U.K.: BRITISH ACTRESS KRISTIN SCOTT THOMAS HOSTS LAUNCH OF THE RENAULT FRENCH FILM SEASON IN LONDON

Record ID: 435059

  • Title: U.K.: BRITISH ACTRESS KRISTIN SCOTT THOMAS HOSTS LAUNCH OF THE RENAULT FRENCH FILM SEASON IN LONDON
  • Date: 31st March 2005
  • Summary: LONDON, ENGLAND, UK (MARCH 31, 2005) (REUTERS) PHOTOGRAPHERS AT PHOTO CALL ACTRESS MAGGIE CHEUNG POSING FOR PHOTOGRAPHERS (SOUNDBITE) (English) ACTRESS, KRISTEN SCOTT THOMAS SAYING: "Well, I moved to Paris a very long time ago. I was nineteen when I went to Paris and I always wanted to be an actress. I went to drama school when I was in England, hadn't been very successfu
  • Embargoed: 15th April 2005 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: VARIOUS FILM LOCATIONS/ LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM
  • Country: United Kingdom
  • Reuters ID: LVA3CT26UW660QX8O3MUQFIHW11G
  • Story Text: Actress Kristen Scott Thomas opens the Renault
    French Film Season.


    British actress Kristin Scott Thomas hosted the
    launch of the Renault French Film Season on Thursday (March
    31, 2005) in London.

    For the third year running, the Renault French Film
    Season will throw a spotlight on four French films, each
    scheduled for release in the UK this year.

    Thomas, 44, who is married to French obstetrician
    Francois Oliviennes and lives in the capital Paris, started
    her own acting career in France.

    "I was 19 when I went to Paris and I always wanted to
    be an actress. I went to drama school when I was in
    England, hadn't been very successful and I left, thinking
    I've got to change, I have to go somewhere else and get
    another idea about what I want to be, what I want to do.

    And so when I came to Paris and started off as an au pair
    girl in Paris I was working for a woman who was involved in
    show business and she said what do you want to do? And I
    said I wanted to be an actress. And she said great! It was
    the first time anyone had ever said that. Everyone had
    always said ooh, no, you don't want to do that, very
    dangerous. It's terribly difficult to do anything and get
    anywhere. People were obviously being very protective of
    me. But this woman didn't need to protect me - I wasn't her
    daughter - and so she encouraged me like mad....it all got
    going... so my first paid performances were in French,"
    recalled Thomas.

    Kristin Scott Thomas, better known for her roles in 'An
    English Patient' (1996) and 'Gosford Park' (2001) - for
    which she was nominated for a Best Actress Oscar, is keen
    to raise the profile of French film outside of the Gallic
    nation.

    She is also one of the lead parts in one of the films
    featured at the festival - the 2004 film 'Arsne Lupin'.

    In her latest role, Thomas plays a darkly seductive
    countess who spars against co-star Romain Duris, a
    celebrated jewel thief of the belle poque in Paris.

    "Arsene Lupin is a jewellery thief, that's what he does
    and he will steal from anybody, never steal twice and never
    hurt anyone. But, I play the wicked countess who will steal
    everything and will hurt anyone and is just pure evil,"
    Thomas said.

    Distinctly different from the Hollywood blockbusters,
    The Renault French Film Season is an initiative launched by
    the Institut Franais and Unifrance, in co-operation with
    UGC Cinemas, to support the usually smaller budget French
    cinema and to give audiences across the UK an opportunity
    to experience and enjoy the diversity of French films.

    "Well, it's because of Hollywood, because it's sort of
    pre-digested, made for a precise audience you know, and
    there are some amazing films coming from America. They kind
    of flood the market, there's not much room for anything
    else. This is why if we make a lot more noise about French
    films then perhaps they make more room for us," said Thomas.

    Other films featured at the festival are 'A Common
    Thread' by Director Elonore Faucher, 'Clean' directed by
    Arnaud Desplechin and 'Kings and Queen' by Arnaud
    Desplechin.


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