Fauve Hautot, a judge on the French dance competition show Danse avec les stars, is starring in La Cible, a new thriller from the French broadcaster TF1 alongside actor Tomer Sisley. Hautot plays Léa, a mother with a troubled past who is kidnapped together with her children.
The series is streaming for free on TF1's platform, TF1+.
Hautot said she found the script brilliant because Léa is a complex character. She said there was something very animalistic in the way Léa protects her family, and that there was a great deal to work with as an actress. She added that she likes going where people do not expect her to go.
An unexpected pairing with Tomer Sisley
In the fast-paced series, Hautot forms what the production describes as an unexpected but convincing duo with Sisley, who plays her character's ex-husband. His character, a former bodyguard, is wrongly suspected of kidnapping his ex-wife and their children, and comes to realize he did not know everything about the woman he still loves.
Hautot and Sisley had never worked together before, but she said the connection came quickly. She said that returning to the idea of animal instinct, she believed she and Sisley shared something very instinctive, with the same energy and a strong, passionate core that made it easy for them to connect on screen.
From dance floor to TV screen
La Cible is the latest in a string of fiction roles for Hautot, who has also appeared in Astrid et Raphaëlle, Nos chers voisins, Meurtres en Berry, M'abandonne pas and Rien ne t'efface. She is best known in France as a judge on Danse avec les stars, the French adaptation of the Strictly Come Dancing dance competition format, and has won the show four times as a dancer.
Although Léa is a fighter, she shows a great deal of tenderness toward her children, a maternal quality that resonated with Hautot, who recently had her first child. She joked that it was funny to realize that, a year after filming wrapped, she had become a mother herself. Hautot said she now brings that same gentleness to everything, even her scenes with adult co-stars, comparing it to the way dancers nurture partners who are less experienced. She said that quality of deep tenderness carried over naturally into how she approached the children on set.
Doing her own stunts
The four-time Danse avec les stars champion also threw herself into the show's action sequences. She said she wanted to do everything herself, explaining that she does not like doing things by halves because she feels it is the only way to truly experience what is happening in her body. She admitted, however, that she was not sure she would have jumped off a bridge the way Sisley's character does.
Does she see herself as an actress?
Asked whether she considers herself an actress, Hautot said it was a difficult question to answer. She compared it to her path in dance, saying that just as no one becomes a dancer after only two years, no one becomes an actress after two years either. It is a matter of time, she said, and the more you do something, the more you become it. She said what drives her and helps her improve is simply the work itself.
