La Haine and Amélie star Mathieu Kassovitz ‘seriously injured’ in motorbike crash

La Haine and Amélie star Mathieu Kassovitz ‘seriously injured’ in motorbike crash
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French actor Mathieu Kassovitz has been “seriously injured” in a motorcycle accident, local media reports.

The 56-year-old star, who starred in and directed the 1995 film La Haine and appeared alongside Audrey Tatou in Amélie (2001), was participating in a motorbike training course at the time of the incident.

French media is reporting that Kassovitz is in “worrying condition”, and suffered head trauma as well as a fractured pelvis.

Agence France-Presse reports that Kassovitz was undertaking the training in preparation for a role in a new film.

According to Le Parisien, his daughter was on a motorbike behind him at the time of the crash.

Authories in Essone, which is located south of Paris, said that Kassovitz has been taken to hospital in Kremlin-Bicêtre.

The actor, who received his motorcycle licence when he was 40, burst onto the scene in 1995 with La Haine. Kassovitz was 27 when he starred in and directed the film.

For the film, which he co-starred in with Vincent Cassel, Kassovitz won the César for Best Film and the Best Director prize at the Cannes Film Festival.

His Hollywood film credits include the Halle Berry-starring horror film Gothika (2003), which he also directed, and Steven Spielberg’s drama Munich. Kassovitz’s most recent directorial effort was the 2011 film Rebellion, a war film based on a true story of French commandos who clashed with tribes in New Caledonia, the Melanesian territory of France.

He most recently starred in Visions alongside Diane Kruger. The film premiered just two weeks ago at the Angoulême Francophone.

The Independent has contacted Kassovitz’s reps for comment.