Paris Match. Christian Clavier as Thénardier, it is rather surprising...   
Christian Clavier. The essence of the comedian is their capacity to move. Therefore, when the opportunity of "Les Misérables" presented itself to me, I immediately seized it!   
P.M. It is the first time that you film for television. Why?   
C.C. Because I estimated that it was necessary to come there for an important project and, until now, no one had proposed a very interesting script to me.   
P.M. The least one can say is that you don't enter there [TV] in a small way.   
C.C. My decision doesn't appear in a career plan. I never made one. Merely, the novel is magnificent and I fell in love with the set, with the team and this new manner of working. What counts, it is to give oneself pleasure and tempt others to share it.   
P.M. What impressions did you gather from this experience?   
C.C. Thanks to the budget and to a prestigious distribution, I had the feeling of being halfway between the movies and the theater. Another big first: the filming in duplicate versions. [There are]ten hours of movie, four times one hour and half in French, and two times two hours in English. I had to act twelve pages of text per day. That's a number of high aerobatics that requires impeccable preparation. At the same time it was exciting and extremely complicated.   
P.M. What was the ambiance on the set?   
C.C. Cordial and enthusiastic. Josée Dayan is very attentive to the actresses and to the actors that she likes indeed.  There was no problem of ego therefore between us.  She placed the rod [standards] very high and reached her goal.   
P.M. The importance of the budget - 165 million francs - does that constitute a supplementary pressure for the actors?   
C.C. On no account. To focus on the budget would have been a mistake. From the moment one tackles "Les Misérables", it is necessary to give oneself the means to succeed. There are many characters, more than 160 different settings, some of which are very spectacular. Josée having chosen a beautiful distribution [the miniseries will be distributed in France, US, Germany, UK, etc.], she decided to make the movie in eighty days. A record time. Unfortunately, I read some commentaries on the filming that said: Depardieu-Clavier return. A movie that is expensive... and they are going to stuff their pockets via the television. Such subjects are not only in total contradiction with our frame of mind, but with the artistic enterprise that this miniseries represents. 
P.M. What of the production in particular? 
C.C.  It's interesting insofar as it is financed strictly by European funds.  It says that in addition to the creativity and the talent, we are capable of bringing together the necessary money, we can be perfectly on par with the Americans. Gérard and John Malkovich are well aware of it.