CHANEL collaborates with #Cannes2014 Palme d'Or contender, Clouds of Sils Maria
Chanel Finances 'Clouds of Sils Maria'
The fashion house has made its debut financing films with “Clouds of Sils Maria,” starring Juliette Binoche, Chloë Grace Moretz and Kristen Stewart, who can be seen in advertisements for Chanel’s Métiers d’Art Paris-Dallas collection.
Directed by Olivier Assayas, the film screens today at the Cannes Film festival, where it is one of 18 movies vying for the coveted Palme d’Or prize.
Bruno Pavlovsky, president of fashion at Chanel, says the house not only supplied the actresses with clothes, jewelry, accessories and makeup, but also provided the budget allowing Assayas to fulfill his dream of shooting the movie on 35-mm film instead of digitally.
“Chanel has always had privileged relationships with a number of artists and these relationships, beyond providing them with the means to carry out their projects, have often resulted in direct patronage of these artists. I think the project with Olivier Assayas is a perfect example of that,” he said.
Assayas first met Chanel’s couturier Karl Lagerfeld through actor Édgar Ramírez, who played the title role in his mini-series “Carlos the Jackal.” Lagerfeld subsequently photographed the film director for his book “The Little Black Jacket,” and Assayas and Stewart attended the brand’s fall 2013 couture show.
“I had only a few scenes in which to establish the main character of Marie Enders – an international actress – and her iconic status, including the extent of how that sometimes weighs on her. Linking her with a house like Chanel very early on in the story was an obvious shortcut. It speaks of a kind of glamor and exactitude that we identify with a French woman and her global influence,” he explained.
The movie also features a cameo by Chanel brand ambassador Caroline de Maigret, who plays a PR for the fashion house.
Olivier Assayas Mentions Kristen
How did the idea of Sils Maria come about?
It started with Juliette Binoche calling me. We share a long history. We started together more or less with Rendez-vous . It was my first screenplay and her first big part. It was shown in Cannes and we were the kids in the group. But somehow it never took the shape of working together on something centered on her. So she called me up two or three years ago and asked, “Why don’t we do something?” Usually when I get those calls it’s, “Yeah, sure, but I’m working on something else right now,” and it’s awkward. But this time something told me that there was something more to it. The movie took shape and it became a story of reinvention and I thought I would use Juliette really as herself. She’s a more interesting actress when she acts in English, because she somehow less self-conscious than when she is in a French speaking part and so it started to evolve and became something I would never have imagined.
How did Kristen join the project?
Kristen was it was a fairly long story because originally she couldn’t do it because of scheduling conflicts. She loved the screenplay but the timing wasn’t right so we moved on and had Mia Wasikowska, but then she had a contract with Disney for the Alice sequel and the minute the movie got moving she was not allowed to be in any other projects during that time period. By then Kristen’s schedule had cleared and so instantly we sent it back and she was able to do it. That’s the technical side of it but the more exciting and human part of it is that she’s amazing. I hope everybody will share my enthusiasm of what she did with the part, the freedom she found in her acting and a humor that we hadn’t seen much of just came out, I don’t know how or why. It’s really very exciting when you are filming a young actress and see her respond to your material and grow right before your eyes.
What was it like working with two very strong actresses on set?
It’s really a danger zone and in the end I was just amazed. Kristen was very much a fan of Juliette. She loves her work and she felt that she had something to learn from her, and I think Juliette loved that position of being able to pass on something to another actress. Juliette has invented a style and her own way of transforming into a character that is spontaneously part of her language. Kristen watched her a lot and learned a lot from her and used it. It was absolutely not competitive, it was something symbiotic.
Kristen didn't attend the Cannes Press Conference but was mentions by costars and director
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