Depardieu Calls His Countrymen Arrogant

Posted: Mar 16 2012

PARIS – French actor Gerard Depardieu, who became famous in the U.S. with his role in the movie ‘Green Card’, has nothing nice to say about his countrymen.

The actor calls the French “arrogant” and “smug”, like Dominique Strauss-Kahn, former head of the International Money Fund, who in 2011 was accused in the United States for allegedly sexually abusing a chambermaid at the Sofietel Hotel in New York.

The 63-year-old actor gave his opinion of the French character as he confirmed in an interview on Swiss television that he would play the disgraced former International Monetary Fund chief in a film.

French actor Gerard Depardieu calls his countrymen 'smug'. Photo Credit: AEP

An apparently inebriated Depardieu said he had accepted the part “because I don’t like him, so I’ll do it … he’s not lovable”.

“I think he is a bit like all French people, a bit arrogant.”

“I don’t like the French too much by the way. He is very French: arrogant, smug, He’s playable.”

“I will do it, because I don’t like him.”

Questioned about Mr Strauss-Kahn’s alleged “sexual urges” after his arrest on charges of trying to rape a New York hotel chambermaid, Mr Depardieu said: “It’s … his general attitude. It’s the way he walks, with one hand in his pocket. We can all have filthy thoughts.”

“But I will not try to inhabit the role of Strauss-Kahn too deeply, as I have never been moved much by people with no dignity.”

Mr Strauss-Kahn was cleared of the rape charges.

He is now being investigated in France over allegations of a connection to a prostitution ring operating from a hotel in Lille.