Vanessa Paradis on What Makes a Good Romance and Why She Hasn't Starred Opposite Her Husband, Johnny Depp

I know you're a big Marilyn Monroe fan, and Johnny recently bought you a pair of her shoes. Is taking on a glamorous comedy like this a conscious attempt to make a more Monroe-like movie?

I don't really think this way -- I take the project as a project. I can't look at the big picture and decide, "This is where I want to go," because I want to go in many different directions. This is what I like.

You do go in many different directions -- it was even rumored that you turned down a Pedro Almodovar film to work on your music.

I don't know where that came from! I was told that, and I said, "Are you kidding?" I would never say no to Almodovar! I would learn Spanish for him. No, no, no. People say things and I don't know where they get them.

So how do you decide what to give time to when you're being pulled in so many different directions?

It's true that you have to make choices, and it depends on how you want to live your life. I like a little bit of this, a little bit of that, a little bit of this. It's tough if you want it all, because you have to give it all in a lot of different directions. But I've got no place to complain about anything, because I'm very fortunate to get to do all those things. If it makes life a little complicated and my schedule hectic, that would be OK, you know?

Do you allot a different amount of time for everything? For example, if you had just made a movie, would you then hunker down and work on your music?

Well, there's a bunch of things in consideration: desire, duty, and the time for it. It depends, but it's true that if I had just done a movie, then I know that afterwards, I must focus on music. I just need to divide the time so I can do it all.

I have to say, when the French actress Astrid Berges-Frisby was recently announced as the mermaid in the new Pirates of the Caribbean film, I thought, "Why isn't Vanessa playing that role?"

Oh, I think it's a matter of boobs. [Laughs] Although they can work wonders nowadays with [special effects]!

I wanted to ask you about Cafe de flore, the next film you'll shoot, directed by Jean-Marc Vallee.

I can't tell you much about it because I haven't started shooting, but I am so, so excited and so, so happy to be a part of this movie. The movie combines two different stories at two different times of two different ladies: One lives nowadays in Montreal, and one lives in 1969 in Paris, and I'm from that part. Right now, they're shooting in Montreal, and then they come to Paris and we'll shoot in October. Not only is he a great director, but he's a terrific writer, and he wrote a beautiful script. I'm going to play a mother with a difficult life, and it's a movie about soulmates.

I think he's a director to watch. I've really liked his last two films.

I did as well. I love C.R.A.Z.Y., and I hadn't seen The Young Victoria until after [accepting the role], but when I saw it, I thought, "Oh my God." In C.R.A.Z.Y., the director is so musical in the way he sees this movie -- it's very instrumental in the way he sees his shots, and it was constructed like a song to me. And then when I saw Young Victoria, I thought, "My God, he did the same thing with a period movie." It's super rock and roll, I think.

I spoke to Jean-Marc and he said he would actually play rock music and Sigur Ros during the shoot.

Really? You mean on set?

Yes, before takes -- and during them, sometimes.

Wow, cool! I think I'm in for a treat!

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