I've met with many French politicians, but the one I think stood out the most was Nicolas Sarkozy. A very unique person: strong, determined, smart, cunning, ambitious, energetic... but also strangely off as far as politicians go. Not very ideological, surprisingly emotional, he has a deep desire to be loved and understood, while at the same time striving to be a non-conformist and a rule breaker. Strangely for such a powerful man, he craves recognition and gives a feeling that he doesn't quite fit in wherever he goes. He has a big complex of inferiority towards his own lack of education (he hasn't read much) and tries to hide his humane side as well as his blatant lack of ruthlessness behind a façade of bombastic bravado.
I've also had the misfortune of meeting the most unpleasant man in France, conspiracy theorist and ardent antisemite Alain Soral, whose vacuity, hatefulness and total disregard for such things as common sense, reason and sense of humor made for the worst evening I've ever had.
Polar opposite of him, I have met Pr Timothy Snyder of Yale during a summit, and he proved to be exactly as I had imagined him: a most knowledgeable man with whom I could have talked with for weeks. He was my role model, back when I was a student, so meeting him meant a lot to me.
I've also run into the great Peter Stormare at an airport, and we exchanged a few jokes before he kindly signed me an autograph. And I've met with Epica after a concert in Bordeaux; we hung out with Mark Jansen after the show and it turned out he was a very decent fellow.
, and Tommy Lee Jones (who was a complete drunk and had a fight with his wife, and he threw her out into the hallway naked. I think he ended up being thrown out of the hotel eventually.)
My god he sounds as intense as his characters in movies
the dude that played Stanley on The Office
Lol I LOVE Stanley. It must be funny to see him out of character, actually caring about stuff