Léa Seydoux Reveals Last Message She Got from Gaspard Ulliel Before His Death

Léa Seydoux is recalling the final messages she received from Gaspard Ulliel, her two-time costar who died at 37 in January 2022 after a ski accident in France.

Ulliel, whose death was ruled an accident by French authorities, was preparing to work with Seydoux, 38, again in the movie The Beast at the time of his death.

The pair previously appeared together in 2016’s It’s Only the End of the World and 2014’s Saint Laurent. In The Beast, the actor was replaced by George MacKay.

“The last message I had from him, the last time I heard his voice, was after France, this film I did with Bruno Dumont,” Seydoux told IndieWire while speaking about The Beast. She said Ulliel told her he enjoyed her performane in France.

“He just left me a message on my WhatsApp, an audio message, and he was telling me how much he liked [France,]” she added. “He was like, ‘I’m not saying that because we are going to work together. I just wanted to tell you I was very impressed.’ It was a very, very kind message.”

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“Even me, I was like, he’s too nice. That’s the last thing we shared,” Seydoux told the outlet before recalling that the next time she heard about Ulliel was following his ski accident.

“And then I had a call from my agent, and he said, ‘Gaspard had this ski accident, and I think he’s in a coma,’ ” she said. “He said, ‘I think it’s very, very serious.’ ”

Ulliel’s death came after he collided with another skier in the French Alps and sustained a brain injury. His final two projects included posthumous roles in the 2022 Disney+ series Moon Knight and the French movie More Than Ever. The Beast filmed after he died, and Seydoux told IndieWire she attended Ulliel’s funeral in Paris in January 2022. The actor was survived by his son Orso.

Seydoux instead costarred in The Beast with MacKay, 32, an English actor best known for his role in the 2019 World War I movie 1917. The movie’s director Bertrand Bonello told IndieWire back in September that he chose to replace Ulliel with MacKay in part because he did not want a French actor to receive comparisons to Ulliel for the film.

The Beast is in U.S. theaters April 5. Seydoux most recently appeared in Dune: Part Two, in theaters now.