"People Don't Believe Me": 31 Years Ago, Vincent Cassel Improvised His Most Iconic Scene. And If You Think It References a Great Classic of American Cinema, You're Mistaken!

Did Vincent Cassel really draw inspiration from Robert De Niro for the iconic scene in "La Haine"? 31 years later, the actor finally answers the question everyone is asking.

In 1995, a now-cult film hit theaters: "La Haine" by Mathieu Kassovitz. At the time, Vincent Cassel was just starting his career. One thing is for sure, thirty years later, no one has forgotten his performance as Vinz, particularly the mirror scene. In this scene, the actor, who will appear in the new season of "The White Lotus", seems to draw inspiration from an American cinema icon: Robert De Niro.

Did Vincent Cassel Really Take Inspiration from De Niro in "La Haine"?

We all remember the scene where Vincent Cassel, aka Vinz, looks at himself in the mirror and repeats the now-iconic line: "Are you talking to me?" In reality, there was no mirror, just a face-to-face with the camera. For many viewers, this sequence is directly inspired by the line "You talkin' to me?" from Robert De Niro in "Taxi Driver"... For reference, in this film directed by Martin Scorsese, the actor looks at himself in a mirror and repeats this line with a gun in hand. It's almost a carbon copy of the scene played by Vincent Cassel.

However, in an interview with Brut, Vincent Cassel insists he did not draw inspiration from the American actor. "People don't believe me. I swear in front of this camera that I wasn't thinking about Robert De Niro,” he continued with these words: "It's even worse, it's the guy who is so lobotomized by things he's seen that he does it without even realizing it".

Nevertheless, Vincent Cassel admits he had seen "Taxi Driver" before filming "La Haine", but the memory of the mirror scene was too distant for him to draw inspiration from it: "Yes, I had seen the film. I know, I’m aware, but I don’t have the reference from yesterday. You either believe it or you don’t, that’s the reality,” he told the journalist from Brut.

An Iconic Scene Yet Improvised

In this interview, Vincent Cassel also shared some insights about the filming of this now-iconic scene. He explained that he had to improvise: "It's a false reflection (...) I'm talking to the camera. It's long, much longer than what was written. So you have to improvise". And when you're at the beginning of your career, this exercise can be challenging, as he reveals: "This moment, I hadn’t planned it (...) it was created on the spot". Vincent Cassel can thus be proud of his improvisation!