Mickael Lumière plays Grégory Lemarchal in "Why I live", a biopic broadcast Monday evening on TF1.
On Europe 1, accompanied by the father of the singer who died in 2007 of cystic fibrosis, the actor tells how he prepared his role, in order to best stick to the personality of the winner of the Star Academy in 2004.
It is a highly anticipated biopic that TF1 airs on Monday evening.
Why I Live
tells the story and the journey of Grégory Lemarchal, winner of the Star Academy in 2004 when he was suffering from cystic fibrosis.
The death of the singer in 2007 had created a strong emotion.
It is Mickaël Lumière who plays Grégory Lemarchal in this TV movie produced with the blessing of the parents of the young man who died at 23 years old.
The actor, accompanied by Pierre Lemarchal, the father, came to tell Monday in Culture Médias, on Europe 1, how he prepared this necessarily particular role.
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"I did not know this disease, I did not suspect that it took so long", admits Mickaël Lumière.
"I met people with cystic fibrosis who told me about their daily lives. Pierre was also there to explain to me how it really went so that we could stick to reality."
"A message of strength and hope"
And then the actor was also, obviously, inspired by his model.
"I observed him a little, his way of coughing, his way of holding himself", he explains, even if the violence of the disease was not always possible to transcribe.
"The cough is doubled in terms of sound in certain places, because when you have cystic fibrosis, the cough is particularly oily", continues the actor.
"I had to understand all that it meant to have this disease to transcribe it as well as possible."
Pierre Lemarchal recalled for his part that his son had always wanted to be treated like the others, including during Star Academy, despite his illness.
"He moved away, he coughed, he did his care, he went back to work. That's what made his strength," recalls the singer's father.
"And it is this message that we are trying to convey in this biopic, a message of strength and hope for all these young people who suffer from this daily life with cystic fibrosis. But also a kind of universal message for all these people who are in this situation and who need to live. "