Why did you cast Johnny Hallyday in the role of the bank robber Milan?
Whenever you work with major actors like Johnny Hallyday and Jean Rochefort, and whenever you write a film for them specifically, of course you benefit from their own image. And you save time. When you see, at the beginning, Johnny Hallyday stepping off the train with that look and that bag, there’s no need to give the audience lots of information about Milan. You immediately know about him as soon as you see him. Critics have said that “L’Homme du Train” feels like a western… It’s strange – people mention this western reference a lot, but it wasn’t purposefully created. It was totally involuntary. I am not a fan of westerns particularly. But on the other hand, when I first saw Johnny Hallyday’s silhouette stepping out of the train in that deserted railway station, I said to myself, “This looks like a western setting”. That western flavour remains and floats all the way through the movie, but in the end I was not that happy – because it’s a western without movement. Do you dream, lik
