Eccentric French actor Gerard Depardieu has blasted his fellow countrymen, branding them "arrogant" and "smug".
The Green Card star is to play the lead role in the biopic of France's disgraced former Imf chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn, has been accused of sexually assaulting a chambermaid and was questioned by police over an alleged prostitution ring.
Depardieu knows exactly how to play the scandal-hit Frenchman, because Strauss-Kahn displays traits he abhors in his countrymen.
The actor tells Swiss chat show Rts, "He's not loveable. I think he's a bit like all the French, a bit arrogant. I don't much like the French in any case. And he's very French - arrogant, smug.
"He's playable. I will do it because I don't like him... We can all have filthy thoughts, and it's well known these guys with huge power can be like that. But I will not try to inhabit the role too deeply as I have never been moved by people who have no dignity."
The film will be directed by Abel Ferrara.