The Big Picture

Vincent Cassel was drawn to the role of Athos in The Three Musketeers because of the character’s complexity and tragic nature. The second part of The Three Musketeers is even better than the first, according to Cassel. Director Martin Bourboulon’s one-take approach to action sequences in both Three Musketeers films created a sense of adrenaline and realism for the actors.

Vincent Cassel has a face you almost certainly recognize if you’re a lover of film and television. While the actor first began his career starring in films in his native France, he later achieved recognition for his roles in several prominent English-speaking titles, including Elizabeth, Eastern Promises, Black Swan, and the HBO series Westworld. While he’s inhabited many characters from various points in history throughout his filmography, the role of Athos in Martin Bourboulon’s two-part epic The Three Musketeers (based on the Alexander Dumas novel) has deep personal meaning. His father, Jean-Pierre Cassel, played the role of King Louis XIII in Richard Lester’s 1973 film adaptation, and Cassel’s brief time visiting the set clearly paved the way for him to take up the mantle of one of the king’s oldest musketeers in the newest retelling of Dumas’ story.

François Civil plays D’Artagnan, the wide-eyed young man who has aspirations of becoming a member of the King’s (Louis Garrel) Musketeers, only to get swept up in a grander adventure than he ever could have imagined. Along the way, he finds himself in the company of the Three Musketeers themselves — Athos (Cassel), Aramis (Romain Duris), and Porthos (Pio Marmaï) — and harbors the potential of new love with the beautiful Constance (Lyna Khoudri). But betrayal and intrigue also lie just around the corner, and it is within these shadows that Cardinal Richelieu (Éric Ruf) and his most loyal lieutenant Milady (Green) plot their biggest treachery yet.

On the day of The Three Musketeers: D’Artagnan’s U.S. theatrical release (with the second part, Milady, slated for release at a date yet to be announced), Collider was given the opportunity to speak to some of the stars of the film, including Cassel. Over the course of the interview, which you can read below, the actor behind Athos discusses the draw of this particular role at this point in his career, the unique circumstances for the Musketeers’ first meeting before filming, and how Bourboulon’s one-take approach to action sequences changed everything about the experience. He also discusses getting to star as one-half of a romantically linked pair opposite Eva Green after co-starring with her in this year’s Liaison on Apple TV+, why he thinks Part 2 is an even better movie than the first, and more.

The Three Musketeers – Part I: D’Artagnan Release Date April 5, 2023 Director Martin Bourboulon Runtime 121 minutes Writers Matthieu Delaporte , Alexandre de La Patellière , Alexandre Dumas père

Vincent Cassel Was Drawn to Athos as a “Romantic and Tragic” Character
Image via Samuel Goldwyn Films

COLLIDER: You’ve played historical figures as well as fictional characters. Athos, while fictional, is certainly inspired by a real person. What was it about this role, this project in particular, retelling this classic story that we all know and love, that appealed at this stage in your career?

VINCENT CASSEL: So many, many answers to that question. First of all, it’s been 60 motherfucking years since the French did an adaptation of the book from Dumas — which is incredible, because it’s such a French story. So, the Americans, the Brits did it really well, but then again, it was really interesting that suddenly Pathé, in that case, had the balls to put so much money [into doing] a French production of the Musketeers. So that’s one thing, a pretty chauvinistic desire to bring that story home. Then, after COVID, a lot of people didn’t go back to the movies, and so there was this desire to bring people back to the theaters, with big-screen stories that people want to see with all the people around and not just at home.

About the character, Athos, who has been played by Oliver Reed, one of my favorite actors in the past, is such a romantic and tragic character. It felt so meaty that I was really, really glad that [Martin] called me for it. Athos has so many things to deal with. He’s such a complex character — so sad, so cynical in a way, and at the same time, I feel that he’s living in the past because he’s craving redemption that he thinks he will never be able to have. It’s such a strong character. He’s such a strong father figure for D’Artagnan, but at the same time, in front of his one and only love, is so vulnerable. I really like the contrast that this character is able to show throughout the story.

Your talking about Athos as a tragic figure is exactly the sort of thing I wanted to bring up — because those who know the book, those who have seen this story adapted before, know that he is a man who gave his heart and his love to a woman that he ultimately had to give up. Do you feel like there’s anyone, at this point in the story where we meet him, that he even really holds allegiance to — aside from King and country, and maybe his fellow Musketeers?

CASSEL: The first movie is really about presenting all the characters, and there are so many — to present the era, the political context of the story — but then the second movie, you’ll see, is really about resolution. It’s about how the mystery is finally solved and the reasons for all this mess. It’s actually beautiful, and I think that’s why the second movie is better than the first. The general feedback that we have is that the second movie is stronger, which is a good thing, because if it’s the opposite then it’s a problem, as we know. But yes, there is definitely the resolution of Athos in the second part. You’ll see that. I don’t know if we’ll see each other again after that, but if you really like the first one, I think you’ll be very happy to watch the second.

Your character is depicted as having an injury to his hand, although it doesn’t seem to really keep him from being an adept swordsman in any sort of way. Did you have to train to wield swords in both hands to acknowledge that physical limitation, even though it doesn’t seem to stop him?

CASSEL: I did. Well, at first, this thing was supposed to be a little more important, the fact that he was [injured], but then we just realized that it was something that wasn’t important enough. So it’s still a movie, it’s not about reality, and we just said, “Musketeers are not sissies. He won’t show his pain too much.”

The Musketeers All First Met Each Other in Fencing Class

The friendship between Athos, Aramis, and Porthos is something that carries through so many adaptations and retellings. Was there anything that you as a trio did between filming off-set to inform the bonds that we see in the movie?

CASSEL: These things, either they work from the start, or otherwise it’s a lot of work. The good news is that I’ve been really good friends with Romain Duris for years. We met in the ‘90s and we always kept our friendship alive. Pio Marmaï and François Civil were really good friends on their own since I don’t even know when. They’d done a few movies together.

But the truth is that I was super curious about them, about these youngsters coming up, and I could see the qualities that they have, and I think they had the same interest in me and Romain. The first time we actually met was for a fencing class, and the first thing we did [is] we fought with modern fencing, and we had so much fun. By the end of the first day, I knew that it would work. Since then, we became friends. We actually keep on seeing each other quite a lot apart from the movie.

The scope of this project is something you couldn’t possibly contain in just one film, but the proof is in the pudding of how much the budget and everything was really put into making this as epic as it is. Do you remember a particularly intense day or scene during production?

CASSEL: Yes, and it’s actually part of the second movie that you haven’t seen yet. There is a big fight scene, the siege of La Rochelle that we shot in Samoreau — sans cinematic drama, meaning long sequence shots, except that suddenly there were 50 or 60 people involved, fire, horses, buildings collapsing, a lot of things, and we shot at night. It was a week of shooting at night, winter time, and I have to say that that week was kind of hard, but the result is actually insane. Even though we were super tired and really sore the next days, we were really proud of what we did, [and] what we had on camera.

The action, to your point, in this movie is intense, not just in terms of the battles, but how they’re filmed. Your director has talked about how he was inspired by Gladiator, The Duellists, so many of these iconic action movies. How do you feel like his shooting approach to these types of scenes impacted your acting choices?

CASSEL: It really did impact us, because the fact that it’s one-take shots changed everything. Everybody had such a responsibility because, as we know, if somebody messes it up in the middle, then we have to restart it all over again. When there are horses, fire, weapons, a lot of people fighting everywhere, you have to be super focused, and that gives you a sense of adrenaline and a sense of importance in the whole process that is actually unmatchable. Suddenly, it feels like reality almost. Let’s not forget that even though it’s just cinema, you can hurt yourself, or you can hurt somebody all the time. It was pretty tight in terms of how you have to be focused and everything, but super enjoyable, as you can imagine.

Vincent Cassel’s Secret to Comedy Is Never Trying to Be Funny
Image via Samuel Goldwyn Films

There’s action, there’s drama, but there’s actually quite a bit of comedy in this story. One of my favorite parts of the story is still D’Artagnan challenging all three Musketeers to a duel on the same day. In terms of finding those moments of levity, even for the scenes that might have been more emotionally intense, how often were you and the rest of the cast trying to keep spirits up — even during scenes where you have to shoot for a week at night?

CASSEL: Well, the thing is that you never try to be funny. It’s all the situation. I think that’s one of the main secrets to make it work. What’s funny is really the fact that it’s so unconscious and so you have to play it straight and without any will of being light. It’s actually written like that in the book. It’s one of the scenes that really hasn’t changed that much from the original writing.

We were tired and everything, but once again, we were so excited. Projects like that are pretty rare in the French industry, so everybody knew and was conscious of how important it was to make it right. Because once again, when a production company like Pathé and Dimitri Rassam, in that particular case, are taking the risk, you can’t deceive them and you can’t deceive the audience. If a movie like this collapses when it comes out in the theaters, it’s actually a disaster for the whole industry, and we were conscious of that.

One of the scenes I wanted to ask you about was, in a rewatch of the movie, a quieter moment in Part One, which is Athos telling D’Artagnan the story of the Count in front of the fire. People who know the book will know that he’s talking about someone very particular. Why do you think he chooses to disassociate himself from that retelling? Is it because he feels like he’s just not that man anymore?

CASSEL: Maybe there is something like that. But at the same time, I think it’s too painful for him to tell the story to the first person. There’s a French word, la pudeur, it’s something where you have too much dignity to really cry about yourself, so the fact that he’s telling the story of somebody else, it’s a way to hide his own emotion.

Vincent Cassel Never Knows What’s Going to Happen With Eva Green
Image via Pathe

This is not the first project where you and Eva [Green] have played people with a past romantic connection to each other. How do Athos and Milady compare to each other in terms of the relationship on Liaison? What was the exciting part about getting to explore something with a different past tension?

CASSEL: I have such a huge admiration for Eva. I really think she’s one-of-a-kind, and she’s maybe the only actress like that we have in France, so I was super excited to work with her. I’ve tried to get her on other projects in the past and I never could, so when suddenly I realized that I would do a series and then two movies in a row with her, I sent her a message on my Instagram and I said, “Well, finally we’re going to work together.” [Laughs]

I have to say that the result was even higher than my best expectations. She’s fun, she’s instinctive, she’s dangerous, she’s sexy, she’s mysterious. She is all that. She has this quality of the best actresses from the past, and at the same time, she’s totally insane. She’s fearless. We never talk about the scenes, we never talk about cinema, we only make jokes about stupid stuff, and then between action and cut, you never know what’s going to happen with her. What I’ve said in the past, and I still think like that, if I was an actress I would like to be Eva Green.

THE THREE MUSKETEERS – PART I: D’ARTAGNAN is in theaters now.

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