Oneof the most famous faces in France, Sophie Marceau is set for internationalstardom in Mel Gibson’s new adaptation of Anna Karenina. JohnHiscock meets her in Los Angeles. Photographs by Cliff Watts
SophieMarceau ducks into Hollywood’s venerable Château Marmont hotel, full ofapologies for being late as she brushes evidence of a rare California rainstormfrom her coat. There was, she explains, a misunderstanding between her and herdriver that left her waiting an hour for her car — particularly galling forsomeone like Sophie: ‘I just hate wasting time,’ she says in a liltingFrench accent. ‘I have so much to do, and time is slipping away.’
Theconfusion would not have happened in Europe, where 29-year-old Sophie has been astar since she was thirteen. In 1994 President Mitterrand invited her on histour of Asia, where she is as famous as Madonna. It is only in Britain andAmerica, it seems, that she is not yet a household name.
Thatis destined to change, however. The Hollywood door, which opened slightly whenMel Gibson cast her in Braveheart, islikely to swing wide when the big-budget AnnaKarenina, in which she has the title role, is released later this year.Sophie’s striking beauty, forceful personality, and appealing vulnerabilitycontribute to a performance that is likely to eclipse the previous AnnaKareninas of Greta Garbo, Vivien Leigh, and Jacqueline Bisset.
Onceagain, she has to thank Mel Gibson, whose Icon Productions is producing thefilm, for giving her one of the year’s most coveted female roles. Gibson, whobelieves Sophie is 'an instinctively good actress’ as well as a regal beauty,first encountered her in a Japanese magazine in which both he and she werelisted among Japan’s top ten favourite film stars. She auditioned for him inLondon for Braveheart and got the partof the Queen, since when they have been firm friends. Sophie campaigned for therole of Anna Karenina when Gibson was passing through Paris and they met forlunch. ‘I told him I had to have the part. It was the dream role for me. Ihave always loved the book, and it is the role for any actress. I said, “Please, Mel. It’s me. It’sme.”’
Loathto interfere with his British director Bernard Rose, Gibson neverthelessrecommended Sophie, and Rose concurred. So, for four months last year, Sophietrained in Russia with a supporting cast that included Sean Bean as her loverVronsky, and James Fox as her husband Karenin. Sean Bean she found ‘elegant,very nice and charming’; but for her the most important member of the troupein St Petersburg was her son, Vincent, now eighteen months old. ‘I don’tthink you could cast a childless woman as Anna,’ says Rose. ‘There are toomany aspects of the story that deal with her children and her separation fromthem; I think only a mother can really give them resonance.’
Vincent’sfather is Sophie’s long-time lover, the Polish filmmaker Andrzej Zulawski, whois 24 years her senior. Their relationship, which began when she was seventeen,troubled many of her fans, who considered Zulawski too ‘dark’ and perversefor the innocent Sophie (once billed as ‘France’s little fiancée’ and‘the Gallic Shirley Temple’). Zulawski steered Sophie away from teenageromance movies and into more sophisticated vehicles, and gave her her first nudescene in his 1984 film L’Amour Braque.But she laughs at suggestions that he is some kind of sadistic Svengali: ‘Heis not easy, but I am not easy either,’ she says. ‘We have done three filmstogether, and I’d love to work with him again. We understand each other.’
Sophieis a woman who does not hesitate to express her feelings. ‘Outspoken’ and‘honest’ follow ‘beautiful’ as the words most used to describe her, andshe concedes: ‘I do say what I think, and it does sometimes get me intotrouble, but I cannot keep quiet.’ But, she hastens to add, ‘I am very easyto work with, and I am not a pain in the neck. I have been working for seventeenyears, and I know what making a film is. I do not like working with people whoare incompetent and unprofessional.’Itwas her bluntness that led to a blow-up with the French director BertrandTavernier on her recent film D'Artagnan’sDaughter. ‘Now,’ she says with a rueful smile, ‘we are the worst ofenemies.’ She hesitates. ‘Perhaps I shouldn’t talk about it, but I will.Why not? I worked very hard on that movie. I rode, learnt to sword-fight, and itcould have been a very good movie, but he was very rude to me. He chose some ofthe worst takes because he wanted to make it a Bertrand Tavernier movie and nota Sophie Marceau movie. I told him what I thought. We won’t be workingtogether again.’
OfGibson she says, ‘Mel is clever and kind, and knows exactly what he wants. Heis also a good producer, because he didn’t interfere while we were filming inRussia. We know how tough and hard Hollywood is, but Mel was willing to take arisk with people who are not so famous, and let them get on with the job.’
AfterBraveheart, Sophie returned to Britainto make Firelight, for Bill Nicholson— ‘a wonderful script and a beautiful, emotional film’ — which will bereleased towards the end of the year, as will Marquise,which she filmed in France. ‘I have three movies being released this year, soI will take a break from filming for a while or else I will go insane,’ shesays.
Itis time for Sophie to move on. ‘I’m always in a rush, because I’m afraidof how fast things are going,’ she sighs. ‘I have a lot of children to haveand a lot of books to write and a lot of films to do, and I’m terribly afraidof not having enough time. I have a lot to do in my career — not as an actressbut as a woman.’
Outside,the rain has stopped, the sun is shining once again, and, for Sophie, Hollywoodis beckoning.
