French director brings forgotten Belle Epoque star under Cannes spotlight in 'The Dancer'

Record ID: 103583

  • Title: French director brings forgotten Belle Epoque star under Cannes spotlight in 'The Dancer'
  • Date: 16th May 2016
  • Summary: CANNES, FRANCE (MAY 14, 2016) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (French) ACTOR, GASPARD ULLIEL, SAYING: "I think one must not be afraid of taking risks and there is something very moving about the idea of accompanying an emerging film-maker. And even more when it makes it to Cannes. Yesterday, it was very touching to see Stephanie show her first film here." (SOUNDBITE) (French) ACTRESS, MELANIE THIERRY, SAYING: "And to show it to an audience for the first time like that, it's violent."
  • Embargoed: 31st May 2016 15:47
  • Keywords: Cannes Un Certain Regard Lily Rose Depp Soko The Dancer
  • Location: CANNES, FRANCE AND UNKNOWN FILMING LOCATIONS
  • City: CANNES, FRANCE AND UNKNOWN FILMING LOCATIONS
  • Country: France
  • Topics: Film
  • Reuters ID: LVA0034I24N65
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: 'La Danseuse' (The Dancer), the first film from French director Stephanie Di Gusto, was unveiled at Cannes secondary competition 'Un Certain Regard' on Friday (May 13).
    Starring French singer, musician and actress Soko and actress Lily Rose Depp, the film tells the story of Loie Fuller (Soko), an American farm girl who revolutionised the world of dance in the early 20th century, acclaimed by Parisian artists and intelligentsia but who sunk into oblivion when young and ambitious dancer Isadora Duncan (Depp) became the new favourite of the time.
    Di Gusto said she had the idea for the film when she saw an old photo of Fuller and discovered her story.
    "I just saw an old black and white photo, it was beautiful, with a veil flying above the ground and I could see a silhouette, so I made research on who was this woman hidden behind the veil, and her fate overwhelmed me, and I thought I absolutely had to make her emerge from the shadows," she said.
    Di Gusto focused Fuller's body of work and shot all the dancing scenes in one take, with no special effects for the lighting and no understudy for Soko.
    French actor Gaspard Ulliel, who plays the only significant male character of the film, said he was touched by the story of Loie Fuller and glad he got involved in the project:
    "I think one must not be afraid of taking risks and there is something very moving about the idea of accompanying an emerging film-maker. And even more when it makes it to Cannes. Yesterday, it was very touching to see Stephanie show her first film here," he told Reuters Television the day after the film's premiere.
    Di Gusto had decided from the beginning she wanted singer Soko to embody Loie Fuller, because she wanted an artist to understand the creative process Fuller the heroin is going through. But Soko had to physically train during months to be able to perform Fuller's 'Serpentine Dance'.
    "She (the director) gave me the whole emotional part of it for years and years and then I started straining three months before the film with an amazing choreographer called Jodie Sterling from New York who had spent the last 15 years showcasing the body of work of Loie Fuller, so she had all the information and language, and the body language too that she fed to me in such an accurate way and she had to shape me into a dancer because I had absolutely no idea, no grace, I have the grace of a hippopotamus and I am also really really clumsy," Soko said.
    It was different for Lily Rose Depp, whose character was not such a hard worker as Fuller was, and the physical rehearsals were not as hard for her as for Soko. She said she worked hard to get into her character's strong personality, but loved it.
    "For me, I am more attracted to roles like that where it is not just a simple person, Isadora is such a complex character, she's so ambitious and so determined and even a little manipulative and kind of devilish in that way," she said.
    Although she played in a few films before, Johnny Depp and Vanessa Paradis' daughter has her first important role in 'The Dancer' and said she hoped she would have more such projects in the future.
    "This is definitely what I want to do, this is what I am passionate about and what makes me happy, so I think I just want to keep pushing myself harder and working harder. I am definitely a perfectionist and a hard worker, unlike Isadora maybe because she's really all very effortless but in real life I really am a perfectionist and a hard worker so I think I just want to keep working as hard as I can and hopefully, you know... I have been very lucky to have got these beautiful roles as I have, so hopefully things keep going as well as they have," she said.
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