USA/FILM LOCATIONS: LUC BESSON AND CAST TURN OUT FOR THE PREMIER OF 'THE MESSENGER THE STORY OF JOAN OF ARC'

Record ID: 388751

  • Title: USA/FILM LOCATIONS: LUC BESSON AND CAST TURN OUT FOR THE PREMIER OF 'THE MESSENGER THE STORY OF JOAN OF ARC'
  • Date: 17th October 1999
  • Summary: LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES (OCTOBER 17, 1999) (RTV - ACCESS ALL) (SOUNDBITE] (English) DUSTIN HOFFMAN DISCUSSING THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE ROLE OF "THE CONSCIENCE" IN THE FILM, SAYING "Not just in this case of the history of Joan d'Arc, but I guess in almost all wars is that they are fought in God's name. And the spine of the reason for the character, in a sense
  • Embargoed: 1st November 1999 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES AND FILM LOCATIONS
  • Country: USA
  • Reuters ID: LVAE2AJTJJ9UH179GCGHHCBTKQ4G
  • Story Text: French director Luc Besson and the all-star cast of his latest effort, "The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc", turned out in Los Angeles Monday night (October 18) for the movie's world premiere.
    Whether you believe the stories or not, it's hard to dispute that Joan of Arc led a most remarkable life for an uneducated peasant girl who never lived to see her 20th birthday.
    Hollywood must have been impressed as the story of Joan of Arc, the girl who talked to God and led the French army to victory over the English before being burned at the stake by her own people, has been told time and again on the big screen.The latest adaptation of this 15th century tale of the girl Catholics call Saint Joan is brought to life by director Luc Besson and actress Milla Jovovich.
    Jovovich plays Joan, who at 17 years old informs the Charles VII, the king in waiting of France played by John Malkovich, that he is to give her control of his armies and drive the occupying British forces out of French territories and keeps her word.
    For both Besson and Jovovich, this project was a labour of love for a couple of reasons.On the one-hand, it was their way of establishing Joan as a real person with human flaws and blood on her hands, a far cry from the puritanical saint cannonised by the Catholic church in 1920, nearly 500 years after her death.It was also the first, and as fate would have it last, project that they would work on as husband and wife.
    Jovovich is joined on-screen by two time Academy Award winner Dustin Hoffman, who plays Joan's conscience, and Oscar winner Faye Dunaway in the role of Yolande D'Aragon, the mother-in-law of King Charles VII.
    The part of Yolande has never gotten much attention in movie adaptations of the story and the addition of this empowered 15th century woman puts a noticeable Machiavellian spin on the picture.D'Aragon's initial acceptance and ultimate condemnation of Joan play a crucial role previously untapped in the movies.
    As the conscience, Hoffman takes the moviegoer into the mind of Joan as she struggles to make sense of her crusade in the name of God while being accused of heresy by her own countrymen.Hoffman's performance leaves Joan and the audience wondering if her visions came down from heaven or from a mind overwhelmed by the violent world into which it was born.
    "The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc" opens across the United States on November 12.
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