Eric Cantona has never been backwards at coming centre-forwards and with SWITCH he makes a solid entrance as a moody big-screen big-shot. He stars as Detective Forgeat in this explosive action thriller where '...everyone is a suspect'.
Sophie Malaterre (Karine Vanasse) is fed up, with no work, no friends and no boyfriends on the horizon. When an acquaintance tells her about the holiday house swapping website SWITCH.com, Sophie jumps at the chance to stay in an apartment in Paris. But soon after she arrives, she realises nothing is what it seems. After a murdered man is found in her bedroom, she escapes the police and goes on the run to prove her innocence. It’s up to Detective Forgeat to find Sophie before she, too, turns up dead. But things don’t go to plan and Forgeat finds himself getting in over his head and operating outside of the law in a bid to save Sophie and hunt down the real killer...
IMPACT: This isn't your first venture into cinema, but perhaps it's the most mainstream. What was the attraction of doing films - Switch in particular?
Eric Cantona: It’s to work with the director because I really like his work and also sometimes I like to do action movies, but not only about action – but with a real story and a psychological part and this director can mix this very well.
Playing football requires a lot of stamina - but was it a different kind of regime for shooting an action/thriller film?
EC: I think in whatever you do, you just need to work hard, try many things, take risks and find the confidence to be confident enough to really enjoy what you are doing.
Do you like playing with people's expectations of the different projects you choose to get involved with?
EC: Yes, and I also like to be surprised in different projects, I just need to try and be involved in different things. When I’m involved in cinema and theatre, I use different techniques to express myself. I like to go from cinema to theatre, back and forth etc.
Your Switch character is described as a 'rogue cop'. He's very no-nonsense, but were you able to have fun / lighter moments when the cameras weren't rolling?
EC: I’m not the kind of person where you say “cut” and I’m still in the character. I work hard enough to concentrate when we say action and to finish when we say cut. It depends what we need – we’re all different. Some need to be relaxed etc. What’s most important is to see how we are. I’m back to being Eric Cantona when we say cut.
Are you an 'action' fan when it comes to cinema - what are some of your favourite movies?
EC: I’m not an action fan, usually, I usually like movies with a strong story. Sometimes we have directors whose priorities are the image and lights, for others it’s the story and it’s very rare that we find both of them mixed – that’s why I like it when the story is strong and the image is very strong also.
Switch and De Force are both solid thrillers, will we be seeing more of the 'tough-guy' Cantona on screen in the future - or any other projects?
EC: Those two films are not only about action, we have a bit of action which is enjoyable for people who want to see an action movie, and I like to do other things too. Slow, long and silent movies with strong images.
The film is released by Anchor Bay on 9th April, priced £15.99 (DVD) £19.99 (Blu-ray)
Here's a clip from SWITCH...
