Eric Cantona had no problem dropping his trousers for his latest film in which arthouse meets soft porn, revealing an unfeasibly large appendage.
The footballer-turned-photographer-turned-actor is reincarnated as "the Stallion" in Les rencontres d'après minuit, described by one French critic as "a superb artistic orgy".
A trailer for the film, which will open in Britain in the autumn as You and the Night, shows the ex-Man United striker preparing to undress and reveal what we are reliably informed is a plastic prothesis. "I warn you, it's in sleep mode," he says in the film clip, with that familiar deadpan expression. So far, so smutty, but this is France; it's not crude or salacious, it's art, stupid.
Cantona, who says the film is "not foolishly voyeuristic, but elegant and unique", is certainly not talking dirty. "I read the script and thought this is magnificent; immediately I wanted to do it," he said on Saturday. "Above all, it's very aesthetic, really beautiful; a mix of dream and reality and a suspension of disbelief. There aren't many films like this.
"I feel a lot happier in the world of imagination. Maybe there is an element of fleeing reality to it. Real life is good as a source of inspiration,but I feel more at ease in the imaginary."
Cantona's British fans will remember his famous flights of fantasy. At a press conference in 1995 after he was convicted of assaulting a Crystal Palace fan with a kung-fu kick, Cantona was asked why he had reacted to the screams of abuse. He replied: "When the seagulls follow the trawler, it's because they think sardines will be thrown into the sea." He then got up and walked out, leaving journalists scratching their heads.
Cantona, 47, who went on to play the French ambassador to the Elizabethan court in the 1998 film Elizabeth and himself in the Ken Loach film Looking for Eric, in 2009, is a renaissance man, reinventing a new career every few years. He says he has fond memories of Britain but does not like looking backwards. "I prefer to live intensely in the present and have projects in the future and not look back to the past. I don't even have pictures of me playing football or the cups we won on display at home. My time in Britain was an extraordinary period in my life but it is the past and there are so many more interesting things to do and discover."
His latest passion is looking back at other people's history. For the last few years he has been making documentaries with his brother Jean-Marie in which he explores the history of a country through football. The series included a return to Manchester four years ago, and next week he's off to Rio.
"Looking at history through the prism of football allows people who perhaps wouldn't watch a history programme to learn something about a country. You can use football to explain other things, a bigger picture. It's interesting and emotional."
Les rencontres has had mixed reviews in France. It was named one of the top 10 films of 2013 by the influential magazine Cahiers du Cinema, but Paris magazine A Nous called it "a vulgar attempt at erotic philosophy". Cantona says it is "magnifique" but unlikely to be a blockbuster.
Given that he reveals so much on screen in the new film, will he finally explain what he meant by his seagull quote? He pauses, and for a moment it looks as if the mystery may be solved. Then he shakes his head and shrugs. "Non," he says with an enigmatic grin.
