PICTURES. These actors who have embodied political figures on the screen

Nicolas Sarkozy, François Hollande, Jacques Chirac, François Mitterrand, Charles de Gaulle, Nelson Mandela… All these former presidents have in common to have been brought to the screen. From Jean Dujardin to Morgan Freeman via Bernard Le Coq or Lambert Wilson, a look back at these actors who played a president in the cinema.

On June 10, 2021, the general public was able to discover Jean Dujardin made up as Nicolas Sarkozy. Indeed, the actor was chosen to play the former President of the Republic in Anne Fontaine’s film, Presidents. The actor gave the reply to Grégory Gadebois who plays another former president, François Hollande.

Imagine an alliance between the two former presidents. Impossible in reality, but in the cinema, as we know, the impossible becomes possible and as we can read in the synopsis of the film, the two former rivals will help each other. “Nicolas, a former President of the Republic, does not support the end of his political life. Circumstances allow him to hope for a return to the front of the stage. But he needs an ally. Nicolas will therefore go to Corrèze, to convince François, another former President (who is enjoying a happy retirement in the countryside) to team up with him. François gets into the game, while Nicolas discovers that happiness may not be where he believed…” Such is the plot of the film.

In September 2020, Nicolas Sarkozy had himself validated the choice of casting on the Daily set, as our colleagues from Télé Star remind us. He had declared that he considered Jean Dujardin to be a “great actor” before affirming: “Do you want me to tell you what I think? Honestly, to embody myself physically, I prefer Dujardin to Podalydès!”.

Planet invites you to review in image the cinematographic incarnations of the various French and international heads of state.