Guillaume Campanacci was born and raised in Cannes, France. Shortly after obtaining his Masters in Industrial and Mechanical engineering, at the prestigious engineer school “Arts et Metiers”, Guillaume traveled the world as a model: Athens, Paris, Singapore, Hong Kong, Barcelona, Buenos Aires, Miami, New York, yet modeling wasn’t fulfilling his life. A cinema lover, he started to devote his time to his true passions: writing, directing and acting. He studied Meisner technique at the William Esper Studio in New York.
As a director, his first feature film: “Devils in Disguise” (Shot in LA) has been viewed 27 million times, and premiered at the Chinese Theater in Hollywood. His second feature, “Whenever I’m Alone With You” (Shot in Cannes) had its World Premiere at the prestigious Oldenburg International Film Festival with two sold out screenings. It won 25 Awards worldwide. As an actor, Guillaume worked with David Fincher, David Lynch, Emmanuel Lubezki, Jane Fonda, Eva Longoria, etc… David Lynch told him: “Guillaume, you are a great actor”.
His influences go from Jean-Luc Godard, to Gaspar Noe, Takeshi Kitano, Henri Georges Clouzot, René Clement, Federico Fellini, Stanley Kubrick, Francis Ford Copolla, Claude Lelouch, etc…
The influence of all things film, obviously including the French New Wave, drips through every conversation, line, image – how do you nod to all of this whilst maintaining the integrity of the story and your own filmmaking style?
It wasn’t just a nod to cinema and in particular the French New Wave. It is a real desire to explore what Cinema can be or become. Nothing in the film follows any rules. Not just the story, but also the editing, the color correction, the music can stop any second, the sound has a life of its own. It mixes improvisation and written scenes. We all play our own roles. My whole family is in the film, including my 98 years old grandma. And people seem to enjoy my vision as the film already won 25 awards worldwide!
The cinematography goes beyond lush, obviously aided by your stunning setting. How did you achieve the look you want which goes beyond the naturalism of a French New Wave?
Well, Cannes, and the South of France in general are just gorgeous to look at. You can’t go wrong by shooting there. Nicolas Devienne, the DP, made it even more beautiful. The film sometimes looks like a documentary when my family is on screen, a very naturalistic look. Then it takes to a completely different aesthetic, like magical realism.
The film is brimming with colour saturation, different angles and POV’s, polished and rehearsed moments vs. more observational cinema – the edit and post production process must have been monumental.
It took years, sweat and tears.
Any plans to shoot a film in Asia?
One of my next project is SPOILED, a feature film about my fucked up life as a model in Asia.
Here is the synopsis:
An unnamed Model based in Asia is part of an international circle of young hedonists who live like latter-day Borgias, taking advantage of every cheap thrill the city has to offer. Some, including Model, supplement their income as hustlers or underground cage fighters, though he alone shows signs of empathy for the similarly exploited natives. One in particular, a reluctant prostitute, catches his eye, and after realizing that his reckless behavior may have doomed him to an early death, he decides to save the girl and, hopefully, something of himself, even if it results in a bloodbath.
We are looking at different countries to shoot it, maybe Thailand or Vietnam or Indonesia. I used to live in Hong Kong and Singapore as a model and then I wrote the film while being in Japan, Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia.
I never had a chance to visit your beautiful country but I will soon. Kinosuite will be the Asian Premiere of “Whenever I’m Alone With You”.
