Darling of the silver screen
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Berenice Bejo is becoming the toast of Hollywood,
thanks to her role as Peppy Miller in The Artist. The French
actress discusses how the silent black and white film has changed
her life.
If you haven’t yet heard of Peppy Miller or Berenice Bejo, you
soon will. They’re both actresses but only one of them is real.
French actress Bejo plays Peppy, a young wannabe silent movie star
trying to make her way in 1930s Hollywood, in the silent, black and
white film The Artist, which is making huge waves and is already
hotly tipped for awards.
Hailed as the feel-good hit of May’s Cannes Film Festival,
Oscar-tipped The Artist has already scooped three Golden
Globes for best comedy, best comedy actor for Jean Dujardin (who
plays fading screen icon George Valentin) and best score. Berenice
was nominated for best supporting actress.
With her classic looks, the actress is every inch the modern
screen icon and it’s easy to see why her director husband Michel
Hazanavicius wrote the film with her in mind.
“Peppy was written for me, so I knew there was a lot of me in
her,” says Bejo, 35.
While George Valentin reigns at the silent movie box office,
Peppy is a young ingenue, totally starstruck by their first meeting
on the red carpet for one of his premieres.
Peppy by name and by nature, the aspiring actress turns an
awkward moment into an opportunity for publicity when she drops a
kiss on his cheek.
“I enjoyed everything on this movie but that was a difficult
scene to film, because Michel was very far away. There were so many
extras, so we were kind of alone.
“When you’re acting and you hear 'Cut!’ from far away, you don’t
know if it’s good. We’d been shooting for so many weeks and
suddenly I wasn’t sure of myself but now I love this scene. She’s
so cute on the red carpet and so funny,” giggles Argentinian-born
Bejo in her soft French accent.
Hazanavicius had dreamed of making a silent film for 20 years
but had to wait until he’d made a name for himself with his OSS 117
spy movie parodies, starring both Dujardin and Bejo.
While his stars first laughed at the idea, they soon warmed to
it: “We said, 'If you finance it, we’ll be there’,” recalls
Bejo.
Filming with an English-speaking cast and crew – including John
Goodman and Malcolm McDowell – had its moments (“You have to eat
lunch in just half an hour”) and working so closely with her
husband wasn’t all plain-sailing, either.
“We once had an argument and it was so funny, because we went
behind a set and were going 'argh rah rah’ in French, and the crew
were like, 'Are they fighting?’” she giggles.
Bejo grew up watching old films with her mum and dad and it was
seeing the golden age of Hollywood on screen that made her want to
be an actress.
Valentin is very much the central character, as the plot
revolves around his reluctance to embrace the 'talkies’, while a
smitten Peppy’s star is busily rising – so Bejo made sure her
scenes counted.
All her hard work is paying off as audiences and critics are
falling in love with Peppy and The Artist, but the awards season
will involve doing many more rounds of publicity.
“Can it be any more intense than what I’m doing now?” laughs
Bejo, who’s reluctant to comment on her Oscar chances.
“I won’t be crying in my bed if I don’t get nominated because
it’s already so amazing.”
For local screenings of The Artist, click here.
Monday, January 16 2012
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