La malheureuse Julie Delpy subit des sévices à faire dresser les cheveux sur la tête d'un chartreux. Mais la jeune fille, 17 ans, a du tempérament : "J'aime les scènes dures." Elle parle vite, tutoie d'emblée et pose elle-même les questions : "Est-ce que le film va déranger les bigots ?" Le rôle de Béatrice est pour elle le portrait d'une femme moderne : "Un personnage fort et débrouillard, qui refuse le joug des hommes."

Fille unique de deux comédiens, Albert Delpy et Marie Pillet, Julie a connu, dès le couffin, les loges de théâtre. Comme Mozart, elle débute à 5 ans, sur scène, et à 7 ans au cinéma, dans un épisode de Guerres civiles en France, de Joël Farge, intitulé La Semaine sanglante. A 11 ans, elle tue Roland Topor pour les besoins d'un court métrage. Puis tourne avec Godard dans Détective, et Léos Carax dans Mauvais Sang. Enfin, dans le prochain film de Jean-Pierre Limosin, L'Autre Nuit, elle venge ses parents, tués dans un accident de voiture. "Bizarre, je dois avoir un certain rapport avec la mort." On la croit quand elle se dit "volontaire, révoltée, un peu violente". Et prête à toutes les expériences : "Même à la guerre, si je tombe sur un méchant réalisateur."

(photo: fanpop)

Le mouton n'est jamais facile à diriger. Et, quand il est en troupeau, c'est pire. Alors que l'acteur, même en groupe et pas forcément à poil laineux, est plutôt docile et bêle peu. Julie Delpy l'a appris ce jour de juin, alors qu'elle tournait, en Bretagne, une des scènes de son nouveau film Skylab, chronique familiale située en 1979, avec enfants, beaux-frères, épouses, mémé Lucienne, tonton Hubert et Valérie Bonneton dans le rôle de Micheline, actrice chouchoute maison et pardon pour les autres. Les moutons ne seront peut-être pas dans la version finale, vu leur peu d'empressement à jouer la comédie avec sérieux, les acteurs, si.

Skylab est le quatrième long-métrage réalisé par Julie Delpy (...) "J'aime aussi raconter des histoires différentes. Skylab frise l'autobiographie, et je tourne dans la maison de ma tante, là où j'ai passé mes vacances. En fait, la seule chose que je ne suis pas sûre d'aimer, c'est être actrice." Joli paradoxe, en vérité.

Pourtant, dans Skylab, elle joue Anna, 37 ans, mère d'Albertine, 10 ans, dont on peut supposer qu'elle est la petite Julie: elle en a l'âge, et son prénom, si proustien, est un glissement féminin de celui du vrai père de la cinéaste, Albert Delpy, présentement occupé à jouer Hubert. Tout le monde suit ? Autour de la table, le reste de la famille et une belle brochette de comédiens : Eric Elmosnino, Aure Atika, Bernadette Lafont, Noémie Lvovsky et Valérie Bonneton, géniale mère de famille dans Fais pas ci, fais pas ça et citée deux fois dans cet article, non ce n'est pas trop.

Mais revenons à nos moutons. Plus exactement aux plans d'assiettes. Il faut savoir qu'une scène de repas compte parmi les choses les plus difficiles à réaliser, après les scènes de douche en motel et les coulages de paquebot. Il y a du monde, ça parle et ça reparle, et il faut y sentir le naturel alors que tout est millimétré. Du coup, Julie Delpy avance à petits pas. Une longue préparation. Un plan large, trois prises. Changement d'axe. Cogitation en direct de la mise en scène. Contrôle de la scène tournée. Rectification des mouvements de caméra. Sans se presser. Sans crier. Sans bêler non plus d'ailleurs. (...)

Dix ans après le triomphe d'Astérix et Obélix : Mission Cléopâtre, le trio du carton gaulois se reforment pour le tournage des aventures du Marsupilami, la célèbre bestiole bondissante à la longue queue et à la fourrure léopard créée par le dessinateur Franquin (Gaston Lagaffe) !

Sous la direction de l'ex-Nul Alain Chabat (qui était au Mexique en août pour les repérages du film), Jamel Debbouze (que nous retrouverons bientôt au générique de Hors-la-loi) et Gérard Depardieu (bientôt dans Potiche) donneront la réplique à la fameuse bestiole.

Le reste de la distribution est prestigieuse et notamment composée du charismatique Lambert Wilson (qui cartonne actuellement au générique du poignant Des hommes et des Dieux, de Xavier Beauvois, Grand Prix du Jury au 63e Festival de Cannes), mais aussi Fred Testot, Liya Kedebe, Géraldine Nakache (Tout ce qui brille), Julie Delpy et le catcheur d'origine indienne The Great Khali.

Ecrit par Alain Chabat et Jeremy Doner, le tournage de cette première adaptation des aventures du Marsupilami qui s'intitulera HOUBA ! Le Marsupilami et l'orchidée de Chicxulub, débutera le 20 septembre en Belgique avant de poursuivre en Amérique Latine pendant trois mois, où, dans le pays imaginaire baptisé "Palombie", nos aventuriers rencontreront la fameuse créature bondissante. (purepeople.com)

Assuming you've had relationships with French men and American men...
Also German, Italian, Spanish...(laughs)

...How are French and American men different?
I wouldn't say there's a difference. I've been with an American guy who was very
open-minded and I've been with a very uptight American guy. I've been with very
uptight French men and very liberated French men. The only thing is that the
approach to relationships and family is slightly different in America, I would say.

How so?
Well, from my experience, the family is much heavier in Europe. Actually, in Latin countries like France, Italy, Spain, you don't really get rid of your family - ever. I feel like my American friends can kind of cut the ties. In France you don't cut the ties.

(...)

How do you enjoy living in LA?
There are certain things I really love about Los Angeles. For me, being in LA is very easy, peaceful. I lock myself in my room, I get to-good food. It's so simple. I love Paris and I love New York, but LA is good for me. It's like being away and writing. I write things that never get made, things that aren't good. But sometimes they do get made, like this film; and hopefully my next one. For me it's good to write for years; to learn to write in English.

What do you miss most about Paris?
I'm here five months a year, basically. A little more in LA, but a lot in Paris. You know what I miss ? I miss the stuff I put in the film: the cafés, the markets, the subway. I love the subway in Paris.

Ethan Hawke authored two novels. Do you see yourself writing books?
Well, you know what's funny? 2 days in Paris I started as a novel. After 50 pages, it's like: "Fuck it, I just wanna write a movie." I don't have the patience to write a novel. I've tried many times and every time I end up writing a screenplay. I think cinematographically - always.

(...)

Would you consider making a third film with Linklater and Hawke, to
complete a trilogy?
Maybe when we reach 42 or something; yeah, in a few years, or sooner. They all want to do it, but we want to find the right story. It took us years to do the second one.

2 days in Paris is a stranger-in-a-strange-land film. Do you have
favourite movies in that genre?
It's funny, because some people it's kind of a Woody Allen, the film? But I never actually watched Woody Allen films before. I mean, yes! I've seen all the Woody Allen films and actually love the early ones, like Bananas and All You Always Wanted to Know About Sex and Love and Death and stuff.

Pas un nanar à la sauce vampire

La comédienne Julie Delpy a eu le nez creux : elle a compris toute l’intensité dramatique contenue dans l’histoire vraie et tragique de la comtesse hongroise Elizabeth Bathory (1560-1614). Ce fait divers historique est à lui seul un scénario idéal dont on s’étonne qu’il n’ait jamais fait l’objet d’une adaptation sérieuse et appliquée. Au contraire, ce personnage a souvent été intégré dans des téléfilms ou de vrais nanars à la sauce vampire (comme Dracula’s Curse 2006).

L'histoire vraie d'une Dracougar

Le film retrace la vie sanglante de la comtesse hongroise Elizabeth Bathory. Celle-ci aurait pris goût au massacre de vierges dont elle tirait du sang frais utilisé comme lotion anti-rides. Plus d’une trentaine de jeunes filles auraient ainsi été sacrifiées au profit de l’épiderme de la dite comtesse. L’angle choisi par la comédienne-réalisatrice est simple et efficace : il n’y a que l’amour pour conduire la comtesse quarantenaire à un tel niveau de folie. Et c’est la passion destructrice qu’elle aurait éprouvé pour le trop jeune Istvan Thurzo de presque vingt ans son cadet (incarné par Daniel Brühl, vous savez, le jeune et « sympathique » officier nazi de Inglorious Basterds) qui l’aurait logiquement menée sur la voie du crime en série et de la quête de la jeunesse éternelle.

Julie Delpy s'en sort avec élégance

Ce parti pris est tenu par un scénario solide et des dialogues ciselés. Et tout est juste dans ce film dont la réalisatrice a su élégamment éviter les écueils trop gore (quoi que… âme sensibles s’abstenir), la mièvrerie romantique ou la reconstitution historique étouffante. Julie Delpy a su tirer profit du budget limité dont elle disposait pour se concentrer sur l’essentiel. Elle a également bénéficié d’une
distribution idéale avec le renfort du prestigieux William Hurt. Seul reproche : une mise en scène qui reste dans des sentiers trop académiques pour nous surprendre. Mais c’est un moindre mal dont on se contenterait volontiers plus souvent.

After seeing his documentary Good Hair we began to see an unexpected dimension of actor Chris Rock's personality. This is being confirmed today by the projects he is involving himself in, and his interest in French cinema.

His taste for French cinema had led him to direct and play in I Think I love My Wife, a remake of Eric Rohmer's film Chloé in the Afternoon. More recently Chris Rock has decided to produce a remake of the French comedy La Première Etoile, an unexpected success of 2009.

His unexpected choices don't stop here, as he has the intention of writing an adaptation of the movie High and Low by Kurosawa, and give the direction to Mike Nichols.

The basic premise sees Delpy's character Marion having to juggle career, kids, ex-boyfriends and her current African American squeeze. The ex-boyfriend in this case, is not Adam Goldberg, but a French former flame -- perhaps in the Romain Duris vein"(....)

Synopsis: This centres again on French woman Marion (Delpy), who has broken up with Jack and now lives in New York with their children. Her Parisian family come to visit her, but the cultural differences between her eccentric father and new American boyfriend will turn out to be explosive. Meanwhile, her sister has had the "good" idea of bringing an ex-boyfriend from Paris and there is the pressure of an upcoming photography exhibition.

Winter, 1995, was a great issue. Our cover story was Rick Linklater’s Before Sunrise. Andrew Hindes interviewed Linklater, Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy, while Jean-Christopher Castelli detailed the film’s use of Austrian tax funds for its financing.

In the chiaroscuro imagination of Hollywood, Vienna is a treacherous place for
Americans, a city where the only thing blacker than the shadows are the intentions of those who operate under their cover. "Down I came to old Vienna, happy as a lark and without a dime" says Holly Martins at the beginning of The Third Man, but in the end, he leaves poorer in everything but heartbreak and disillusion.

Nowadays, Vienna is a far more welcoming place for impoverished Americans – of the filmmaking variety, at least.

Richard Linklater’sBefore Sunrise which shot in Vienna in the summer of 1994, is one of the latest examples of how American independent filmmakers have used European government regional subsidies, not only as a financial resource, but also as a powerful tool for forging productive working relationships with the local film community.

The story of two young people (played by Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy) who meet on a train and spend the night wandering around Vienna, Before Sunrise went beyond using the city as a backdrop, incorporating it as a kind of third character; and the production itself became an unusually successful model of cross-cultural collaboration.

Before Sunrise had a long gestation, and Linklater’s two young lovers wandered through a number of cities before finally arriving in old Vienna. "I wanted a very old, very classical kind of feel," says Linklater. "In the U.S., I had thought about Philadelphia – a good walking city – or San Antonio, which is really old."

Eventually, Europe seemed the logical destination – and not just for the locations. "Part of the reason was to take advantage of the subsidies," says John Sloss, Linklater’s lawyer and the Executive Producer on Sunrise. "The terms for funding are very good from the financial point of view; they are not obtrusive in the filming, they leave you alone. Basically, it’s an interest-free loan, with no continued equity interest." That means filmmakers can get
financial support without having to sell off a lot of territories. Moreover, the loan is repayable only when (and, most importantly, if) the producer’s own financial contribution has been refunded. (...)

Starting in Germany, the producers of Before Sunrise approached the Hamburg and NRW funds, but met with rejection from both. Anne Walker-McBay, Linklater’s long
time producer, speculates that, based on the script (essentially an extended conversation between two characters), the film might have come across as "too European" for some, and therefore risky: "The state of subsidies is such that so
few films make money, most of them lose money; so there’s attention going to balancing that situation, and funding films that make money back, and this tends to be films which might be more ‘American’."

Whether or not a film gets funding is often dependent on factors such as local cultural politics as well as budgets, which are always hard to predict. Ellen Winn, the Munich-based co-producer, advises filmmakers who apply to make sure "that the numbers are realistic, and that you already have some sort of financing going into it, like a distributor’s letter saying that they are supporting this film enough to release it."

Linklater came to Vienna with the advantage of a relatively high profile; while Slacker had gone straight to television in Germany, it had been theatrically released in Austria by Stadtkino, which eventually provided a letter of intent to distribute Before Sunrise. Moreover, Dazed and Confused was one of the big hits of the October, 1993 V’iennale. The attraction was intense and mutual. "We got off the plane and felt that not only could we do it here, we’d really like to do it here," says Walker-McBay. (...)

The main criterion for funding is economic – what the WFF rule book calls the "Vienna Effect," which sounds like the title of a Robert Ludlum novel but is in fact a loose set of requirements that the money be spent locally. With a budget of approximately $3 million, Before Sunrise spent $1.5 million in Vienna, which
made it eligible for a $500,000 subsidy. Local expenses included film stock and processing from a local lab, a largely Austrian crew, the supporting cast, lighting equipment, cameras (the highly regarded Moviecam is an Austrian company), the support structure from the Austrian co-producer, and miscellaneous expenses like hotels and meals. The film was entirely shot and largely assembled in Vienna in July of 1994, with post-production back in Linklater’s home base of Austin.

Foreign producers must find an Austrian partner, who writes the contract and acts as the intermediary with WFF. WFF provides an accredited list of producers from which to choose, and, according to Ainberger, this is one of the most important decisions a filmmaker can make: "Make sure you have a very clear and exact partner in Vienna," he says, recommending a scouting trip of at least two weeks to find a compatible company. Before Sunrise used the services of Filmhaus Wien, a young company which specializes in commercial work and had the
reputation of being, in Walker-McBay’s words, "not so old-school in their thinking. They worked with us for crew hiring, recommending people, and pulled in many favors." Filmhaus partner Gernot St. Schaffler, who now heads up his
company’s L.A. office, saw his involvement with Before Sunrise in terms of long-range payback: "I wanted to prove that you can do feature films on a low budget in Vienna."

For Avi Levi, the production accountant on Before Sunrise, the benefits and costs of shooting in a place like Vienna must be carefully considered. "Vienna is an expensive place," he notes, singling out the benefits for cast and crew as "the most of any country I’ve ever shot in." On the other hand, "they use smaller crews than we do and the prices before the benefits are somewhat lower than here." While the costs might outweigh the benefits in a more complicated shoot involving stunts and special effects, with a relatively simple picture, it’s still worth it – provided the location is necessary to the story.

Before Sunrise’s integration of the city as a third character is precisely one of the factors that attracted the WFF to the project. WFF’s criteria also contain a cultural stipulation of "Vienna Relatedness," with preference given to films which promote the city as a recognizable location. According to Ainberger, "It is not necessary that Vienna is shown as Vienna – in Disney’s Three
Musketeers, it was shown as France – but we like it."

Ironically, "Vienna Relatedness" eventually overtook financial necessity for the filmmakers as well. When Castle Rock Pictures picked up Before Sunrise as part of a first-look deal with Linklater in early 1994, there was no longer any need for a subsidy; in fact, as sole producer, Castle Rock was reluctant to get involved with an extra layer of bureaucracy. (A particular sticking point was the lien on all subsidized production, one of the normal requirements for funding, which was eventually dropped in the face of Castle Rock’s objections.) The filmmakers insisted on working through the WFF, however: "We wanted to make the production as local as possible," says Walker-McBay. "Getting the subsidy seemed like a good way to become politically connected; and you need as many friends as possible when you’re shooting on a low budget!"

These connections were particularly important when it came to lining up locations. Most European cities don’t have film commissions to coordinate things like in America; though Vienna has grown into one of the more film-friendly cities, "it’s not like L.A. where there is shooting on every corner," notes
Schaffler. The city is divided into districts, and securing permissions often involved arguing with local representatives who were more concerned with appeasing constituents bothered by film crews than any long-term benefits. "Austrians are not as direct as we are," notes Walker-McBay. "We like ‘yes’ and
‘no,’ but they’ll go, ‘Isn’t this nice? You want to film here? No problem!’ – this is two months before; and then the day before, they tell us ‘you can shoot until 11,’ but our problem is that the sun goes down at 10 and we need six hours of night shooting. Then, at the last minute, they push it through."

As in all shoots using foreign crews, the filmmakers had to be aware of local working methods ahead of time and compensate accordingly. Linklater brought over his "core group from Slacker," including producer Walker-McBay, director of
photography Lee Daniel, and an American first assistant director. ("They do more with location and set managers," says Walker-McBay. "Their A.D. has a more narrowly defined role than ours.") The rest of the crew was Viennese (though largely English-speaking), and the Americans found themselves adjusting very nicely to a rather more gemütlich feeling than is commonly found on American independent sets: "I like the European attitude," says Walker-McBay. "Most of the crew has a life beyond films – families to go home to, vacations to take – and it’s more relaxed."

Despite the shorter working hours, the Viennese crew were no slackers. Walker-McBay has nothing but praise for their technical expertise, and Linklater marvels at their dedication: "They’re not hellbent people like in the U.S. They have a real respect for the intentions of a movie," he says. "All they wanted
was for me to make the best movie I could." The Austrians seem to have been similarly enriched by working with Linklater: "I’ve never seen anyone so concentrated and hard-working," says Schaffler. "He was in a good mood all the time, and made our life very easy." As John Sloss sums it up, "it went so well that we’d be tempting fate to even say what we should have done better."

Needless to say, the producers of Before Sunrise came away with very few of the war stories that would normally spice up, if not the actual shoot itself, then an article like this one. According to Linklater, several of the locations that he happened to like turned out to be the same ones Carol Reed used for The Third Man, but even these coincidences don’t provide much of a metaphor for the film: for unlike Holly Martins, Richard Linklater came home from Vienna a happy man.