None of the people in the movie are real actors; they are all being themselves. The movie did have a scenario, but not a script, which means that all of the dialogues are real conversations. Director Guillaume Nicloux sometimes did give a few actors a couple of lines to steer the conversation.
Director Guillaume Nicloux on realism; - When you see Michel Houellebecq drinking with the guys in the film, they're drinking real alcohol. When you see him making love, he's really making love. When you see him driving that car at 280 kilometers per hour, he's really doing it.
While Max (Maxime Lefrançois) is lifting dumbbells waiting for the kidnapping, he is reciting to himself lines from the third act of Lorenzaccio, by Alfred De Musset.