In the film, he plays a megalomaniac pseudo-Southern Californian surfer dressed in garish yellow with a sun-bleached mop, whose eternal quest for the perfect wave off the shores of the calm Mediterranean borders on the ridiculous.

WSJ: Silence Is Golden in 'The Artist'

If anything, that admission only further damaged his credibility: The crackpot artist was now also deemed a megalomaniac.

FORBES: So You Think You Wouldn't Be Bamboozled By Lothar Malskat's Art Forgeries? [Book Excerpt #2]