Over two years, French actor Tahar Rahim completely changed his identity, living in a pair of very different characters, the iconic French-Eminian liar Charles Aznavour and Amine, a man who devoured drug addiction who died of a mysterious disease.

The latter's performance is the power behind Julia Ducournau's allegorical drama Alpha, which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival on Monday night and received an 11-minute standing ovation.

Rahim's career exploded for 16 years in Jacques Audiard's Cannes Film Festival thriller Aaaaaa the serpent'. But in "alpha", he went to the extreme, losing 20 kilograms (44 pounds) in that respect so that he could emotionally and physically connect with the character Amine on the screen as well as the body of his body.

"Julia didn't ask me to go that far, but she needed authenticity." Rahim starred alongside Iranian actor Golshifteh Farahani and emerging talent Melissa Boros. "When I took on this role, I knew that in order to make it really organic, it was necessary to go through this physical process." His belief was astonishing as he sat in the poolside bar of the majestic hotel, hours after his first interview discussing the film.

It took him three and a half months to lose weight, during which he found the power to promote "Mr. Asanavo", a biopic of Mehdi Idir and Malade. Aznavour's role, asking him to learn how to sing, speak, and move completely differently, eventually earned him a nomination for Best Actor for Cesar this year. Like "Alpha", the film was produced by Eric and Nicolas Altmayer and Jean-Rachid Kallouche, and also became one of the biggest local hits in 2024, with 2 million tickets sold.

Making "Alpha" the most spiritual experience of his career while playing Aznavour's challenge for Rahim. He said: “When you enter this state of deprivation, it takes you to a place, it is a spiritual dimension of your connection, for me it is connected to God because I am a believer and I am a creative.”

The film was shot in a fictional city, and it was shot in Le Havre, which allowed him to keep the character - it was hard to have a relationship with his four children and wife, actor Leila Bekhti in Paris. He said: "I have a room facing the ocean, I have never felt the elements so strongly, I have never felt the wind and water in front of me so strongly. Everything is clearer and more eye-catching."

Becoming amine led him to develop a form of addiction and a ritual that appeared on him in the form of pistachios and cherry tomatoes. “My diet is very strict, but I was allowed to eat cherry tomatoes and pistachios at certain times at night,” he said. “When I found myself not having the remaining one or two times, I rode the town at night to fix my restoration.”

When asked if he had ever considered relying on AI or post-production tools to find parts instead of causing his own ordeal, Rahim was absolutely: “In a million years.

The actor also volunteered to join a association called Gaia, which helps marginalized people, including those suffering from addition. The actor said he was directed by two men who explained the feelings caused by drugs and allowed him to observe them in the "ritual". "I was able to observe them, pick up things instantly, express, a way of speaking, a way of moving and everything. All of this builds that part of the character," Rahim explained, "You then have to immerse yourself in the directing world to bring the feelings and emotions of this movie that allow you to wander, come back and invent things."

Just as he was struck by Ducournau's compassion and his character of amine, and Amine's character emanated from the script of "Alpha", he was moved by Gaia's work. "It provides these vulnerable people with a place to be heard, to be there because they are obviously ghosts on the streets, they are sick and no one wants to end there."

When they started shooting the film, he almost immediately established a deep connection with Ducournau. "It's never happened before," he said. "There was something magical on the first day. The first day of shooting, the first sequence, the first shot." "I think you only met the director on the first day of shooting."

He continued: “It’s very rare to work relationships like this, and when it happens, it does give you wings.”

He said the script for "Alpha" forced him because "it's a family story," but "a type of movie code with some visual range." They were Julia's code, which is recognizable from her other works, and that's what makes her such a great filmmaker," he said.

But Rahim said that amine is not just an addict, he is "a fallen angel with wings cut off." However, he "still has a mission" and for the actor, it's about freeing Alpha, who is the teenager in the second half of the film. "They released each other, and Alpha's mother, who rode his bike for inward, fear and sadness, gradually learned how to let go - it has many layers."

Ducournau and Rahim found that they were similar in more than one way, including in the way they handle their work. "Like her, I was almost obsessed with work," Rahim admitted, and the other thing about them was "the way she approached her movies. There was really something physical and physical. I needed to go through the body to get into the head."

Rahim considers new Hollywood idols from the 1960s and 1970s, such as Robert De Niro, Dustin Hoffman, Al Pacino, Gene Hackman and Marlon Brando, as well as British actor Daniel Day Lewis, to inspire him to become an actor and continue to have an impact on him. His passion for American films has made him one of the rare French actors who have been leading a truly international career from the very beginning, working with foreign directors such as Ang Lee, Asghar Farhadi, Damien Chazelle and Kevin MacDonald. His role in "Mauritanian" earned him nominations for BAFTA and Golden Globes, as well as other key nods for 2021. A year later, he received his second Golden Globe nomination in "The Snake".

The actor, currently directed by Welsh "Spy" screenwriter Matt Charman, is currently filming "Prisoner", said he often works in the United States and the United Kingdom, teaching him to work differently "because it's not the same culture, it's not the same budget, it's not the same theology," he said.

He said he had realized that he could "get into my role soon." He thinks the "shooting series" is "very growing, because you don't have time, so it's rarely needed, you have to move quickly." Then, his favorite thing on the scene is what he calls "freestyle."

"Once the director is happy with his income, once we explore everything and it works in various ways, then I can let go of everything and let's try it out," he said. "It not only makes me come up with a new perspective, but it also makes me return to the essence of my career, which is fun because it's fun for adults. I'm a big kid."

After the "Prisoner", Raheem will play Javert in Fred Cavayé's adaptation of Les Miserables, starring Vincent Lindon, who will play Jean Valjean. The actor said his film will have elements of a thriller that explores the confrontation between Javert and Valjean while appropriately adapting to "Les Miserables." "The seeds grown in the novel are sometimes underestimated, and we can plant different flowers in a sense," he said.

"I always need to talk to the director like Julia or Fred, because the cool thing about the script is that this is the first form of the movie," he said. "It's destined to be enhanced on the screen, so it's still alive, it's still moving, we can keep improving it, or bringing it different colors, different textures in the process."