Marie-Antoinette Trailer

[kaytodd]

I think Kirsten is a good choice for this role. Sofia's script is based on a recent biography highly sympathetic to Marie Antoinette. She was a 14 year old girl with no education when her marriage to Louis XVI was arranged. The biography portrays her not as naive or innocent but as totally without guile, which she needed very much in the French court at that time, during the chaotic years leading up to and during the Revolution. Fraser sees her as flirtatious but somewhat prudish. She knew many men found her appealing but she was not capable of using her sexual appeal to her advantage, as the many experienced courtesans at the French court could. I think Kirsten could be very good in this role.

Now Jason Schwartzman as Louis XVI, that is a casting choice many will question. I suppose Sofia is hoping for the positive results Milos Forman get when he cast Tom Hulce and F. Murray Abraham in Amadeus or Stephen Frears got when he cast John Malkovich in Dangerous Liasons. And Forman and Frears had the additional pressure of the fact that very talented actors played these characters on stage and gave acclaimed performances.

[Someone, perhaps me, should start a thread down in Performers Discussions in which we discuss what might have been if Hollywood had gone along with Broadway in casting film versions of plays. Hulce, Abraham and Malkovich were great but I can't help but think of Tim Curry as Mozart, Ian McKellen as Salieri, or Alan Rickman as Viscount when I watch Amadeus or Dangerous Liasons].

Well, Forman and Frears were far more experienced and accomplished directors than Sofia when they made these decisions and they did work out well. If Jason is not convincing as Louis XVI, Sofia will be strongly criticized, especially by the French press next month.

[Penelope]

I actually think Dunst is BETTER in period films than in contemporary films: her line readings and presence in the Spider-Man flicks are so dreadful she threatens to undo the excellence everybody else on the team has created; conversely, she's right in tune in (as a child) the Civil War-era Little Women and was aces as a Jazz Age flapper in The Cat's Meow. I don't know that she's quite right for Marie Antoinette (and, yeah, what's with the hyphen?)....

I'm looking forward to the film, although I'm not the fan of Sofia that others are, and I'm suspecting this may be a huge disaster.

[Sonic Youth]

Anyone who thinks this trailer looks edgy and hip, watch it again on "mute". See how square and conventional it is now?

[rudeboy]

It's a highly stylized version of a fairly done-to-death historical story. That said, I'm going to reserve judgement until I see it. And, BJ, I'd argue that Kirsten Dunst can do that period quite well (Interview with the Vampire).

Dunst has grown into a fine actress, but I never understood the acclaim she won for Interview With the Vampire. She comes across to me as rather wooden throughout the film - it never seems like she's doing anything more than dressing up and reading her lines. Was it the nature of the role, which was undeniably difficult to pull off, or did she just seem good next to the blank acting of Cruise and Pitt? I remember being quite relieved when she was passed over in the oscar nominations.

And yeah, the Marie Antoinette trailer looks goddamn awful. I liked The Virgin Suicides quite a lot, didn't like Lost in Translation much at all and can see myself detesting this one.

[flipp525]

It's a highly stylized version of a fairly done-to-death historical story. That said, I'm going to reserve judgement until I see it. And, BJ, I'd argue that Kirsten Dunst can do that period quite well (Interview with the Vampire).

[The Original BJ]

I thought The Virgin Suicides and Lost in Translation were two very good films, so I don't doubt Sofia Coppola's ability. However, I agree with Magilla that the trailer makes the film look awful. I still cannot understand how filmmakers, even good ones, don't realize that some actors simply cannot play certain period roles. I have liked Kirsten Dunst and Jason Schwartzman in other films, but they look about as at home in this film as Cameron Diaz did in Gangs of New York.

[Big Magilla]

We had another thread about the trailer when it first came out. Hideous. As I said in yet another thread only the other day, Kirsten and Jason look to me like kids playing dress-up. And since when is Marie Antoinette a hyphenated name?

[kaytodd]

I understand this is not scheduled for US release until October but it is going to play at Cannes next month (in competition, no less). I am so looking forward to the reaction of French film writers and the public. An Italian-American has written and directed a film in which Americans play two iconic figures from French history. And the trailer has 1980's style music and graphics. Why? I know the 1980's was Sofia's childhood so she may romanticize that decade. But why create a 1980's feel with the trailer? And it looks like the trailer shows Kirsten drinking champagne and I always thought Marie Antoinette, while she certainly liked to enjoy herself, did not drink. Why give the French press ammo? This has potential to lay a great big egg at Cannes.

Has anyone heard any buzz about it? Has anyone read any reports from screenings? I am looking forward to seeing it. I liked Sofia's other two films very much. And Kirsten and Jason are interesting casting choices for Marie and Louis XVI as well as good actors. I think the costumes, set details and look of the film are correct, based on the trailer. Sofia has guts to premiere this at Cannes. Or...perhaps she is confident that she has made a film that will be well received.

Below is the trailer:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0422720/trailers-screenplay-E26091-10-2

Here are some stills from the film and one of Sofia and Kirsten on the set:

http://www.allocine.fr/film....=1.html