Gaspard Darley

Gaspard Darley was born to a French high school History and Georgraphy teacher at the beginning of the '80s. Raised by her and his grandmother in the 12eme district of Paris, he attended Catholic school and a highly-competitive preparatory school until he gained entrance to the prestigious l'École normale supérieure where his interest in History, Politics and Geography took him to the Caucasian country of Georgia in pursuit of a PhD. Having traveled extensively in Russia and the former CIS states, both with his mother, and on solo journeys; he possesses a masterful command of the Russian language, and it was this skill, together with connections to one of the lead actors of the film via a childhood friend, that led Gaspard to audition for a position with the film - though initially, he thought it would be as a translator with the film crew, rather than as part of the cast. However, when the director witnessed his unique combination of graceful dignity and comic awkwardness, he wrote Gaspard into the film. Gaspard wears glasses with a relatively strong prescription; these were replaced with even more comic prop glasses that left him practically blind during filming.