Why did you decide to move from job to fire the actor / stuntman?

First, after working as a firefighter, I joined the army. I was in the Marine Corps. The fact that I got into the movies was pure coincidence. This is not my calling. Not what I wanted to do since childhood. What I wanted was to make my sport famous, to make Parkour recognized. My brother showed my short videos to people in the media, and they became interested in me, that's what brought me to the movies. But acting in a movie is not what I originally wanted to do.

Now that I'm in the film, I like it, and I'm not going to miss this opportunity. If there is an opportunity for me to take part in the shootings, then I will use it. Otherwise I will do something else. However, at the moment I do not think to make a career in this field. I was more than satisfied with the first 13 Area. This was enough to tell my children about it. When the work on D13 was over, I said to myself, "Even if there is only one this film, I will be happy, because Parkour allowed me to do it, the project gave me the opportunity to show Parkour to the public and make myself known." With everything else, I will not make a guess, let's not make plans about what will happen and what will not happen.

You speak as if you did not make any decisions yourself, as if everything just happened by a fluke ...

But it all really happened so! I've never had any strategy. I never tried to present himself as a film actor. I never asked for anything. It all started with a documentary that was shown on television.

From the moment I took what was offered. Even the last thing, the movie "Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time", I did not ask for this job, they got in touch with me when I was filming «D13 - Ultimatum." They called me four times, insisting that I was working with them. While I was working on another film, and we agreed that I would work for them in the free days. Parkour is currently involved in movies everywhere, as required any chase or jumping, they use it. Now it can be seen jumping in the movies have become more realistic.

What is the difference between the preparations for the stunts in the film, and your own training?

I do it almost the same. I now tied with parkour. People are starting to take an interest in this art from me, but I've studied it very deeply. Now, and in general, I'm interested in a lot of different things. When someone tells me about Parkour, I'm not going to answer: "Too late," I usually say, "You should have come when I was about 20. Then I was very motivated! I lived Parkour every second of my life. "

Now I could learn music like playing the guitar or whatever, the important thing is that I want to learn other things. Parkour is not the only activity in life. People tell me: "Parkour is cool, I have to learn it!", But I have interests beyond parkour. Parkour is a training method that people should do as it helps you get around in urban environments or in nature. It helps to learn to adapt to these conditions. However, for me, studying, for example, cooking is as important as Parkour. How to fix a car, how to help a person who has stopped heart, etc. For me, these are the basics of life. I'm not like old martial artists who always practice the same kicks at 80. Most likely, this guy has never even fought for his life, and I would like to tell him: "Stop practicing punches, relax, live normal, enjoy life" because there is too much toughness in the world when people focus too much on something ”. And I don't want to end up like this. When you get your first aid diploma, you will not save people every day, it rather means “if something happens, I will know what to do”.

I have always coached Parkour with the same attitude. So to hell with people who tell me, "Hey, show me something ..." I never did Parkour to perform in front of someone or to show off. For me, Parkour is something personal. It just so happened that he became popular. I'm not the one who put it on the internet.

Is the reason for your disagreement with the Yamakasi that they promote Parkour in movies and in TV shows?

No. But when I think about it, I think there is no problem with Yamakashi. I only do what my father taught me. They say they are doing what they themselves have created. And yet, we all live in the same place. Group "Yamakasi" no longer exists, everyone is gone, now it's called "Majestic Force" or something like that. When there were Yamakasi, they said, "We are Yamakashi, this is sport," now they are moving in the direction of PG Tips, because this project is working well. And I ask myself: "Why is that?" We had a simple sport, why does everyone want to give it a new name? "It's the same as Parkour, but this style is called Free Running ..." or something similar. But this is Parkour! When you go to any other country in the world you say “I play football or volleyball”. The name of the sport does not change. So why change the name of Parkour unless you want to do some business and be able to say, "I am the creator of this new sport, just like Parkour, except you only jump on one leg"? Change one detail to say that you are the creator of something and be able to make money from it. Parkour's goal is not to make money or start a business. There is no financial purpose behind it. Parkour needs to be taught to those who want to learn. If they don't have the money, it doesn't matter, because it doesn't take anything, just a pair of sneakers and that's it. Now people are trumpeting everywhere: “Attention! The Academy is opening ”or“ There will be a Parkour Center ”. But I studied Parkour on the street! Real Parkour training should be done there. You can do whatever you want, with the centers, put mats, but people will always end up going outside.

What necessity made you create Parkour?

My father taught me this. I saw and heard many things that he did as a fireman - he was a real legend. And I wanted to know his story. Either my father was gifted, and in this case I could never be like him, or he trained to become that, and in this case he probably can teach me something. Then I realized how much he trained. He trained like I've never trained in my entire life. Compared to him, I'm a little child who plays. When I think about the physical preparation that he went through, I say to myself: "Is this the price that is paid to become so good? Damn, it's very difficult! "Many people pay to do things, but I think if either of them would only train with him for one day, none of them would ever come back. That's how hard it is. So many people try to train easily. "Let's get busy with Parkour! It's really great! "But if tomorrow I make you do it for real, you'll cry.

This is what you need to know: you will cry, you will bleed, and you will sweat like never before. I can not lie to you about this. Now, if you came to tell me, "Hey, I want to learn Parkour, but be lighter with me, I do not want to make too much effort," better do something else! Parkour is for real warriors. Method of training for soldiers. It's not like "I want to learn how to fight, but please do not hit me too hard, because I do not like it." If this is your case, do something else! If you want to be a real warrior, you will have to go through many difficulties.

How can you use Parkour?

Easy, we have two hands: they are needed to grab things. We can grab to move ourselves. We can pull ourselves up. We can jump and run on our feet. We can swim. Instinctively, you know that you can do all these things. When you swim, you know that swimming is inherent in you from birth. This is not in vain. You do not have to specialize in these things, for example, to become a climbing expert. You can still try everything, and I think that’s what life is all about. Do not close yourself from everything and do not think that you have found the truth and understand life. Many people open their minds through different things, such as music and painting, as well as Parkour. It does not matter how. It is important to open the mind, because you get freedom through it. I think that when you exercise, you understand a little more about what freedom means, especially in relation to society. Such an understanding really opened my mind. But not necessarily that such an understanding will have the same effect on someone else. What is good for one will not necessarily be good for another person.

What is freedom of Parkour?

After a good workout and a good physical preparation, we know exactly what we can and what we can evolve without disturbing others. Respecting others, but without interference from their side. Now I often have to justify, especially in front of the police. But on the other hand, I understand them, when they see me to climb everywhere, they may think that I stole something. There are many difficult moments, so I'm thinking about moving to another country, in Thailand or even the UK, in any place where the police - not a problem.

Even in the UK?

Yes! Even if they do there are too many cameras. The police know what Parkour. While in France, they are such a strong challenge from them that have nowhere to go, but the sport came here. It's been 10 15 years or since, as Parkour was first lit by the media in France, and no one has really knows about it. I always ask the same questions over and over again. When we are on the street, all the same, as 15 years ago, when it all started. This frustrates me because public opinion is not developing as fast as Parkour.

If we had the resources to create something really good, but we do not have them. At the moment everyone is trying to do everything in their own way, we all go around in circles, but this could have been done a long time ago! I would not be surprised if what I wanted to do would happen only when I was 60 years old, and I would not be able to move normally, like today. What I would like to achieve should be as close to the streets as possible. Perhaps a training ground in the open air, where we could gather all comers. I would like to create a fund, and we would probably get 500 000 euros or even 1 000 000, then I would say: "Well, let's invest all the money to make such a place for Parkour." I'm not going to act like, "OK, great, but I'll take a quarter, because I'm the founder of discipline." No! I will not take a cent. If we receive such money, it is only because people want to have such a place and constantly train there.

Therefore, we use this money to create such a place and that's it. When I think about how much money I've made from films and other things, alone and with Yamakasi ... if we all got together, we would have opened a public training area long ago. But instead, we did it our own way, arguing over and over again about where it all started, those who never wanted to admit that it started in one place, of course we split up instead of uniting. We are now in a divide and conquer state.