“I’d want to be a better listener, to the point where even a silence tells me something.”
Fehdi Bendjima
photographed by Nicolas Wagner
styled by Killian Grall
shirt GIVENCHY BY RICCARDO TISCI, pant STYLIST OWN, shoes GIVENCHY BY RICCARDO TISCI, jacket FIVEPOINTSTAR
Which living person do you most admire?
My dad! Over the years, I lived through things that made me understand his dedication, he’s a hard worker, always in movement. I had to become a young adult to really understand this man. His dream isn’t to lie on a beach doing nothing like most people, even his dream has work in it: opening a little pizzeria, doing his shift and going home, haha. I love this guy! But I’m sure he’d be really happy to have both the pizzeria and the beach. My dream would be to offer him that life!
Which words or phrases do you most overuse?
“Everything is perfect, everything is perfect, everything is perfect.” I keep repeating it. I always come back to the fact that it’s perfect just like this, and it helps me put things in perspective. I always try to take the good, even in a “catastrophe”, I tell myself that in the end, everything is perfect. I’ve lived through so many experiences that carried me from one place to another, sometimes passing through sadness or unhappiness, but always leading me to fulfillment and absolute joy.
So yeah! Everything is perfect!
Are you superstitious?
Walking under scaffolding or breaking a mirror doesn’t really get to me, but it’s so ingrained in our customs that when it happens, I crack a little smile. On the other hand, I don’t really like to talk about what I’m doing, if I’m going somewhere, I want people to find out when I’ve already been there for days. Same with a project. I think energies really matter: the moment you tell someone about a project, it starts existing in their reality too, and whether they love you or not, their mind can picture a quantum scenario, a negative one, that could come and influence reality itself. Whereas if I keep it to myself, that scenario points to a single reality. There you go, haha, is that some kind of superstition?
tank top TUCCO, belt HUMANITAS, shorts LOUIS GABRIEL NOUCHI, shoes REPETTO
If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
I’d want to be a better listener, to the point where even a silence tells me something. My intuition helps me with that: it has guided me well and taught me to listen, in a way, but I mean it in the most literal sense, in my everyday life. And beyond that, knowing how to truly hear another person also happens to be a huge asset for my work. Being able to listen to your partner, to their line, so you can take your time or jump in at exactly the right moment, that’s a game-changer. And I’m working on it!
When in doubt, who do you call first?
There is no doubt anymore.
jacket FIVEPOINTSTAR, pants DICKIES, shoes MARSELL
jacket ÉTUDE STUDIO
What is your idea of happiness?
Wow, there are a lot of scenarios in my head, and the first one is my family’s peace: making them proud of me, making their lives easier, that would make me really, really happy. Even if I know they’re already proud of me, of course, I need to give them more. They deserve more! I also find my happiness lying on a beach in Corsica with the girl I love and a few friends. And being on set…!! That feeling, I can’t even describe it! BEING ON SET. To wake up every morning and live your dream, knowing you’re going to work, that’s the best feeling ever!!
Any rituals before a first day on set?
I absolutely try to find a point of calm within myself. I walk alone, I reconnect with myself, I prepare psychologically for the heightened focus of the coming month, something I’d already started the day they told me I got the role. But the night before is a strange one: there’s stress, excitement, the realization that a dream is coming true, all of that to condense into one body while making sure it doesn’t implode. You know you’re expected. You have to do the job.
On the first day, when I arrive on set, I like to loosen up the atmosphere. I mess around, I laugh with the whole crew, from hair and makeup to the grips, even if I have to play a hard character that demands real concentration, I still give myself that moment of ease. On a set there are so many eyes on you, but by setting up that lightness beforehand, I build a kind of safe place.
I think of Matthew McConaughey in that iconic Wolf of Wall Street scene with Leonardo DiCaprio, the chest-thumping and humming was his own thing. He did it to de-stress, to loosen the atmosphere, to let everyone see him as a little crazy, because once people already take you for a madman, you’re free, you can go all in. That was his safe place. DiCaprio caught him doing it before the take and told him to put it straight into the scene.
Do you know by heart any monologue from an actor you admire?
It’s not from an actor, but from a film that left a mark on me, the one telling the embellished story of Romain Gary’s life, La Promesse de l’aube. It stayed with me; this text holds an enormous place in me because of the sheer weight of its words. It speaks of the infinite, unconditional love we carry for our mothers, and of the bottomless void their loss leaves behind. As Romain Gary wrote:
« Avec l’amour maternel, la vie vous fait à l’aube une promesse qu’elle ne tient jamais. On est obligé ensuite de manger froid jusqu’à la fin de ses jours. Après cela, chaque fois qu’une femme vous prend dans ses bras et vous serre sur son cœur, ce ne sont plus que des condoléances. Des bras adorables se referment autour de votre cou, des lèvres très douces vous parlent d’amour, mais vous êtes au courant : vous êtes passé à la source très tôt et vous avez déjà tout bu. »
shirt and shorts ETUDE STUDIO
When did you know you wanted to be an actor?
When I was little, without even knowing it, and I’ll be forever grateful to her for it, my mother planted a seed in my mind. Every Wednesday, the day new films come out in France, she watered that seed little by little: the seed of this fascinating art that grabbed me by the gut. Every time I settled into my seat, at nine or ten years old, I’d ask myself: but who are these people on screen making me feel such crazy things? I remember the cool air of the theater, the midnight-blue seats, in that giant shopping mall in Lyon. I felt like the world no longer existed, I was there, right here, right now.
But the day this ritual took on a whole other meaning was the first time I went with my father, to watch Super 8, directed by J.J. Abrams. It’s a film about a group of middle-schoolers making their first movie, and then things get insane! The symbolism of that first time at the cinema with my dad, watching a film where guys my own age, I was twelve then, make their movie and end up having to fight a monster… That day, I said it: I want to make movies haha!
What do you value most in your friends?
Their simplicity!! Their respect, their sincere love, with only one thing at stake: that he or she makes me want to laugh, dance, talk, nothing else, nothing more. I think that in friendship, in love, there still has to be something instinctive. It has to come naturally; it’s not a business, not a contract! There’s supposed to be an understanding between hearts, something instinctive that leads to a kind of fullness, a serenity, in the company of the people you love.
Simplicity!
