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The Director of the indie comedy 2 Days in Paris

by Heidi Martinuzzi

Julie Delpy starred in the cult comedy/thriller Killing Zoe as the title character. She also had a role in the lesbian-indie-fave But I'm a Cheerleader, and An American Werewolf in Paris. In between these films and dating Ethan Hawke, Adam Goldberg, and making more highly-respected movies like Linklater's Waking Life, The Hoax, The Passion of Ayn Rand and Crime and Punishment, she wrote and received an Academy Award nomination for her script Before Sunset, a sequel to the Richard Linklater film Before Sunrise, which she also starred in. This past several years, Delpy has been working on her most recent movie 2 Days in Paris (which comes out in theaters 8/11/07), which she wrote and directed. This October she'll begin production on The Countess, a film about the life of Countess Elizabeth Bathory, a 17th century Hungarian noblewoman rumored to have murdered hundreds of young women to fulfill her crazed sexual deviant desires. Julie Delpy is French, born and raised in Paris to parents who are actors, with a lilting Frankish accent and long blond hair. She's also amazingly funny, which many people might not know…

Which explains why she's so different from most actresses in Hollywood, who are content to stay behind the screen, saying other people's lines. Julie has always, from day one, wanted more out of the film industry. Though she's stayed mainly in the independent film industry, she's managed to finance her own projects and make them according to her own rules. She still acts in mainstream Hollywood films, though.

Inspired by working with the amazing French director Jean-Luc Godard on Detective, Julie went to NYU and studied film and screenwriting. Her first short film, a 12-minute indie piece entitled Blah Blah Blah made it all the way to Sundance.

2 Days in Paris is entirely Julie's film; it even features her own music at the end credits. A romantic comedy, it's not sweet or nice in any way. In fact, the humor is very biting and the truthfulness of her observations about relationships cuts very deep.

2 Days in Paris was shot, of course, in Paris, a city with which Julie is intimately familiar.

"To shoot in Paris is wonderful."

2 Days in Paris is a truly inspired comedy. No, it's not a horror film. But it is really really funny. Julie cast her own family in the film along with her ex boyfriend Adam Goldberg (Dazed and Confused), adding an element of realism and quirkiness that you don't usually see in comedy these days. A mix of tightly scripted lines and free-form improve from talented comedic actors, the humor is fast and reminiscent of Woody Allen.

"The word 'cunnilingus" was added by my Dad", she says, regarding a scene in an art gallery where her father gets intoxicated at his own art show. "That's why I say the film is in three languages; English, French, and Latin".

"I had my parents in mind because they are wonderful actors. Really, if I had not cast them I would've been in so much trouble. They would have kidnapped my cat and blackmailed me."

Before Sunrise was also a romantic comedy. It's hard to not compare the two films because of their structure and plot, though they two truly different movies that share the indie limelight.

"Sunrise is very romantic and sweet which this film is not. There's more edge in this one and much less romance, so the romantics might be a little surprised."

2 Days in Paris has a cutting sense of humor, one that picks apart relationships and cultures with fervor in order to cause hilarious repercussions.

"The film is kind of harsh on everyone" men, women, the French, the Americans. Believe it or not, the ones that were offended were the French. There is a long tradition in France of not criticizing anything that they do wrong. They think they're perfect."

One aspect of French culture that gets picked apart is the sleaziness of French men. Delpy holds nothing back when making fun of the French reputation as slime bags who attempt to seduce attached women into the sack.

"I watched Jaws four times before I did my film because I thought Frenchmen are a bit like sharks. I was playing around with different genres; I didn't want to see too many comedies because I didn't want to copy anyone. I think if you do a comedy you should do something that comes out of you and not someone else's film.

Julie is a very funny person. She is very quick, even in English (not her native language), and has a snappy comeback for everything. I love this about her. I love this about women in general. A funny woman is a rare flower that needs to be cherished and watered with admiration on a regular basis. They are a dying and rare breed. They rarely make films, and when they do, we end up with droll genius as in 2 Days in Paris.

"It has to be funny in the dialogue...The truth is, I am quite a funny person (not right now, but in real life) I make a lot of jokes. I am kind of the clown. My friends, they like to have me over for dinner because I just entertain. I am really loud and obnoxious when I go with friends to a restaurant. So I don't know what is funny, or how to describe what makes something funny, when something is the wrong thing to say at the wrong time. Something that is outrageous, I think it has got to be something crazy with no limit. You know, go nuts, That's funny. That's when people get funny. And timing. And a lot of the funny in this movie was made in the editing room. And believe it or not, when I watched the film with audiences, things like the cat meowing at certain times makes things funny in the movie."

This being a film about relationships, and particularly a story about a strong-willed and outspoken woman whose free past comes back to haunt her and to destroy her relationship with her boyfriend in a mere two days, I was interested in Julie's take on relationships. She's had her share, most notably long-terms with filmmakers/actors Ethan Hawke and Adam Goldberg, with whom she is still friends and works with on enterprising projects, such as this one.

"When you have a relationship that works, like that one minute out of the day when it works, it is quite wonderful… suddenly you feel that you're not alone anymore… The more I think, personality you have, the more you speak up, the more difficult a relationship is."

Though she definitely takes elements from her own experiences with men and the cultures of America and France into consideration when creating her scripts, its is important for people to realize that Marion is not Julie Delpy; she is just a character in a film, so please don't assume Julie is exactly like her character.

"The character is not me. I don't have a secret life of men in the past. .. She's had sex with ten thousand men in Paris, in his [her boyfriend's] head. Out of forty people they bumped into in Paris, they meet three ex boyfriends. That means every forty people they are going to bump into three ex boyfriends.. Multiply that, that's ten thousand people. That's not possible, physically. I don't think so. That would be too many in a day. I can't imagine that. He's assuming this is not just a coincidence. I don't judge the characters I write morally. You know, she is flirtatious…I didn't want to make these characters too perfect. He is always complaining, she is a flirt."

Julie's upcoming historical thriller, written, produced and directed by herself, is The Countess, which will be shot in Hungary. Elizabeth Bathory is a legend in the horror world; she's been parodied in Countess Dracula, and several film projects have been rumored, but Julie's is the only one that seems to have gotten off the ground. Staying away from fantasy and ridiculous "vampire" legends that have haunted the memory of the Countess Bathory for centuries, this version of the countess will be largely historical in nature; an intense character study about the woman herself and the political reasons she may have been made out to be a murderous witch in league with the devil. Julie will star as Bathory, and Radha Mitchell (Silent Hill) and Vincent Gallo (The Brown Bunny) will support her performance.

"It is about cruelty and power… The film is about a woman that has never had limits to what can be done, and she is very cruel. But she goes through a terrible story, the real story that happened, yes, she has the reputation that she killed 600 women and bathed in their blood, these young versions. But there's also the other side of the coin, which is that the king owed her so much money that they had to get rid of her, which is why they created this mythical monster, and vampire, and witch, and blood, and bathing in blood. I tell both stories. I tell the myth of the monster, and that maybe there is something else behind it."

What drives a woman like Julie to seek out hard projects, like her independent films, rather than mainstream films? What drives any woman to differentiate herself from those around her, in a struggle to both artistically tough oneself and others? It's a character trait of confidence and drive that most female artists and directors share. It's the realization that we can make a difference in an industry that has long been off limits to us, simply be overcoming irrational and everyday fears. When Julie first heard that her screenplays were getting noticed, she thought, "Oh my god! I can write something and it speaks to some people! I am amazed. I remember, for instance, when I was writing before Sunset, my agent fired me because he thought I was wasting my time writing a stupid sequel to a movie I could never make and it would do nothing for my career. So you have to have a lot of faith in yourself and belief in yourself to keep on writing when you are ditched by your agent who tells you you are crazy. Then when the movie was a success he said 'Why did you leave us???'".

Julie Delpy is not only funny but brave, which makes her sense of humor stand out even more. Watch her bravely funny film 2 Days in Paris while it is still in theaters.

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