Jean-Luc Godard was a revolutionary French-Swiss filmmaker and critic,  redefining cinema in the 1960s with a style that defied traditional narrative conventions and explored philosophical and sociopolitical themes. He became the central figure of the French New Wave.

“I received an email that I initially thought was a scam. Who would ever offer me the chance to play the most famous French director, directed by one of the greatest American filmmakers, Richard Linklater?” says Guillaume Marbeck, the French actor who makes his own feature-film debut as Godard. “I couldn’t believe it — my moment had come.”

To become the polemical but playful Godard, Marbeck had to understand the man, not just the myth. “I studied every part of this human being — the voice, the moves, the logic, the humor, the rhythm, the style of writing, the sports skills, the way he drove cars,” he says. “Every aspect complements the other to understand his psyche.”

Jean Seberg was an American actor and icon of French New Wave cinema, best known for her radiant, rebellious performance as Patricia in Breathless, and for the tragic arc of a life marked by fame and political activism.

Zoey Deutch had a tall order, playing the iconic actor Jean Seberg, filming an iconic role, that of Patricia. Seberg had been formally trained under the tutelage of American auteur Otto Preminger, but, at 21 years old at the time of filming Breathless, on Godard’s set she was in a world that was entirely different from the more formal Old Hollywood methods she was raised on. Says Deutch, “I was playing Jean, I was playing Patricia, and then I was playing Jean playing Patricia. There were almost three different characters.”

Deutch pored over Seberg’s past work and watched every New Wave film she could, but, ultimately, accepted a certain fascinating unknowableness about Seberg (and Patricia) that helped guide her portrayal. “There’s this quality of mystery which she inherently possesses but was enhanced by the  fear of improvising an entire movie in a language that she was still learning,” says Deutch, who also had to brush up on her own French. “The language barrier was a helpful window into playing her.”

Jean-Paul Belmondo was a charismatic French actor who became a symbol of cool and rebellion in the French New Wave, most famously for his iconic, unpredictable performance as Michel in Breathless, and then as Ferdinand in another Godard film, Pierrot the Fool. He also had memorable roles in films such as That Man from Rio, The Sicilian Clan, and The Professional.

As Jean-Paul Belmondo, who starred as Michel in Breathless, Aubry Dullin’s lack of experience as an actor ended up being an asset, helping him to tap into the natural magnetism that made the French cinematic idol — once a promising amateur boxer — such a unique presence. “I think his essential charm was to be himself. He was just him, a free man who did what he wanted when he wanted,” says Dullin of Belmondo. “His naturalness in the movie is, I think, what struck people.” 

Like Marbeck, Dullin had the added responsibility of embodying a character who is an absolute legend in his native France. “I always say that Jean-Paul is the best friend of every French person. Everyone who knew him and even people who had not met him say, ‘He was such a nice guy.’ His smile, his kindness — it was a breath of fresh air. Everywhere he was, happiness was there,” he says. “I think he is one of the most important actors in France.”

François Truffaut was a pioneering French filmmaker and critic whose 1959 film The 400 Blows is often credited with launching the French New Wave. A friend (and sometimes rival) of Godard’s, he also originated the story that became Breathless.

Raoul Coutard was a French cinematographer whose innovative, handheld camerawork and naturalistic lighting helped define the look and feel of the French New Wave, particularly with his work on Breathless and numerous other films by Godard.

Georges de Beauregard was a French film producer known for championing groundbreaking directors of the French New Wave, including Godard. He produced Breathless.

Liliane David is a French actor and director, best known for her uncredited but memorable role in Breathless as Liliane in 1960.

Pierre Rissient was an assistant director of Breathless, a director (Alibis, Five and the Skin), and  an influential force behind the scenes at the Cannes Film Festival, where he championed the work of directors like Jane Campion and Quentin Tarantino.

Actor and cinematographer Claude Beausoleil (To Live Her Life: A Film in Twelve Scenes, Happiness) was the camera operator on Breathless, working with cinematographer Raoul Coutard to execute Godard’s handheld, on‑location shooting style.

Raymond Cauchetier was a renowned photographer celebrated for his iconic behind-the-scenes images of the French New Wave, including capturing some indelible production moments from Breathless.

Suzon Faye, who also worked on several Chabrol films, was the script supervisor for Breathless, responsible for maintaining continuity and helping to coordinate the film’s improvised shooting style.

Lila Herman was the assistant editor of Breathless, working alongside lead editor Cécile Decugis to shape the film’s groundbreaking editing style.

Cécile Decugis was a French film editor and  key early figure in the New Wave who worked with Godard, Truffaut, and Rohmer. Breathless is distinguished by her innovative use of jump cuts —  in which  two sequential shots are taken from slightly different positions or times, creating an abrupt “jump.”

Phuong Maittret was the makeup artist on Jean‑Luc Godard’s Breathless.

François Moreuil was a French filmmaker and Jean Seberg’s first husband, who directed her in The Seventeenth Heaven and made a brief appearance as a photographer in Breathless.

Known for his highly experimental style that involved improvisation and nonlinear storytelling, Cahiers du Cinéma critic and director Jacques Rivette (Paris Belongs to Us, The Nun) was one of the most enigmatic auteurs of the New Wave movement. 

Nominated for an Academy Award in 1969 for My Night at Maud’s, Éric Rohmer was one of the most acclaimed — and enduring — of the French New Wave directors. He was the editor of the influential film journal Cahiers du Cinéma, and his other films include The Sign of Leo, Claire’s Knee, and Chloe in the Afternoon.

Critic turned director Claude Chabrol was a foundational figure of the French New Wave. Inspired in part by his love of Alfred Hitchcock, Chabrol (The Butcher, The Does) was a master of suspense as well as the thriller genre. 

Pierre Kast (The Golden Age, The Season for Love) was a French New Wave filmmaker and Cahiers du Cinéma critic.

Jacques Demy was a French filmmaker associated with the French New Wave and its Left Bank subset, known for blending romantic fantasy with realist detail in his vibrant, whimsical films like The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, starring Catherine Deneuve. He was married to Agnès Varda.

Born in Belgium, feminist filmmaker Agnès Varda was a preeminent figure in French cinema, known for Cléo from 5 to 7 and Vagabond, among many others. Her 1955 film La Pointe Courte is considered an influential forerunner to the New Wave. In 2017, she became the first female director to receive an honorary Academy Award.

Alain Resnais was a pioneering French filmmaker whose formally innovative, intellectually rigorous films like Hiroshima, My Love, and Last Year at Marienbad positioned him as a key figure of the French New Wave, though he was more closely associated with the politically left-wing, Left Bank subset of the movement.

A lesser-known but respected director in the French New Wave, Jacques Rozier made the influential and critically acclaimed films Adieu Philippine and Orouët’s Way.

Claude Mauriac was a French novelist, essayist, and journalist who supported the French New Wave through his influential literary and film criticism.

Michel Mourlet, a French film critic and theorist known for championing American cinema in Cahiers du Cinéma, appears briefly in Breathless in the audience at a movie theater.

A screenwriter, director, and key figure of the French New Wave, Suzanne Schiffman collaborated closely withTruffaut  — earning an Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay Day for Night and winning a César Award for co-writing The Last Metro. She also worked with Godard and Jacques Rivette.

Georges Sadoul was a pioneering French film historian and critic who wrote the six-volume Histoire générale du cinéma, which helped legitimize cinema as an art form and influenced the French New Wave generation.

Marilù Parolini was an Italian photographer and screenwriter who became an essential presence in the French New Wave, working as a set photographer for Godard, Truffaut, Rivette (to whom she was married), and Varda, and collaborating on scripts for several of Rivette’s films, including Mad Love. 

André S. Labarthe, who has a brief cameo as a journalist in Breathless, was the co-creator of the Filmmakers of Our Time TV documentary series, which celebrated both classic and avant-garde film. 

Singer and actor Juliette Gréco’s bohemian style, artistic independence, and deep ties to Left Bank intellectuals like Jean-Paul Sartre made her an unofficial icon of the French New Wave, notably appearing in Otto Preminger’s adaptation of Hello, Sadness. 

Blanche Montel was a French actor best known for her work in silent and early sound films, and had a long second career as one of the biggest agents in France, steering the careers of a couple generations of actors. 

Françoise Arnoul was a French actor who was popular in the 1950s and worked with Jean Renoir in French Cancan. 

Kassagi was a magician and street performer who appeared briefly in Bresson’s Pickpocket, while also advising the director on how to authentically portray thieves’ techniques in the film.

Martin LaSalle was an amateur actor whose naturalistic debut in Robert Bresson’s Pickpocket embodied the French New Wave, influencing the movement’s focus on authenticity.

Jacques Doniol-Valcroze was a French filmmaker, actor, and influential co-founder of film magazine Cahiers du Cinéma, whose championing of American auteurs like Nicholas Ray and Orson Welles, as well as his critical writings and early films, helped shape the intellectual foundations of the New Wave.

Robert Bresson (A Man Escaped, Pickpocket) was a pioneer of minimalist filmmaking, whose “less is more” approach was highly influential on the French New Wave. 

A principal influence on the French New Wave and avant-garde culture in general, Renaissance man Jean Cocteau was a poet, playwright, novelist, visual artist, critic, and  director of films, including his now-classic Beauty and the Beast (1946). 

Roberto Rossellini was a pioneering Italian neorealist filmmaker best known for Rome, Open City, Paisan, and Germany, Year Zero, whose raw style and rejection of studio conventions profoundly influenced the French New Wave directors.

Pierre Braunberger was an influential producer who first worked with Jean Renoir and Luis Buñuel, and eventually with the icons of the French New Wave, including Godard, Truffaut, Resnais, and Rivette. 

Jean-Pierre Melville was a trailblazing French filmmaker known for his stylish, existential crime dramas (The Red Circle, The Samurai)  and love of American noir, who made a memorable cameo in Breathless as the celebrity novelist interviewed by Patricia.

Jean Rouch was a pioneering French filmmaker and anthropologist who blended documentary and fiction in films like Chronicle of a Summer, helping lay the groundwork for cinéma vérité. 

José Bénazéraf was a French filmmaker and producer  best known for erotic cinema. He made a quick uncredited cameo in Breathless as the owner of the white car that Belmondo's character steals