|
EVA
GREEN : CONFESSIONS OF A NERVOUS “MUSE”
an
interview by Neil Young
Eva Green was
born in Paris in 1980, the daughter of a Swedish father (dentist Walter
Green) and a French mother (actress Marlene Jobert). Educated in France
and England, Green appeared in several theatre productions before landing
the role of Isobel in Bernardo Bertolucci’s The
Dreamers – set in 1968 Paris, and described as “a sexual sizzler”
by one American critic.
The film co-stars
Louis Garrel as Isobel’s twin brother Theo and Michael Pitt as Matthew,
a young American drawn into the sibling’s secret world of movies, revolution
and sensuality. With her black hair, pale skin and large eyes, Green has
been compared with the more ‘exotic-looking’ actresses of French cinema
such as (half-German, half-Algerian/Turkish) Isabelle Adjani and (Danish-born)
Anna Karina. In Bertolucci’s phrase, she’s “so beautiful, it’s indecent.”
This interview
was conducted at the London Film Festival in November, 2003 – soon after,
Green was confirmed as the female lead opposite Orlando Bloom and Liam
Neeson in Ridley Scott’s Crusades epic, Kingdom of Heaven, to begin
filming in 2004. As one excitable French website broke the news: “Eva
Green sous la charme d’Orlando Bloom… elle a seduit Ridley Scott!”
Neil
Young : The Dreamers is your first movie, and it seems to be
turning out quite well.
Eva Green
: Yeah I’m very lucky… for the moment…
Your mother
has worked with many prominent directors including Godard and Chabrol.
What did she think when she heard you were working with Bernardo Bertolucci
on your first film?
She was very
scared for me, she’s knows that I’m very sensitive and very insecure and
it’s really a hard job, you’ve got to show yourself all the time, you
can’t take nothing for granted. It’s very ephemeral – the most difficult
thing is to last, so. But I think now she’s fine.
Do you use
your mother as an inspiration for your own acting in any way?
She’s very
different from me – she’s much more instinctive. I’m more … cerebral.
She can be very very funny – she’s like Shirley MacLaine, she’s like that…
she’s not so dark.
How did
you get the job on The Dreamers?
I did a casting
two years ago, it was for CQ by Roman Coppola, it was really a
disaster. Then the casting director called me back for Bernardo – she
thought I was too tragic for the CQ part. It was really weird…
And I’ve heard the movie’s not so good. I did an interview on camera,
and the casting director asked me questions about sexuality, cinema, politics,
and if I would get naked in a movie (laughs). So eventually Bernardo
saw the tape and he wanted to meet me, and I met him. So we did, with
Louis Garrel, an improvisation in front of the camera – I think he just
wanted to see if I could ‘fit’ the character. Have a kind of mystery…
secret, yes. We didn’t know each other at all, but we had to act like
we were brother and sister. And then we did screen tests in London with
Jake Gyllenhaal, based on the script, because he was going to play the
Michael Pitt role. He had to drop out, because, I don’t know – his lawyers
or his agent didn’t want him to get naked in movie. It was really bad
for his ‘career’ because in America I think they’re very very puritan,
and if you’re doing a scene with frontal nudity, then people will think
that you’re a pornographic actor, or something. It’s really weird – I
don’t really understand that… mind-set.
The film
has already had caused controversy in the U.S.
With censorship.
(breathes out) I think they’re crazy – it’s paradoxical because you can
watch movies with a lot of violence in it, and then naked people, it’s
impossible?
Is it the
sexuality, or the 1968 revolutionary-politics angle that makes some Americans
uncomfortable?
For me the
politics is just a backdrop in this movie. When we had a press conference
in Rome, all the journalists were asking us questions about ’68, and I
didn’t understand why. OK, it’s about ’68, but let’s talk about
the movie! It’s a love story – and also kind of a comedy.
Were you
nervous when you heard you’d got the part?
My agent called
me and told me I was picked, I was very very nervous. At first I was like
aaahh!! God! it’s a dream! And then I was afraid of not measuring up,
it’s my first movie and I’m not confident.
Which of
Bertolucci’s movies had you seen.
Last Tango,
Novecento, Last Emperor, Little Buddha, Sheltering Sky.
And did
you think, there’s Debra Winger, and Liv Tyler, then me…
And Marlon
Brando…
It’s a daunting
list of talent – and now you’re the “new one”. I saw a magazine headline
“Bertolucci’s New Muse” – did you feel like a ‘muse’?
No, not at
all.
As an actor,
what’s it like working with Bertolucci?
He’s always,
like, testing us. And we wanted to please him… It’s good because, he manipulates,
but at the same time, we’re very free, you know. Sometimes it felt like
he was sending us some… magic rays… It’s really weird. There’s a real
exchange, too. In the morning, he would ask us questions about the scene,
and the characters’ behaviour. For example, in the first script it was
more focussed on the two boys – they made love, it was really stronger.
He toned that town, it was too much, so now it’s just suggested. And one
day he changed his mind, and he didn’t want me to be a virgin any more,
so I was like, OK, why?
And you
felt confident enough to kind of ‘stand up’ to Bertolucci and question
him?
It was OK,
you know, he really asked you for your opinions, there was a real exchange,
and he manages to communicate what he wants with just a simple gesture,
or a word.
You filmed
in Paris?
Yes! Just five
minutes from my home! I could sleep in my own bed at night.
I read somewhere
that the reason why French actresses keep their looks is because shooting
on French movies doesn’t start till 10.30am. Is that correct?
That’s not
true! Maybe we have that reputation, but it’s not true.
Of the leading
French actresses, which do you like?
Jeanne Moreau.
I love Jeanne Moreau, she’s very… ambiguous.
Any others,
French or otherwise?
I love Cate
Blanchett! And Juliette Binoche, and Helena Bonham Carter.
There’s
such a reliable stream of French actresses: Adjani, Huppert, Beart. Are
you the “next big thing” from France?
I don’t know…
maybe I will stop tomorrow…
Would you
be comfortable with the kind of fame that engulfed Audrey Tautou after
Amelie, and she became almost a recluse?
I think all
actors actors are very, how do you say it, “narciss-sistic”, and all want
recognition. We all want that, of course, but, at the same time I want
to disappear, you know. To hide…
Disappear
into the role, or disappear from public view?
In life… I’m
not very good at interviews, I don’t like that so much, and TV is another
thing – the lights and the make-up, and people asking you a question you
can’t answer. I don’t want to sound… stupid. Sometimes I can’t give the
answer they want. Some people can just say a phrase that will sum up and
sell the movie. You know some people are training actors for interviews,
in France. When I was in school, and we had an exam, and the teacher asked
me what I thought of this text, I would have a mental block and I couldn’t
think, so I think it might be a good exercise. Yeah, I need that! I wouldn’t
feel like I was gonna faint. The worst is on TV… do you know this guy
in France called Fogiel, he’s really mean. He would ask me questions like
“So, you made the Bertolucci movie, thanks to your mother?” But then he
cuts you off all the time, so you can’t answer. A lot of people hate him.
He’s very famous in France.
In the movie,
Isobel often impersonates legendary actresses like Garbo, Dietrich, Jean
Seberg. Did you study all their old movies for this?
At first there
was a scene where I had to imitate Bette Davis in Beyond the Forest.
Then it changed and became Marlene Dietrich in Blonde Venus. I
saw a lot of movies with Bette Davis, because the writer told me at the
beginning she’s like Bette Davis – quite provocative. It’s good because
I had the opportunity to discover her work. Also Dietrich and Garbo… Queen
Christina!
It’s great
for a young actress, to ‘play’ all these different actresses in one movie.
They’re all
quite the same, all kind of femmes fatale. It’s not like I’ve gotta
be, you know… a dwarf… But it’s a lot of fun. I loved that. You feel like
a child trying on clothes.
Were there
other impersonations that didn’t make it into the final cut?
I think one
Hitchcock movie – there’s a scene where my brother was supposed to cook
eggs. And I was supposed to come and put out my cigarette in the eggs.
It’s a scene from To Catch a Thief with Grace Kelly, but it didn’t
end up in the movie.
Did you
know much about Bette Davis before you started working on the role?
I knew Bette
Davis, and I loved her, but I really looked at her work, how she acted,
when I… had to act like her. I wasn’t imitating. I wasn’t quite Bette
Davis, but kind-of sharp-tongued, you have the impression that she’s going
to bite you…
Whereas
Garbo…
More haughty…
Garbo’s face was… that kind of… mask. Not smiling… It’s not my
favourite actress. I don’t like her very much, she’s too cold for me.
Blanchett
can be chilly.
Yeah, but there’s something burning there…
What about
Adjani? We don’t see so much of her nowadays.
She doesn’t
want to grow old on the screen. She wants to be young forever.
Whereas
Moreau…
She’s not afraid
to be her age.
And Deneuve?
I don’t like
her. She doesn’t really express… I don’t know, I don’t like her.
Did you
see 8 Women and think you could have been in it?
Maybe the part
of Virginie Ledoyen. My mother turned down the Isabelle Huppert role in
the movie.
What about
Huppert?
I love her.
She’s haughty, too, she keeps her distance. She’s… in control all the
time.
 Will
your next movie offer similar possibilities?
Now I’m shooting
a movie called Arsene Lupin and it’s taking place at the end of
the 19th century, so it’s very different from this Isobel.
Less complex, more down-to-earth, she’s suffering all the time, because
her boyfriend is in love with Kristin Scott-Thomas, who’s a femme fatale.
My character is more of a jeune premiere. How do you say that?
Juvenile
lead.
“Juvenile lead”…
juvenile lead… The funny thing is that Robin Renucci, he’s also my father
in Arsene Lupin! A crazy coincidence. We’re shooting in the suburbs
of Paris, in a castle!
The Dreamers
is the kind of project that will probably lead to Hollywood offers.
Have you had any approaches yet?
Well, I have
“castings”… I have a good manager and she’s showing the movie to them.
And I have tests to do, first. I’m not supposed to say for what films.
But let’s say… big movies…
Which directors
do you like the best?
I love Lars
von Trier, David Lynch…
Von Trier
seems to be often quite tough on his actresses. Would you like to work
with him?
Maybe, in several
years, when I’m stronger…
Why von
Trier and Lynch exactly?
Well, they
make… dark movies. I want to kill someone in my next movie! I’d like to
do a serial-killer movie!
Would you
ever consider writing or directing?
I don’t know,
maybe I’m not so gifted. I’d love to. But it’s such a hard job.
What were
your ambitions as a child?
I wanted to
be an actresses, but I didn’t want to admit it. A lot of children of famous
people want to be actors, because it’s easier… My mother was scared. Now
she’s happy. But she hasn’t seen the movie yet – I’m not sure how she’s
going to react…
Did she
visit the set?
No, no. Nobody
is allowed. I didn’t want her to come, I want to be myself, and not be
the daughter of somebody…
And it would
be odd if your mother was on set, giving her verdict.
“Okay, not
very good! Again – Bernardo, Bernardo!”
Green is
an English name – what’s the connection?
I don’t have
any English connection, my father’s Swedish, so it’s pronounced “grain”.
He’s a dentist.
Did you
never consider following in his footsteps instead?
It’s crazy,
no, he had like ten years at school studying.
And there’s
a Scandinavian link with another top “French” actress, Anna Karina, who’s
Danish and who you look like a little. Have you met her?
No… But I don’t
understand why she married Godard. He’s very… difficult.
It’s important
for a leading lady to trust her director, of course. Was this the case
with yourself and Bertolucci in the more difficult scenes, such as the
nude sequences?
Because it
was Bernardo, if it been somebody else maybe I would have been more scared.
But I saw Last Tango and it’s one of my favourite movies, and I
loved it, so…
The story
of Maria Schneider [who starred in Last Tango] is kind of tragic,
of course…
Yeah, my mother
and my agent told me about it, but you know, when you’ve got a chance
like that, you don’t think twice… I think with Maria Schneider, it’s not
because of Bernardo. She hates Bernardo. She wasn’t ready to do
that at the time. I was very scared because of that, people said it’s
going to be a very difficult movie for you. I was very surprised by what
working with Bernardo was actually like.
And how
did you find working with Michael Pitt, who replaced Jake Gyllenhaal?
I remember
I was on tour with my play Turcaret. I was walking down a street
with my agent, and he saw a poster for Murder By Numbers, and said
‘this is him’. I thought… he looks like a girl! He had long hair… I think
he was not very proud of the movie, but he was proud of his performance.
I saw him in Hedwig and the Angry Inch, and Dawson [Dawson’s
Creek]. He’s ashamed of that, but it was good for him. At first, when
he came, I was very scared, because I really loved Jake Gyllenhaal, and
I met Michael two days before shooting. But we hit it off completely,
at once. It was good because, with Louis we worked on our English with
a coach for two months. Louis and I had time to know each other, then
Michael arrived – so it was like the movie, you know.
Bertolucci
probably planned it all…
Of course.
How was
it between the three actors, working together on such a sensual, incestuous
project?
We were behaving
like… young kids. Louis was like “Okay, look at my dick!” Doing these
scenes, it was not so hard. We would see each other during weekends. We
were like in a cocoon, and sometimes reality and fiction were intertwined.
Mmm…
Mmmm! We felt
like we were living in this apartment, we had our rooms upstairs, then
the set was on the first floor.
But you
went home at night.
Yes. It was
very pleasant, because we were not in reality. It was very difficult for
me after the shooting, because I was very depressed. It was so intense,
then suddenly everything’s over and you have to go back… out on the streets.
How is it
for you when you watch the movie now?
You watch yourself,
only yourself, and see all the bad things. And I’m naked, so it’s not
very easy for me… It’s like somebody else on the screen. It’s like watching
holiday photos – “Oh, it’s my story!”
What’s it
like when you see yourself on-screen, in the nude scenes?
It’s not me,
it’s Isobel… That’s what I say to myself… “I’m not like that”… “I’m more
beautiful!”
Are you
feeling more confident, now that you have finished one film and are halfway
through another.
No… No.
Is Arsene
Lupin proving a bad experience?
I can’t say
that. But I don’t know… I’m questioning myself.
Questioning
whether you even want to be an actress?
Yeah.
What would
you like to do instead?
I’d like to
compose music… soundtracks… I love the music in the movies. The song ‘Hey
Joe’ in the bathtub, Michael Pitt sings the song, he’s a really really
good musician. Now he’s gonna do Kurt Cobain – with Gus Van Sant.
And would
you consider playing Courtney Love?
I’d love to,
but I don’t look like her! The good thing about Michael is that he looks
like an angel, but he’s very dark, and he has violence in him.
Did you
get to rehearse with him?
No, he didn’t
even know his lines before shooting. When the hairdresser was doing his
hair he was learning his lines for the first time. I was very impressed
by that. I’m from the theatre, I learned my lines long in advance. But
I’d love to be able to be self-confident enough to improvise, and let
myself go.
We did improvise
a bit. But it was difficult because our English wasn’t so good.
In The
Dreamers, control is a major issue – the twins have their own little
world where they’re in control…
Then she lets
herself go. At first she’s showing off how controlled and confident she
is. By the end she’s more like herself. I think she takes refuge behind
all those characters because… it’s very difficult to explain the character,
because I feel very close to her in some ways. In life I can keep a certain
distance from people I’m rather reserved, and people might think that
I’m very haughty and impassive, cold. But it’s just a mask of protection.
And when she makes love with Matthew, she becomes an adult, in some way.
She lets reality come into her… Theo and Isobel, they don’t want to face
the fact that they have to free themselves from each other – and they
know that their ambiguous relationship cannot last forever and by remaining
in childhood, they’re only “playing games”, they’re still protected.
Perhaps
it’s the parents’ fault…
Maybe they
don’t know that they’re acting this way. My character is quite
withdrawn there, she doesn’t act the same with the parents. She’s ‘yes
papa, no papa’, then in the bedroom she is free.
Did the
parents originally have more to do, because they’re not in it that much
now?
There was a
terrible scene, when they come back… It was terrible. The mother says
“Oh, look, honey, they’re like young puppies, it’s wonderful, it’s the
spring of their bodies…” It was terrible – too much of an explanation,
so it was cut, and that was for the better.
When you
were growing up, did you have as much freedom as Isobel?
No, my parents
are very cool, but I had a lot of… barriers, can you say that?
I’m too much in control, and I’m too wise, when I was at school. I worked
all the weekend, I didn’t go out. I was very scared of the boys, it was
like a spell.
Did you
also have a brother?
I have a non-identical
twin sister. We’re very different from each other.
So you didn’t
create your own world, like many twins do?
Not at all,
we’re so different. We don’t really talk to each other. She hasn’t seen
my plays, but now she wants to see my movie, and I’m very… moved. She’s
studying business. She’s more… down-to-earth.
Are you
becoming more down-to-earth, doing stuff like these promotional activities?
No I feel like
I am dreaming. It’s not like the naked scenes. But when something is really
tough for me – when I have to talk about myself – I’m like, okay, (deep
breath), I’m not somebody else, but I’m tu crois, sur moi-meme?
“Within
yourself”, like an athlete going into ‘the zone’.
Exactly.
I hope this
hasn’t been too stressful…
No, not at
all!
transcript
by Neil Young,
December 30th, 2003
-
|
