Talking with the Electrifying Nahuel Pérez Biscayart of 'BPM'

One of the biggest omissions at this year's Oscars was the exclusion of "BPM (Beats Per Minute)" from award consideration. The French drama, co-written and directed by Robin Campillo ("Eastern Boys"), vividly recreated the experiences of those involved in ACT-UP Paris in the early 1990s right at the moment before the introduction of protease inhibitors that brought a sea change in AIDS treatments. The film's biggest opportunity came when France submitted it as their country's choice for Best Foreign Film, but it didn't even make the short list.

This wasn't the case with the C�sar Awards, the French equivalent of the Oscars, where the film won six awards, including one for Nahuel P�rez Biscayart, who plays Sean, for Best Male Newcomer. (The film also won Best Film and Original Screenplay.) In an electrifying turn, Biscayart plays a twenty-something who faces his mortality with equal amounts of anger, fear, and passion for living. In the story, which director Campillo drew from his own experiences as an ACT-UP activist, Sean becomes involved with Nathan (Arnaud Valois), another ACT-UP member who cares for Sean as the disease takes its toll on his body.

For Biscayart, playing the role was both a physical and emotional journey: over the film's shoot, the already svelte actor lost weight through fasting, weakening himself to capture Sean's debilitating state. EDGE spoke with Biscayart recently from Paris about how he got the role, the effort it took to play it and how he related to the horrific experiences his character went through in the film.

EDGE: You have been doing promotion for the film for nearly a year - since the film premiered at Cannes last May. What has this aspect of the journey been for you?

Nahuel P�rez Biscayart: You're right. After Cannes, everything started. We did a lot of French promotion because it opened here in August. Then we started traveling around the world taking flights every two days. It has been quite insane. Now it is more like an after-party, less intense. Last October-November was terrible and beautiful at the same time. We were traveling everywhere and people liked the film, so we were happy.

EDGE: What was it like working with Robin Campillo?

Nahuel P�rez Biscayart: That was quite an intense adventure. It was beautiful because he chose very inspiring people to work with. It is like when you were a teenager and went on a holiday together with your friends. We worked a lot and played a lot - no one had any privilege. We were sharing the same space. I think this helped create that ACT-UP energy. I think that Robin was very smart to choose very intelligent and people that came from different backgrounds, as it was with ACT-UP. Everyone was coming from different places but was brought together, of course, by AIDS. And Robin, who was an activist, was always very generous and spoke a lot about that time. He was very open. And he never asked us to recreate a period of time. Instead, he wanted us to channel the electricity of that time -- the energy that those people had -- without any burden. Two generations meeting. Our generation and their generation.

EDGE: Robin lived through that time, you did not. What kind of research did you do to get in touch with the period?

Nahuel P�rez Biscayart: Well, we watched a lot of documentaries, and we had access to all the French television archive so we could see the television news at that time when ACT-UP was carrying out actions, as they called them, and would be on the news. We read a book by Didier Lestrade, the first president and co-founder of ACT-UP Paris that explained everything in political terms. And then we talked a lot with Robin to gain an understanding of the urgency that those people we had. Philippe Mangeot, the co-writer, was very clever and he gave us a lecture one day - a very long conversation - and he told us every single detail of what it was like living through that time: how it was to bury a friend, how rigid a corpse becomes when you die - all those details that even if you read a lot of things from that period you never get to feel. After that long conversation, everyone understood the urgency that those people were going through. That was really enough for us to connect to each other in this sort-of crazy family daring to everything.

EDGE: In the film Sean is the most driven of those with AIDS. Is Sean's desperation to survive what made him so politically motivated?

Nahuel P�rez Biscayart: I think that most people don't understand at first that Sean is the sickest one. None of the treatments works for him, so he sees death approaching much faster than maybe other people. So that's why he's always standing up or throwing some tantrum to make people wake up. I think it is proportional - his state of health and the urgency of his fight are intimately related. That is why when we speak of making politics and showing or telling intimacy, they are very closely related. What is admirable about those people is that they could do politics with their intimacy. I think that is very brave.

EDGE: Physically you went through quite a bit. Was the film shot consecutively? Did you lose a lot of weight in the process?

Nahuel P�rez Biscayart: Yeah. 15 pounds. What was it like? It was very harsh. It was terrible. I didn't have the time they had in "Dallas Buyers Club." I was shooting the film and losing weight. Within 15-20 days I lost 14 pounds. It was awful. I was feeling so bad, so weak. I would go to bed after drinking a little soup, then would wake in the morning and be crawling on the ground. It was not great, but looking backward, of course, it helped the film because I was becoming weaker as the character was. And during this period I also got further and further away from the other actors. I couldn't enjoy meals with them, so it was like reality and fiction began to meet with each other. I just wanted the shooting the end. But when the shooting was done, I didn't feel any emotional backlash. Everything was okay.

EDGE: What is it like re-experiencing the film over and over again through interviews?

Nahuel P�rez Biscayart: Listen, it is something you learn to do. It is a different activity. When a film works, it is always like that. You get a lot of attention; you get a lot of questions. Emotionally it is a very happy experience to talk about the film because we all like it and are all very proud of it. But then, of course, you can't always be inspired when you answer questions because many questions are often the same.

EDGE: Speaking of that, I am sure you have been asked this a million times - you have great chemistry with Arnaud Valois who plays Nathan. How did that happen?

Nahuel P�rez Biscayart: I am not sure because it is not really something you can force. We auditioned for the characters twice together, then we saw each other again a third time. The good thing about auditioning for Robin is that is not only judging you as an actor but is trying to produce encounters between the actors and actresses that might play in the film. From the very first days, we were not only doing scenes, we were talking a lot about the time when the film takes place and trying to find a way in which we would click and make a connection. But those connections can't be forced. Some things exist or they don't. In this case, it was great. Even physically, it was there. And it is not he was a close friend. But there was something dramatically speaking that really worked. It was beautiful. He was very easy to work with and I think that both of us were very inspiring for each other. So it was very organic, I would say. I think Robin did a great, great job when he was casting the film.

EDGE: Have you heard from any of the ACT-UP Paris survivors or people that lived through the experience?

Nahuel P�rez Biscayart: We get some messages on social media. And, of course, people from ACT-UP that came for the premiere. And then you go to the post office and you talk to a guy who lived through that time. Maybe they weren't in ACT-UP but were aware. But I think that the film, even though it is very vital and beautiful to watch, is very heavy for people who lived through the experiences. At the same time, it is very weird because even though you are putting your body and soul into the story, you don't know how bad it was, how hard it was for those that lived through it. There is always a distance between people that lived that and between you. Sometimes you are embarrassed because you have put yourself there on set and recreate and embody something that was way more harsh than what you can recreate. So there's always this distance between people that really lived at that time and yourself as an actor.

EDGE: You're from Argentina. Why did you relocate to Paris to live?

Nahuel P�rez Biscayart: I didn't. I am just spending time where because of the film and promotion. And now we have the award season coming up. Otherwise, I have projects in Argentina and Mexico and other countries.

EDGE: Growing up in Argentina, did you know anything about ACT-UP?

Nahuel P�rez Biscayart: No. I didn't know anything because I grew up in Argentina until I was 21 or 22, then I moved to New York for a year, then moved to Paris to work, so everything was a mystery to me. Of course, I knew about the little pink triangle that I have seen in archives, but I had no clue that it had been that big of a thing. People say that generation was amazing, but wait, it wasn't everybody. It was just a small number of young people that wanted to fight. It. Of course in France, everyone knew of the pink condom on the obelisk, but in Argentina? I had no clue. There were some organizations that existed at that time, but they were not as symbolic or active as ACT-UP was.

EDGE: How did acting happen for you?

Nahuel P�rez Biscayart: In a weird way. Because I went to a high school that was very depressing, very grey, very structured. I chose the high school, but it was a mistake because I thought I was going to create things, invent things; instead, it was just a very technical school that was just trying to make young people become more suitable for the market. But at that high school, there was a little theater workshop on Fridays and I enrolled. I went and spent the most beautiful moments in those three years. It was more of a survival thing. I went to play because I needed to be in touch with human beings. And then I changed school and continued studying and playing in another workshop. My family was very supportive. And then one day, an audition came and I got the role, the part. And then you know how it is, once you show what you do, it is public. People see your work and they call you. And then I was 16-17, and I started making films, performing in plays and television series non-stop.

EDGE: And you moved to New York City when you were 21?

Nahuel P�rez Biscayart: Because I won a grant with the Wooster Group called Mentor and Protege given by Rolex, the watch brand, and I got to spend time with the Wooster Group. It was sort-of a scholarship, but it was very free.

EDGE: And you speak four languages?

Nahuel P�rez Biscayart: I can play in many languages, but really don't speak them all. Spanish, of course, French, English, and then I play in German, Italian, Portuguese and Chinese.

EDGE: When you don't know the language, do you learn the role phonetically?

Nahuel P�rez Biscayart: Once you understand five languages, it is easier to understand the logic of the language. Of course, it is hard work because, on top of playing, you have to train your tongue to do certain movements you are not used to doing. When I played in German I had to start four months or so before the shooting, I had to understand the structure of the language because you need to understand where the stress is put in speaking it. It is just a phonetically task you have to achieve. But it is great because once you play in a language; you can learn that language and understand very practical things like grammar and vocabulary. So I am happy that I played in French before learning French, and that I played in German before I learned German. It is fun. Actually, I think that we should when we want to learn a language, we should play in that language. Putting out sounds and pretend that we know that language, then learn the technicality of it.

EDGE: What is next for you?

Nahuel P�rez Biscayart: Reading a lot of scripts right now, but I am not really great at project chaining. I prefer to wait to see if something interesting appears. Nothing to really share right now.

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