France

I’m in France now. I’m going to be here for at least 9 weeks. There are two more weeks till we start shooting. Today I met with Milena; she showed me some of the dresses and the costumes. A while ago I suggested that colors like red, blue and white were really boring. I said that colors, like yellow, blue and pink pastel, light green would give a more symbolic and stylish meaning. I told her that she could create something unique and that she didn’t have to follow any sort of traditional path. I even mentioned that men could be wearing light pink as well. She managed to create what I wanted for the costumes. What she showed me, it’s truly art. She mixes bright pink with pastel blue, green with white. The colors of the fabrics look like a revolution in fashion and it looks truly incredible and wild.

I was with Jason and Kirsten today. Jason began to talk and talk about all the books that he was reading about Louis XVI and the French revolution. He went on and on about it. I stood there quiet for a while until he stopped talking. I told him that it was good he was well informed about the situation in France at the time. I reminded him that this was a modern interpretation and that he shouldn’t pay a lot of attention to how Louis XVI actually was. I suggested being a little more himself, even act as if he was a spoiled brat.

Since the beginning Kirsten knew what I wanted. She was well informed as well about the situation. But she knew from the beginning that this wasn’t a conventional story. Of course the film goes around her character. But I told her that she should give a fresher face to Marie. That she shouldn’t do any sort of accent, be a teenager girl, an American girl that is entering a new reality that doesn’t know how to interpret.