Gaspard Ulliel, known to cineaste audiences for his starring roles in films like Xavier Dolan's It's Only the End of the World, and Jean-Pierre Jeunet's A Very Long Engagement, has passed away at age 37 following a tragic ski accident in the Alps, reports news agency AFP.
The French performer, who won the country's top acting accolade for his part in Dolan's domestic drama, was hospitalized Tuesday following said accident. Deadline reports that Ulliel was "transported by helicopter on Tuesday to a hospital in Grenoble following a collision on the slopes in the Savoie region". According to the actor's family and agent, he has not survived his injuries.
Ulliel had mostly appeared in more esoteric art house fare in his native France, considered to be one of the rising stars of the country's prolific film industry. Moon Knight, Marvel's upcoming Disney+ series starring Oscar Isaac as the eponymous protagonist, was set to be his first proper step into mainstream Hollywood, save for a supporting part as a younger Hannibal Lecter opposite Anthony Hopkins in 2007's Hannibal Rising.
In It's Only the End of the World, Ulliel played Louis, a 34-year-old gay playwright dealing with terminal illness, belatedly reuniting with his family after twelve years of separation. In classic Dolan fashion, the film picks apart the suffocating constraints of familial relationships with emotional deftness. Ulliel's part was considered strong, particularly in his native Europe, and the film won the prestigious Grand Prix at Cannes Film Festival - an award not least owed to his elevating performance.
In 2014, Ulliel played Yves Saint Laurent in the biopic Saint Laurent, directed by French arthouse legend Bertrand Bonello. He spoke to us at the time about his aspirations to eventually direct his own film, astutely stating: "I think it's a very high responsibility, and you don't just make a film to make a film. If you decide to direct a film, it's because you have something to say, something to show to the audience." He cited U.S. directors Jeremy Saulnier and David Robert Mitchell as two of his main inspirations.
Within the fashion sphere, he will be remembered as the face of the Chanel's men's fragrance Bleu de Chanel, a role he had occupied since 2010. He appeared in a series of three shorts for the fashion house, each directed by a Hollywood heavyweight: first by Martin Scorsese, second by James Gray in 2014, and last in 2018 by 12 Years a Slave director Steve McQueen.