2 Days in Paris (2007)
2 Tage Paris
Interview with Julie Delpy
Julie Delpy
We know Julie Delpy best as Celine in the high-acclaimed Indie films Before Sunrise and Before Sunset. There, many had the opinion that Julie plays herself. In her new movie Two days in Paris we have that feeling too, but her character Marion is quite different than Celine. At the Berlinale, OutNow.CH met Julie and talked about directing their parents, jealousy, the torturing of her co-star Adam Goldberg and why Two Days in Paris is inspired by Raging Bull.
» Das Interview in deutscher Sprache
OutNow.CH (ON): The plot about the French woman coming to America seems quite similar to your own life. Is there a lot of Julie Delpy herself in this movie?
Julie Delpy (JD): I would say that I am very different from the character in the film. Marion has an anger problem, she's flirtatious - I am not flirtatious. But the setting is the same as mine. Living in another country, coming back to Paris with a foreign boyfriend...there are similarities, but it's obviously not me.
ON: How do you feel about writing about Marion, and how was it compared to the writing about Celine in Before Sunset?
Delpy in "Before Sunset"
JD: Celine is more personal to me. But this film is close to me in a way that there are personal things I let leak in. Like I believe that there is a time in life where you have to make a decision to be with someone and be serious with someone.
ON: Do you flirt in real life?
JD: No, I don't flirt in real life, but...no, I don't. (laughs)
ON: Are you still friends with you ex-boyfriends as Marion is in the film?
JD: Well, with some. But I am not flirting with ex-boyfriends and keeping them on the hook. I'm not like that at all. The friendships with my ex-boyfriends are very clear and simple relationships.
ON: Marion is definitely a neurotic person. Would you describe yourself as a neurotic person too?
JD: I am quite neurotic, but at the same time, I am not that neurotic. To direct a movie, you have to be grounded and strong and very secure. There is a side of me that's neurotic concerning certain things, but there is a side which is not neurotic at all. That side is very controlling and very decisive.
ON: Are there specific things on the neurotic side to mention?
JD: I am very scared of losing people I love. If my parents or my boyfriend do not pick up the phone, and I call every ten minutes, then I am totally worried. I am so anxious about that. I don't know why, I have never lost someone I love. But I have this kind of phobia. People who I care for need to have their phone turned on all the time!
ON: Maybe it's because of your car accident five years ago.
Delpy as a GAP-Girl
JD: It's funny because it wasn't a car accident that was very dangerous. However, the accident had a side effect on my life that I decided only to do the things I want to do. That's when I did my album, started focusing my music, started writing Before Sunset. It really made me realise that I am not going to keep on listening to my agent and do small parts in Hollywood films that I don't care about. I started writing my own thing and took my life in my hands.
ON: But you wouldn't say no to a big part in a Hollywood movie that you care about, right?
JD: If it's good, of course not. There are Hollywood films I really like. I have nothing against Hollywood, but I would only do something in a good movie.
ON: You have a lot of sex jokes in it. Where do they come from?
JD: (Laughs) You know, I thought about the story for a long time and I wrote the script really quickly. Sex jokes come to me just naturally. I just can't stop! I have a lot of reference to sex, but never sex like, uuuh, sex (makes a suspicious face). For me, it's like: Yeah, dick on balloons, funny! That's how I think of sex. It's pretty funny because I think I am the only actress who has never been abused as a child I guess. For me, sex is fun. It's party.
ON: Jack is a very jealous person. Are you a jealous person?
Snogly-Doo
JD: Not at all. I've never experienced that feeling. And I don't know why. I trust people a lot. Maybe I am lucky. But I am fascinated by it, because I've experienced it the other way around with men that were extremely jealous. And they were suffering so much and I couldn't understand why, because for me, I was doing nothing wrong. And I felt bad for them. It was very painful. I called them every five minutes to make sure they were ok but they were still suffering from it. It's uncontrollable. The smartest, educated person, the most opened-minded person can become that person in pain. I noticed why I hired Adam Goldberg that he's the funniest when he looks like he's in pain. And so I decided to cast him because he's got a face when he is in pain that makes me laugh. The more he is in pain, the funnier he is. So I just wanted him to be tortured all the time!
ON: Do you think Marion and Jack belong together?
JD: Maybe they don't, but it is about trying to make that work. The problem of Marion is that she has never tried. See, as we live in a society that is very much like moving on and consuming and getting to the next thing, we forget about seeing very specific things in people, unique and special things. And that's the reason why people love each other or not.
ON: You play with some stereotypes in your film. What do you want to bring across?
Delpy tired
JD: It's not just about stereotypes of French and Americans. Those things are the funny elements in the film. But it's very much about relationship. It's about the decision going to the next step up. It's not: Everything is perfect, we are two years together and we are getting along. It is to accept the person as she is, with all the flaws and the baggage. It's about getting into the true love.
ON: Is racism a problem in France?
JD: There is a lot of racism. I didn't put it in the film just to make the French seem bad. There is a reason why Le Pen ended up so close to Chirac on the last election. I think it is an interesting subject. And the French don't like to talk about it very much. When I showed the film to some French people - money people - they were kind of: "Uh, maybe you should cut that scene out." But I don't want to make just a little romantic comedy without an edge. It makes the film more interesting to me.
ON: How was it to direct your parents?
Daddy Delpy on the right
JD: It was great. I wrote the part for them and it was essential that they play the part. My mom was really busy so we changed schedule to shoot the scenes. Both are wonderful stage actors. And I always wanted to direct them. Playing with my parents was much fun.
ON: Are you now focusing more on your directing and writing career?
JD: No, I still want to act, and I love acting, and I love working with wonderful directors, like Jim Jarmusch and Richard Linklater. Acting is kind of a holiday compared to everything I did on this one. That was tough, really hard work. I'd love to continue directing, there is no doubt about that. Because for me directing is like when you meet someone and you feel like you've always known him, and you fall in love with him. It felt like I've always done it, it was very strange. The team around me was totally following me. I had no issues, no troubles, no conflicts, I was quick, I was: "Do this, do that". I love giving orders! (laughs) It goes perfectly well with my personality.
ON: You also composed the music to the film.
Hey you!
JD: Yes I did. You know, there are the songs at the parties and stuff. I didn't compose those songs, but I sing on two of them. The end credit song was written by Nouvelle Vague. I wrote the lyrics to it and sang.
ON: Is this going to be a one time co-operation?
JD: I don't know. We'll see it. We got along very well and we did that song it in two days. I also wrote all the little score pieces. Originally I didn't want any music in it. It's funny: Before I edited the film I saw Jaws and I saw Raging Bull and I really thought about the music of the jealousy scenes: French man are sharks, and each time they come near her, the music comes in (imitates the famous "Shark attack" theme of "Jaws") I am sure that you thought that I watched all Woody Allen movies, but I watched Raging Bull like five times, and I don't know why. To inspire my film, I watched the wrong films! When Jack attacks the guy in the restaurant, it's totally raging bull, like I've stolen it from a scene! But it was not stolen, it was written before I saw Raging Bull the first time.
