Théodore Pellerin Breaks Down 'Nino' and Rising Career
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- Théodore Pellerin stars as Nino, a young Parisian locked out of his apartment for a weekend after an HPV-related throat cancer diagnosis in Pauline Loquès' debut feature, which the actor frames as 'fundamentally a film about parenthood'
- Director Pauline Loquès, who co-wrote the script after the cancer death of a family member she identifies only as 'Romain,' credits Pellerin with the ability to 'give life to silences' and says he understood the character better than she did
- Pellerin downplayed the film's pivotal masturbation scene, noting he had previously played Karl Lagerfeld's boyfriend Jacques de Bascher in a TV series with an orgy scene, calling the 'Nino' moment 'wasn't really a big deal'
- Pellerin's stock is rising on both sides of the Atlantic, with credits spanning the psychological thriller 'Lurker,' a turn in Ari Aster's 'Beau Is Afraid,' and Tom Ford's 18th-century drama 'Cry to Heaven,' his next project starting in August
- Raised by choreographer Marie and painter Denis Pellerin, the actor debuted at 16 in the school drama '30 Vies' and pivoted to English-language roles after playing Vincent Cassel's younger self in Xavier Dolan's 'It's Only the End of the World'
Why it matters: Pellerin is a rare actor landing leading roles in both French and English just as vulnerability becomes a marketable quality in Hollywood — following Paul Dano's 'weak sauce' defense and Quentin Tarantino's attack on that approach. With Loquès' 'Nino' positioning him as a Cannes-quality leading man and Tom Ford's 'Cry to Heaven' lined up next, the 28-year-old is transitioning from character actor to bilingual star within a single release cycle.
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