The king and I: meeting Eric Cantona

As the minutes tick by towards the appointed hour of the interview, memories come thick and fast. The Saturdays spent singing Eric's name to the tune of "La Marseillaise" in the halcyon days of the mid-1990s; standing behind the goal as he produced an exquisitely calibrated chip against Sunderland, before striking an emperor's pose, collar upturned, to accept the crowd's acclaim; the time I almost lost my job as a night news editor, after talking half the night to my brother about the ramifications of the infamous assault on a Crystal Palace fan in 1995 – I forgot that it might be an idea to put something in the paper.

Reminiscences, past glories and controversies all to be explored, sitting in a Paris café just off the Place de l'Opéra. Just Eric and me, talking over the old days when he was on the pitch, I was in the stands and God was in his heaven.

This delightful reverie comes to an abrupt end when I spot Cantona outside, leather-jacketed, as physically imposing as ever, and looking for me. Should one ever meet one's heroes  Leading the man who became a semi-mythical figure in his five years at Old Trafford through the packed tables of the Café de la Paix, I feel like someone meeting an ex-lover who has long since moved on.

The first question comes from him. "So, have you seen the film "

Maybe I'm paranoid, but there seems to be a slight hint of menace in his tone. In person, Cantona is polite, reserved and wary of Englishmen seeking football anecdotes. The beard is increasingly salt and peppery but, though he gained a fair amount of weight immediately after retiring from football, he is now looking formidably trim at 45. And as numerous adversaries have discovered throughout his career, he is not a man to cross.

We are here, he is making clear, to talk about his work as an actor and in particular to discuss Switch, a thriller due to appear in cinemas at the end of the month. I can't say I hadn't been warned. In the lead-up to our meeting, I'd heard of a hapless British hack who wanted an opinion on the current state of the United squad. Cantona almost put the phone down on him.

（一个慢牛）