‘Ronin’ star proves skills on international level

Thursday, October 8, 1998

‘Ronin’ star proves skills on international level

FILM: France’s Jean Reno portrays gritty characters at home, in
United States

By Ric Leyva

The Associated Press

NEW YORK – International film star Jean Reno was international
long before he ever became a film star.

The son of Spanish parents chased out of their homeland by a
fascist dictator, Reno came into the world shortly after World War
II in Casablanca, the celebrated international crossroads
immortalized on screen by Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman.

Young Juan Moreno roamed the exotic urban oasis in North Africa,
speaking in multiple tongues, learning a different language at
home, at school and at the movies, where everything he saw was a
foreign film.

"In those days the cinema for me was John Wayne, Jean Gabin,
Jean-Paul Belmondo, Alain Delon, William Holden, James Dean, Marlon
Brando," Reno says, lounging in a Manhattan hotel suite, sipping
mineral water.

As relaxed as the journey from late summer to fall, the veteran
actor currently watching Robert De Niro’s back in "Ronin" casually
describes his family’s 1960 move to France, which became his
adopted nation.

He looks the part, the classic grizzled Frenchman: oblong face,
close-cropped salt-and-pepper beard and a pair of mournful,
magnetic eyes.

He grew into manhood in France, but couldn’t stay within its
borders even to fulfill his military obligation in the French Army,
training as a commando at a base deep in the heart of Germany.

"Logical, eh? I was always traveling with a bag in my hand,"
Reno chuckles.

Travel remained the norm as an actor. Reno got his start in the
1970s with a traveling theater company that crisscrossed France. He
has gone on to make movies all over Europe and in the United
States, with recent blockbuster credits including "Mission:
Impossible," "Godzilla" and now John Frankenheimer’s
action-thriller, "Ronin."

Dream come true? Not really.

"No, I had no big dreams in my mind," Reno says of his early
aspirations, as he remembers a time when he sometimes performed for
free, supporting himself with day jobs like truck driver,
accountant and photo shop clerk.

"A play, a character, a place, a director, a salary – if it’s
possible," Reno says, chuckling again. "The joy was just to have a
stage and an audience."

Not that he’s complaining about how things turned out. After
winning praise in director Costa Gavras’ 1979 film, "Claire de
Femme," Reno teamed up with director Luc Besson and made several
films with him, including "The Big Blue," "’La Femme Nikita" and
his breakout hit, "The Professional."

He starred in France’s No. 1 box office hit, the 1993 comedy
"Les Visiteurs" and its recent sequel. At the top of his game, Reno
is nevertheless the first to acknowledge that international stardom
didn’t come without supreme sacrifice.

"I divorced. I paid for my success. You have to pay always,"
Reno says, speaking softly. "So, it changed my life, but it’s OK. I
don’t know nobody who doesn’t pay."

Reno’s French accent is undeniably thick, but it fails to impede
clear communication. Still, his agile mind is sometimes victimized
by a clumsy tongue.

Asked to define his greatest challenge performing in English,
Reno says, "To be believable and understable."

He knows it didn’t come out right.

"Understable?" he asks, laughing at himself. "Understandable.
You see, I still have to work."

Without missing a beat, Reno proceeds to get laughs doing his
movie star impersonations: John Wayne ("Howdy, pilgrim"), Elvis
Presley ("Thank you very much") and De Niro ("You talking to me?").
He tells about cracking up his "Ronin" co-star with De Niro’s
famous line from "Taxi Driver."

"He made that little smile he has, you know, and tried to stop,"
Reno says.

Trying to describe his feelings about working with De Niro, Reno
is stymied by more than the language barrier. "Robert," he says
(pronouncing it Row-bear). Then he pauses, momentarily lost for
words.

"Metaphor," he finally says. "In an orchestra, the first violin.
A lot of colors inside the music he’s playing. That’s Robert De
Niro. A little bit of green, do-do-hmmm. A little bit of dark,
bo-bo-hmmm. You see. Easy. That’s him."

He is reminded that fans and critics alike have ascribed a
similar virtuosity and ease to his work, and he laughs off any such
a comparison as joking or incredible flattery.

"I do what I need to do, all that I can do, to furnish the work.
That is all," he says. "I have been lucky, but there is never a
guarantee. I’m older now and it’s always difficult."

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