C'est Showtime
Coco Before Chanel Finally Makes Its New York Debut
The screening Peggy Siegal and the house of Chanel hosted for Coco Before Chanel fell smack-dab in the middle of a frenzied fashion week, but that didn't faze the film's star, Audrey Tautou. "After you've played Coco Chanel, does the rest of this really matter?" Tautou smiled, adding that she had no plans to attend any runway shows or after-parties. Introducing the film to the crowd that had assembled at the Paris Theatre, she said, "This is not a movie about the fashion industry but about a strong, smart woman."
At the Monkey Bar dinner that followed the premiere, director Anne Fontaine talked about casting. If she had reservations about Tautou, they disappeared when she met her: "I was convinced within five minutes that she could be sensitive and tough," Fontaine explained. Finding the Boy Capel to Tautou's Coco didn't even require a face-to-face meeting. "The character is English, but when I heard English actors speak French I thought it sounded so anti-sexy." After a phone conversation with Alessandro Nivola, however, she knew he was perfect for the role. When we asked the actor to show off his sexy voice for us, he did so while telling this anecdote: During his first moments on set, he was teased by the director for his cowboy walk. "The reason I walked like a cowboy was because she made me learn polo," Nivola said. "After four weeks on a horse my thighs were so swollen there wasn't room for my…" Not that sexy, Alessandro, thank you very much.
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