Tye Sheridan has grown well since mud by Jeff Nichols for which he came to Cannes in 2012. He was then 15 and is now 26 when he comes to present Black Flies by Jean-Stéphane Sauvaire at the Cannes Film Festival. He plays a paramedic who teams up with Sean Penn in this intense film, a nightmarish headlong rush through the streets of New York.
“We have been preparing this film since 2018 and we have sought to make the viewer’s experience as realistic and immersive as possible”, he confides to 20 minutes. The actor is so invested in the face of his older partner that we would see him win an interpretation prize by styling his eldest at the post.
“I don’t think about it, admits this charming young man who we also saw in The Card Counter by Paul Schrader, in X-Men Apocalypse by Bryan Singer, in Ready Player One by Steven Spielberg. I consider myself very lucky to have had such great experiences at such a young age. “Luck of course, but also an unfailing determination and a lot of work in order to be credible in his roles.
To prepare for Black Flies, he has been touring with New York paramedics for weeks since 2018. “I learned many medical procedures for my role, he jokes. I’m not saying I could save an injured person, but I would know how to try. »
Tye Sheridan has, of course, matured since he was 15 years old. He readily admits it. “I’m not sure that the years have made my job as an actor any easier,” he says. What I gained in technique, I lost in carelessness. When you’re a teenager, you do things naturally, without asking questions. It is only later that we understand things. »
This is so for his way of appreciating his presence in Cannes. “Ado, we don’t realize anything,” he recalls. We take everything as if it went a bit for granted. I especially remember the applause at the end of the session. I had never had so many people gathered in a movie theater. »
Tye Sheridan is now a hardened professional, co-producer of Black Flies. We’ll see it next year The Order by Justin Kurzel about a group of white supremacists facing Jude Law. “I am now aware of the unique opportunity that an invitation to the Cannes Film Festival represents,” he admits. We bet that he did not miss that of impressing the jury.