California! It was parked on my drive when not on the road, and used as my get around car the rest of the time. And what a pleasure it was! For such a powerful car the throttle was very gradual and the acceleration in low revs very smooth, making it very easy to drive around town. But shift the gears down using the steering wheel paddles, and the acceleration is phenomenal, letting the adrenaline kick in without delays. I'm not a car reviewer so will not try to give you a full review of this wonderful car, just that the driving position close to the ground, the bucket leather seats, the sport steering wheel, the roar of the engine and the big bonnet puts you straight away in the right mood, and make the car fit around you like a very comfortable leather glove that you don’t want to take off again, ever! Box ticked on my bucket list? Well yes, but no at the same time, as such was the pleasure of ‘owning’ this wonderful Ferrari for a few days, that I now only want to relive the experience again, and again, and again…

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When doubt comes knocking at the door...

Trying to succeed as an actor is, at best of times, a very bumpy roller-coaster ride with many more lows than highs. Trying to do it whilst mourning the loss of a loved one, your wife, mother of your kids and overall best friend, is emotionally draining. Adding to the equation, a return to your normal day job after a 12 months break to care for the loved one you have now lost, can be a direct path to depression. 2016 has brought all of that to my life and I have to admit that I’m sometimes struggling to find the drive necessary to pursue my dream. My wife wasn’t rich, so she hasn’t left me a huge inheritance I and our kids can now live on, whilst enjoying ourselves doing what we like (that would be acting and driving round in a Ferrari for me), and since only 5% of actors on average make a living good enough to support their families (admittedly the earnings of the top 1% could probably provide the remaining 95% with a decent living if it was spread evenly), I’ve got to have a day job as well as trying to have an acting career. That takes time and dedication, especially when returning after a long break, and you have to find your marks again. I’ve had some good successes in 2016 though, the main one was being cast in BBC and ITV regular, and Oscar nominee Writer/Director’s Roger Goldby’s latest feature film ‘The Time Of Their Lives’, starring none other than Dame Joan Collins (of Dynasty’s fame of course), Pauline Collins (Oscar nominated for Shirley Valentine) and Franco Nero (the original Django, before Tarantino unchained him). I appear in two scenes, directly opposite Pauline Collins, where we have civilised but intense exchanges, and as far as I know they both made it to the final cut. It will be on general release in the UK on the 3^rd of March 2017. I couldn’t be more pleased about that. Earlier in the year I took the lead in a short film, which I consider being probably one of my best performances so far (apart from TOTL of course, but I have yet to see it …). I am also due to appear in about 6 projects in the next 6 to 8 months. All that is very good, but on the other hand, I’ve been trying to break into TV and find a London agent in order to further my career on the back of my casting in a major feature film. But that proves difficult, and every rejection drags you down, and at a time when you’re already very low, it can be quite depressing. Then you watch a good drama like National Treasure, and watch an amazing performance by Andrea Riseborough, and you think ‘She’s soooo good…, it’s depressing, I’ll never be that good’. And that’s when doubt starts kicking in. Is there any point? I was asked to read a monologue last week after meeting the writer. The first time I studied it and recorded myself reading it, I thought ‘Well that’s shit!’. But then I worked on it, and on the night it went well, and got good feedback. To be fair, I’m not my best critic. I rarely like watching myself. And when other people tell me I’m good, I’m pleased and try to just believe it, but then think ‘Are they just being nice?’ Obviously having been cast by a top London agency, for a renowned Director to play alongside stars should be enough to reassure me, but it’s not. I think the problem is that it can be such a slow industry at times, you have too much time to think and unfortunately it’s usually spent dwelling on negative thoughts, because as I said when I started, the lows are much more frequent than the highs. I filmed a short film last week-end, shooting another this week-end, due to read a lead part in a Feature film table read in a few weeks, and have at least 2 projects lined-up for 2017 already (one medium length film and one feature film). I’ve just been contacted to see if I would be interested in taking part in a French version of the Tempest next summer, and I’ve started writing scripts, one of which was read last week in a workshop and got good feedback. Oh, yes, and I’m self-taping tomorrow to take part in a well-known period British TV series. Looking at it like that, it doesn’t look too bad, and it’s definitely moving in the right direction. I just have to stay positive and re-read these last few lines when Doubt is knocking at the door again... Obviously I’m not going to give up! Thanks for reading!

For more information contact:

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