Lately I've been entertaining certain questions about how to become a cross-over American film star. Irene Jacob is one of my favorite actresses, and she really had a wealthy career with Red and The Double Life of Veronique. She had a bigger impression than Juilet Binoche did in the mid-90's and then she went ahead and tried out an American movie. It was pretty serious, Keneth Branah's Othello. Red had 100% approval over at RT, and Double Life had 89%, she was poised to be a huge French import and then it never happened. She's still been doing a few movies since then, and some of them have good reviews, but she's not a household French name like Binoche, and now Audrey Tautou. I think the Three Colors is an interesting series to explore in light of its stars.



Julie Delpy and Binoche went on to be quite huge, and Binoche even won an Oscar though I consider her the least interesting of the three. Delpy (whom I think studied at NYU actually) has become a bit of an American Indie queen, and that's a different approach to breaking in than Binoche who went for huge big-budget dramas and cute romcoms (think Couch in New York, Jet Lag, Chocolat, etc). These three movies were probably three of the most popular movies in the mid-nineties when Red got released in theatres and generated enough buzz to have the other two colors released retro-actively (I think). Keislowski loved Jacob and did two movies with her (Double Life released here as well). But look at where she is in comparison to the other two heroines. I wonder how Othello killed her career.

The other two interesting actors are of course, Gael Garcia Bernal and Diego Luna. Look at how big Bernal is now here in the states. He's got four widely received movies here, not one of them in English. Luna jumped into Dirty Dancing 2 (Havannah Nights) right away and who's heard of him since? Granted I'm not comparing Dirty Dancing 2 to Othello, they are clearly very different movies, and were entered at different times in actors careers. Jacob had several movies under her belt then that gave her a name here, and Luna had one. So one could consider him to have jumped pre-maturely, and picked a bad flick. But as I mentioned, I have no idea how Jacob didn't make it.

The other consideration is Ziyi Zhang, who is going Bernal's way and sticking to native language films. Geisha comes out next year, in English, and its going to be her cross-over to the English language film, so we'll need to see how it goes. It's not dgoing to be jokey and cutesy like Dirty Dancing two, so its interesting to hold it up against The English Patient (Binoche's dramatic english breakthrough) and Othello (Jacob's dramatic English breakthrough). What is going to happen to her after that? Do you think its a smart move? Perhaps Geisha should not have been in English? I also wonder when Bernal is going to try an English movie? Tatou already did with Dirty Pretty Things, and it was pretty successful, or at least, we've heard of her numerous times since then, so it clearly didn't kill her. She hasn't done a second one though. Now we're also looking at Aishwarya Rai trying to move out of Bollywood as well.

Delpy is in a league of her own. She never had a HUGE breakthrough IMO, she just decame an indie darling and has been building such a catalogue of great films that she kind of snuck in there as a household name.

What does it take to breakthrough into the American film scene for a foreign actor or actress?

Gael Garcia Bernal isn't that big, though.

His latest film - Dot The I - will bomb. Simply because the reviews won't be strong enough (it has already played overseas)

I didn't know Delpy was originally in the foreign scene...

Is Dot the I foreign language? I don't think that kills anyone. Tautou has done some very poor French movies, and we just write them off as French, or distribution companies don't bother bringing them here and it doesn't make or break their Hollywood career. Sooner or later all imports have to do an English language film that breaks 10 million and for some reason, timing and the film mean everything. Othello was expected to do great after Branagh's Shakespearian fame, and ended up bringing in less than 3 million for a huge cast and production (if anyone knows the cost of this movie, please post it). That and she was still pretty new here. Binoche has done some atrocious films, but she was well enough established to survive them. If Bernal did a huge budget highly expected drama as his first American film and it bombed, that might mean sudden death just like Luna and Jacob.

Its really a recipe, and as I said about Delpy, I think she studied here I think, but if you go to IMDB, check out her films. White was definately the BREAKTHROUGH before doing her first English role. Her first English role was actually in The Three Muskateers. Remember she was the hand-maiden?

Julie Delpy
The Legend of Lucy Keyes (2005) (post-production) .... Jeanne Cooley
Untitled Jim Jarmusch Project (2005) (post-production)


Frankenstein (2004/I) (TV) .... Elizabeth
Before Sunset (2004) .... Celine
Notting Hill Anxiety Festival (2003) .... Charlotte
Cinemagique (2002) .... Marguerite
Looking for Jimmy (2002) .... Al
Villa des roses (2002) .... Louise Créteur
Investigating Sex (2001) .... Chloe
Beginner's Luck (2001) .... Anya
Waking Life (2001) (voice) .... Celine
MacArthur Park (2001/I) .... Wendy
Sand (2000) .... Lill
... aka Sandstorm


But I'm a Cheerleader (1999) .... Lipstick Lesbian at Cocksucker
The Passion of Ayn Rand (1999) .... Barbara
Crime and Punishment (1998/I) (TV) .... Sonia
... aka Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment (USA: complete title)
The Treat (1998) .... Francesca
L.A. Without a Map (1998) .... Julie
... aka I Love L.A. (France)
... aka Los Angeles Without a Map
Alleys and Motorways (1997) (V)
... aka Bush: Alleys and Motorways
An American Werewolf in Paris (1997) .... Serafine Pigot
... aka American Werewolf 2
... aka Loup-garou de Paris, Le (France)
Mille merveilles de l'univers, Les (1997) .... Eva Purpur
... aka The Thousand Wonders of the Universe (Canada: English title)
Tykho Moon (1996) .... Lena
Blah Blah Blah (1995)
Before Sunrise (1995) .... Celine
Killing Zoe (1994) .... Zoe
... aka Killing Zoe (France)
Trois couleurs: Rouge (1994) .... Dominique
... aka Three Colours: Red (Canada: English title) (UK)
... aka Red (USA: short title)
... aka Three Colors: Red (USA)
... aka Trzy kolory: Czerwony (Poland)
Trzy kolory: Bialy (1994) .... Dominique
... aka Three Colours: White (Canada: English title) (UK)
... aka Three Colors: White (USA)
... aka Trois couleurs: Blanc (France)
... aka Trzy kolory: Biały (Poland)
... aka White
Younger and Younger (1993) .... Melodie
The Three Musketeers (1993) .... Constance
Trois couleurs: Bleu (1993) (uncredited) .... Dominique
... aka Three Colors: Blue (Canada: English title) (USA)
... aka Three Colours: Blue (Canada: English title) (UK)
... aka Bleu (France: short title)
... aka Blue
... aka Trzy kolory: Niebieski (Poland)
Warszawa. Année 5703 (1992) .... Fryda
... aka Daunenträger, Der (Germany)
... aka Tragarz puchu (Poland)
... aka Warsaw - Year 5703
Dents de ma mère, Les (1991) .... Julie
Homo Faber (1991) .... Sabeth
... aka The Voyager (France)
... aka Voyager (USA)
Europa Europa (1990) .... Leni
... aka Europa Europe (USA)
... aka Hitlerjunge Salomon (Germany)


Noche oscura, La (1989) .... Virgin Mary
... aka Nuit obscure, La (France)
... aka The Dark Night
... aka The Dark Night of the Soul (International: English title: informal literal title)
Autre nuit, L' (1988) .... Marie
... aka The Other Night
King Lear (1987) (uncredited) .... Virginia
Passion Béatrice, La (1987) .... Beatrice
... aka Beatrice (USA)
... aka Quarto comandamento (Italy)
... aka The Passion of Beatrice (USA: video title)
Mauvais sang (1986) .... Lise
... aka Bad Blood (USA)
... aka The Night Is Young
Classique (1985)
Amour ou presque, L' (1985)
Détective (1985) .... Wise young girl
Niveau moins trois (1982)


Guerres civiles en France (1978) (as Julie Pillet) .... (segment "La semaine sanglante")
... aka Civil Wars in France (International: English title: literal title)

Sorry. Dot the I is in English. There we goooo...

He's also scheduled to play Elvis in a movie called "The King". Unless this is an attempt to introduce Spanish audiences to Elvis Presley, I doubt it'll be in Spanish. It wouldn't make much sense, anyways. It would be like having Ray in Thai.

If he plays Elvis in English and its not some parody about culture clash then I can say right now that will kill his career here. What's this Dot the I. Its a small indie? Maybe he's going about that route?

Aishwarya Rai is in for sure. I saw Bride and Prejudice today, and it is in no way a good movie, but it is going to be successful for her breakthrough. She put on weight for this role apparently, and it showed. She looked different than everyone around her, which goes far in the U.S. where, everyone else, well, "they all look alike." Even if someone wasn't that good with facial details, she was a foot taller and a bit larger than everyone else in that movie. Unlike Parminder in Chadha's Bend it Like Bechham, Rai also still maintains the distinct "import" element. Parminder looked like a normal indian/british teen, so again, not leaving too much of an impression on everyone. Knightly was in that film and "outshone" the main character, even further putting Parminder into obscurity. This time around there is no mistaking who the heroine is. All other characters are relegated to secondary and supporting, and Darcy is the American in the film so isn't direct competition. The camera spends a good half the time giving close-ups and longing face-shots, so there is no way anyone watching it doesn't have a clear visual note on Rai. She also gets to preserve the import feel. They show her in jeans and a t-shirt on occasion in order to prep us for an indian/american role, but mostly she is still wearing "ethnic" clothing. Its going to work to her advantage, something that didn't happen in Jacob's first English speaking role. Here the whole film (except for the song and dance numbers) is in English, and the story Pride and Prejudice, is well, known. But the setting is in India and the accents are intentionally heavy. We'll see, she's the one womn at this point who could be a Bond girl and it would solidify the cross-over rather than kill it.