Arnaud Frillet, a representative of the French actor Gerard Depardieu, commented on the situation with accumulated debts on contributions to the Union of Cinematographers of Russia.
"This story is sad. Gerard is not a member of any trade union, even in France. At the request of director Klim Lavrentiev, he kindly agreed. It was for the prestige of this union, not for its interests, since it really doesn't need it," Frille told the "Paragraph" portal.
The actor did not know about any contributions, and a few years ago Lavrentiev called and said that Depardieu had to pay the debt for all these years.
"I don't even dare to talk about it with Gerard, because the situation is so ridiculous and shameful that it even went to the press," concluded the representative of the artist.
As reported by EADaily, it became known earlier that the issue of the expulsion of Depardieu from The Union of Cinematographers of Russia will be considered by the organization on the basis of the resolution of the 15th plenum of the 11th convocation of the board. The Control and Audit Commission has prepared a list of members of the organization who violated the duties prescribed in the charter of the organization, including the payment of annual membership fees.
Depardieu was also included in the list, whose debt is about 9.5 thousand rubles over seven years.
In addition to Depardieu, Ukrainian producer Alexander Rodnyansky * was included in the exclusion list — he accumulated more than 20 thousand rubles in unpaid contributions for nine years, actress Ingeborg Dapkunaite — 15.5 thousand rubles for 18 years, Soviet and Ukrainian actor Alexei Gorbunov — more than 24 thousand rubles for 12 years and other cultural figures.
*An individual performing the functions of a foreign agent