Watching the French film
Angel-A, you
would think its star, Rie Rasmussen, was a native speaker. She is completely
fluent, and she has that international quality. In fact, she learned the
language specifically for the role of a beautiful guardian angel.
Rie Rasmussen Talks Angel-A
"I didn't speak French before, not at all,"
she admitted. "I knew merci beaucoup with a really bad accent but [Luc
Besson] gave me the script in English and I was working with Eurpoa his
company at the time as a writer/director. I'd done my first short film with
them and I was working on my feature film script and he gave me this script
in English and it was a really fantastic script about love and acceptance
of yourself and therefore how you can accept and love others and I saw the
whole beautiful commentary on life and I was very, very, very flattered
when he said, 'Would you please be the actress for me?'"
He waited to break the news that it would be filmed in French. "That
one I hadn't really expected. Once I said yeah, every part of me - the film
lover, the film fan, the Besson fan, the writer, the director, the actor
- every part of me exploded. I was so happy. I said yes, of course I'll
commit myself. He said, 'Okay, good because now it's in French.' 'I guess
I'm moving to Paris tomorrow' and he said yes and I did."
Even working as a fashion model, Rasmussen never had to learn other languages.
"As a model, no you just have to be really dumb and it works out really
well."
Angel-A
Angel-A
Angel-A
Once she got the language down, the acting job was
easy by comparison. "I think if we're going to be honest and you obviously
know the movie industry and I think if you've all told a lie, acting may
not be that difficult. It's playtime. We’ve all been kids. We've all
done it. We've all done it for hours at a time. We’ve all been convincing
doing it unless we have a tendency to blush. I don't take it as so difficult.
I feel that sometimes Oscars are overrated for actors because you're saying
something that somebody great like Paul Schrader or Robert Towne wrote and
you're being directed how to say it and you're being stylized and lit while
you're saying it and all of sudden you get an Oscar and I go 'For what?'
But no, this is not the case for everybody of course. There are great, great
actors out there and but I do think if you have a great actor it goes hand
in hand with a great director. You had Humphrey Bogart and John Houston,
Marlon Brando and Eli Kazan, Robert DeNiro and Martin Scorsese. Films are
a director's medium."
Besson chose Rasmussen partly because she is so much taller than her costar,
Jaumel Debbouze. "Yeah, he was looking for that. Luc makes of it in
his brilliant master Luc Besson shots where the comedy is not in the words.
The comedy is in that. It's fantastic. Just as in the black and white. It's
all in contrast. He's introverted and little and fully clothed and layered."
Angel-A opens to theatres on May 25th.
For the trailer and more movie info, go to the Angel-A
Movie Page.
Stay tuned for updates.
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