Happy Birthday Jean Reno!

I'm a minimalist. I don't really need much to enjoy a good holiday - just my family and the bare essentials.

Ich hatte wilde Zeiten, in denen ich durch die Nächte gezogen und mit schnellen Autos durch die Welt gerast bin. Ich habe den Ruhm genossen. Aber ich habe für dieses Glamourleben bezahlt. Meine erste Frau ließ sich von mir scheiden.

The best way to impress a woman is to be the most honest you can.

Ich habe eigentlich nur ein paar Freunde, im wahren Leben. Und wenn ich sage Freunde, meine ich die Leute, die ich seit 1960 kenne.

The advantage of being eighty years old is that one has had many people to love.

Ich drehe sehr gerne mit den Amerikanern. Die Wohnwagen an den Sets sind einfach viel größer und bequemer. Aber dort leben? Sobald ein Film im Kasten ist, breche ich die Zelte wieder ab.

I'll tell you something that's completely true - you can, as a man, obtain everything you want with the truth. If you lie, first of all you've got to be a very good lying actor, which is tres difficile. And it's going to give you poison inside the body.

Der Vorteil daran 80 zu sein ist das man viele Leute hatte, die man lieben konnte.

But I will say that most comedians are the saddest people I know. That is the biggest paradox to me.

Vom so genannten Star-Dasein nehme ich mir den Aspekt, den ich daran gut finde: Ich kann mir jetzt meine Rollen aussuchen. Und das tue ich auch.

Being proud and being nationalistic are, for me, completely different things.

I can walk into a room and create a good ambience. I was taught all about this back when I studied acting. One of the things they would teach you is how to send out positive signals when you enter a room. I am glad I learned this.

I used to overpack a lot and sometimes even forgot vital pieces of clothing, such as my swimming shorts and sandals. I'm much better now. I only take what I know I'm going to wear or use and always double-check my suitcase so I don't have to rush to the nearest clothing store when I unpack at the hotel.

Actually, I only have a few friends in real life. And when I say friends, I'm referring to those people who I've known since the 1960s.

Everywhere in the world, you find good things.

I don't feel like I have to be nationalistic French because I'm afraid of losing whatever. No, no, no, no. And also I don't think we are the best.

I don't get the romances. I did try - a film called 'Roseanna's Grave' in the 1990s. I liked it. But the audience didn't come.

There is no heaven on Earth. Not now anyway.

I have a strong accent; it limits the roles, of course it does. I guess if I had moved to America a long time ago maybe my accent would have got less.

My plat de resistance is potato salad with garlic and olive oil which we press from the olives from my trees in the grounds of my home near St Remy de Provence. I have four hectares and take the olives down to the local community press at Maussane les Alpilles. I don't produce big quantities; it is just for the family and friends.

When I am up in Paris then the restaurant which has remained my favourite for the past decade is Guy Savoy. The menu is huge, sophisticated and very creative but I keep to simple choices.

'American Graffiti' stayed in my mind, but I don't think to this day I've done a film that captured that same level of melancholy. It was so well done. Talking about it has given me the idea I might try harder to make that melancholy film!

At home I keep things simple with fish, pasta and soups and am often preparing stuff for the family.

If it's a romantic holiday, the only thing I need is my wife. We love quiet and calm places where we can't be disturbed. Neither of us likes being in busy places; we would much rather stay in our hotel room and enjoy each other's company.

I first decided to become an actor at school. A teacher gave us a play to do and that had a major impact. At first, I wanted to work in the theatre, but there was something about the ambience of film, especially American films, that always attracted me.

In France, if you have any sort of talent, you'd better keep it here. And if you're going to go abroad, it had better not be America. The old battle - American versus Frog cinema. It's ridiculous.

Sometimes I take the watch, or I take the shoes, but usually the souvenir is to take the life you had with those directors, or the crew - the camera person, the lighting person. When you finish a film it's like a little death. You had a family for a bit, and you finish the movie and you probably will never see each other again.

I don't think you lose culture because you act different cultures.

Croatia is an amazing place.

I was a banker in Morocco when I first saw 'American Graffiti.' It was before I was an actor, a melancholy time in my life, and this mood was reflected in the film.