I've heard you had a lot of input into the screenplay. What did you want to see changed?
When I first read the script, I liked it and I actually laughed. It was the first romantic comedy I'd been offered where I thought, "That's good! I think I like that!" I met Pascal Chaumeil, the director, and he talked about his influences and which direction he would like to take the movie -- and he was talking about Billy WIlder and Capra and Lubitsch and all those guys. I thought, "Yay!" He was talking about the charm and the quick pace that those movies have. I thought, "That is a man that I could trust."
Still, there were a few things missing. A lot of gags were written to be funny, and there are actors in the cast who could improvise a lot of tremendous, funny stuff that wasn't in the script, but what is it that makes a romantic comedy romantic? When you do a romantic comedy, either you're really bad and people say, "Oof. That was the worst movie this year," or if you're good, you make people want to fall in love. We just had to put our characters in situations that would lead the audience to say, "I want to be in their place." So we worked on making the romance more believable and not too cliched, even though when the movie starts, you know where it's ending. It's the way you get there that's the interesting part.
Most romantic comedies aspire to end with a beautiful wedding, but as Heartbreaker goes on, we slowly realize that it's exactly what your character doesn't want.
Yeah, but remember something like The Graduate -- these great movies you like -- where there's a twist at the end. I think it's more romantic this way because it's more surprising. She falls for the guy who...well, I was going to say, "who most women wouldn't marry," but you've got two kinds. [In romance] you can either be comfortable and surprised. Sometimes you get both, but it's difficult! [Laughs]
Your character actually has this free spirit--
Hidden.
--and yet society has sort of rushed her into this conventional life she may not prefer.
But it's not just society, it's her. She must have hurt herself in the past. You learn a few things that lead you to think, "OK, she's setting up her life and protecting herself so that she won't get hurt. She wants to be safe." Past experience has led her to behave through her brain and never again through her heart. A lot of people are like that.
An American remake of the film has already been announced. What do you think of that?
I guess it's a good compliment. Like when people copy designers' clothes, you can get annoyed all you want, but it's actually a compliment. I understand they would like to do it with well-known faces so they could reach a major audience, and that's pretty predictable, but it means that our movie has potential.
You haven't really made romantic comedies -- although your character is rather serious for most of the film.
Very, yeah. I'm the serious one. I was scared of that.
Why was that scary?
Because it's not nice to be a...
Stick in the mud?
Yeah! But they needed one, so...
But isn't it enjoyable to be able to torment someone like Romain Duris?
Very much! Especially in Chanel shoes and dresses and all those fabulous clothes. She gets to play with it and she eventually gets to move on to fun things when she has this crazy night and gets to swim and talk and dance and all that stuff. I get my part of the fun.
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!