As promised, I added our very own original scans of the gorgeous Marion Cotillard feature in December’s W magazine. Many thanks to Amelia for sending the magazine to me! The magazine is actually over-sized so scanning proved to be a challenge. I hope you enjoy them regardless.

Kindly do not redistribute the magazine scans at another Marion Cotillard fan site as they were scanned exclusively for ‘Magnifique Marion Cotillard’. Thank you.

Gallery:
009 Scans from 2012 > W Magazine (US) – December

from USA Today / by Donna Freydkin

Mere weeks after giving birth to son Marcel last May, Marion Cotillard shot a Dior ad — and proved that biology and enviable genes do trump all. She seemed to have dropped any pregnancy pounds literally overnight.

“I lost a lot of weight right away. It sounds really good but it was really violent on my body. It happened in six days. I lost almost everything. I was happy but on the other hand, it was really violent,” confirms Cotillard. “I didn’t do a special diet. It just happened. My mum was the same. She was skinnier after the baby than before.”

Cotillard is devoted to her son and his dad and her longtime partner, director/actor Guillaume Canet.

And yes, even celebrity moms deal with the onset of the terrible twos and other trials and tribulations of raising a kid. “Sometimes it’s insane but it’s surrounded by love so it’s kind of easy, even though it’s tiring,” she says.

In Rust and Bone, she plays a double amputee who loses her legs in a freak accident. So we had to ask her: How do you play a character like that and not take her home with you?

“Because when I stop working, I’m not just with myself. People need me. It’s a good thing. But still on set, I hope I was 100 percent with the story and my character and the director and the actors. I don’t know exactly how to explain it,” says Cotillard. “I just couldn’t take care of only me. You do what you have to do.”

‘Rust and Bone‘ opened in New York last Friday. This brought new and/or better pictures of the movie. Enjoy!

Also, Marion Cotillard is expected today for the IFP Gotham Awards where she will receive a career tribute. Also the pre-recorded interview on Chelsea Lately Show will air later today!

Gallery:
004 De rouille et d’os (Rust and Bone) – 2012 > Stills
001 De rouille et d’os (Rust and Bone) – 2012 > On Set
002 Portraits > Sessions from 2012 > ‘Rust and Bone’ Promo

‘Grand Public’ a, I think new, show that brings in-depth reports about all things culture on French TV channel France 2 aired a segment about Marion Cotillard in Barcelona last Thursday night. I added the clip as well as HQ screencaptures on Friday but forgot to post about it.

They showed how big the anticipation was in Barcelona by showing news clippings and posters for the show. However, the people in charge are cited who say that they didn’t want a lot of mediazation or attention so they were happy it only started in the few days before the show. The report included some footage of Marion and the other performers getting ready before the show.

The report later laid out how important this role was to Marion, how close to her heart. After having been handed the show by her mother, so to speak, in 2005 (they included a few seconds of footage with her mother as Joan of arc) she wanted to reprise it again. So when the people in Barcelona were organizing their celebration of the 600th anniversary of Joan of Arc’s birth and wanted to include Honegger’s oratorio but were lacking a main actress then heard that Marion was interested they jumped at the chance. Apparently, there really doesn’t exist any footage of Marion in the play back in 2005 as they only showed stills and had a reporter recall how it was. He said that she was exceptional and that it showed what she could do. If she could do Joan of Arc in this then she could do Edith Piaf. Which she, as we all know, did. Now, a Hollywood star she’s still capable of doing it.

Another reporter said that it’s a challenging part, when you do it right it can be the highlight of your career but when you mess it up it can be the worst experience ever, even put you out of business.

So seeing again the overwhelming approval of the audience by their (10 min) long applause and seeing an emotional and overwhelmed but satisfied Marion backstage after the show, hugging the producer and talking to the press was quite moving to watch.

I have some more articles & TV reports about this but have to get it ready (in English) first.

Gallery: 172 Specials > Grand Public (France 2) – 22/11/2012
Video: 001 Documentaries > Grand Public

I added the video and HD screencaptures of Marion’s appearance on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson last night – though it was recorded 2 weeks ago on December 6. It was as funny as those Ferguson interviews get, Marion was at ease and played along with his jokes and was goofing around. It’s really entertaining to watch – though actual content-wise there’s nothing new. Oh, and she looked really chic in that outfit and the bright red lipstick.

Gallery: 371 Talk Shows > The Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson – 2012
Video: 001 Talk Shows > Craig Ferguson

from Deadline (US) / by David Mermelstein

Although Marion Cotillard is the perfect blend of European elegance and natural allure, she’s never been afraid to portray characters lacking those qualities. Her Oscar-winning role as chanteuse Edith Piaf in La Vie en Rose (2007) is a perfect example. But she’s also appeared in big-budget Hollywood films like Michael Mann’s Public Enemies (2009), Christopher Nolan’s Inception (2010), and, earlier this year, Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises. Her latest role, as Stéphanie in Jacques Audiard’s French-language Rust And Bone, finds her playing an emotionally repressed whale trainer who loses her legs in an on-the-job accident and then must recalibrate her life.

AwardsLine: What attracted you to the role of Stéphanie in Rust and Bone?
Marion Cotillard: First of all, I always wanted to work with Jacques Audiard, so I was thrilled when he asked to meet with me. I expected a very special story from him because all his movies are very special, but what I didn’t expect was a real love story. And I fell in love with the character — the evolution of her, the complexity. And how she goes from anger to power is something that really moved me.

AwardsLine: What was it like working with Audiard?
Cotillard: It was one of the most interesting experiences I’ve had with a director. He doesn’t come on set with something very specific; it’s an exploration every day. He’s always seeking authenticity. We would try a scene many ways, but even when a take was totally different, the direction would always point the same way. And the take we finally chose was enriched by all the exploration around it.

AwardsLine: You were incredible — both emotionally and physically — in the scenes after Stéphanie lost her legs. How did you prepare for that?
Cotillard: Physically, I started to watch videos of amputees. But very quickly I realized I didn’t need it. Because it just happened in her life, so I would live it with her. Emotionally, I saw it like someone who was struggling with life, like an empty shell, as someone who doesn’t know what to do with herself. And then there’s this dramatic accident. I saw it like a rebirth.

AwardsLine: And what about technically — what did you have to do?
Cotillard: When I’m in the wheelchair, my legs were folded underneath me. For the scenes when I walk or am carried, I wore green socks and the rest was CGI. (Costar) Matthias Schoenaerts had to carry me in a very special way, because your center is different without legs. Also, I had to put my legs in certain positions so they could erase them easily, especially in the love scenes with Matthias and when he carries me to the sea. But that’s what we do: We try to make-believe things — first to ourselves and then to the audience. That’s acting.

AwardsLine: Did CGI make your job any easier?
Cotillard: Jacques always says he wouldn’t have been able to do this movie even 10 or 15 years ago, because the evolution of the CGI was not where we are now. Those CGI guys were really amazing.

AwardsLine: Was it strange for you to watch the film?
Cotillard: Yeah, it was. It’s always weird to talk about my impressions or feelings about a movie that I’m in. But I thought, This film looks amazing.

AwardsLine: What’s the primary difference between making French movies versus American movies?
Cotillard: There’s a lot of technical differences. But the thing is, there’s as much difference between two French movies or two America movies — because every story is different, every director is different.

AwardsLine: You won the Oscar in 2008 for La Vie en Rose. How has that affected your career both internationally and in America?
Cotillard: It opened the doors of American cinema to me. I had never dreamt of doing American movies, although I didn’t know whether it was impossible or possible. So that changed things. American projects came my way, and amazing directors wanted to work with me.

AwardsLine: Did you speak English before you started working in America?
Cotillard: I did, but my English was very poor. My English really improved for Michael Mann’s Public Enemies, because I worked on it every day for six months.

AwardsLine: You’ve starred in some big Hollywood pictures. What’s their appeal for you?
Cotillard: Sometimes when I meet the directors of very big blockbusters, I feel that for them making a movie is not a question of life and death — there’s not a deep need to be creative. Christopher Nolan is not part of that world. He is a real artist. So it’s a very big difference. And Michael Mann is a genius.

AwardsLine: Do you get different things as an actor from bigger versus smaller films, or do you find that acting is acting, regardless of budget?
Cotillard: Oh, yeah, it’s exactly the same process. Each experience is unique. But my commitment to a project is the same regardless.

Remember the lovely pictures used in ‘The Dark Knight Rises‘ articles in international magazines such as Cinemag (Uruguay), Movieweek (South Korea) and Marie Claire (Hungary) this past summer? Did you love them as much as I & wish to see more of them? Then this update is good news. Enjoy!

Gallery:
048 Sessions from 2012 > ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ Promo

Marion is featured in the Hollywood Reporter’s annual Actress Roundtable this year! The magazine gets together chosen actresses involved in the years Oscar race, and talks to them about all things actress-y. This year they talk to Marion, Naomi Watts, Anne Hathaway, Amy Adams, Sally Field, Rachel Weisz and Helen Hunt.

The Hollywood Reporter’s Actress Roundtable was held October 22nd at Siren Studios in Hollywood.

The full roundtable discussion has been posted online for us to watch, which you can do below. A text version is featured in the November 30th edition of the magazine with the actresses all looking beautiful on the cover in a new group photoshoot. That is posted below for you too. Mia and I have added the cover, photoshoot pictures, and behind the scenes of the photoshoot and discussion to our Gallery. Needless to say, we will be on the lookout for scans, and if you can help us out with this, please get in touch

Read the rest of this page »

from Crave Online / by Fred Topel

The Oscar-winning actress describes her latest unexpected transformation and her earliest appearance in TV’s ‘Highlander.’

Any discussion of Rust and Bone involves a form of spoiler, but if you know anything about the movie you probably already know. We’ll give you this chance to stop reading if you really want to go in blind. Once you even know the premise of the film, you may be intrigued by star Marion Cotillard’s approach to it. She plays a whale trainer at a theme park who loses her legs in a performance accident. In the rest of the film, a womanizing underground fighter (Matthias Schoenarts) helps her adjust and begins an affair with her. We got to spend a few minutes with Cotillard in Los Angeles, where I couldn’t help but notice her legs in real life. She’d kicked off her shoes, curled up on a sofa and played with her toes while we spoke. It’s not a foot fetish, it’s a personal touch in the aftermath of a day of wardrobe changes and photo shoots. Cotillard also attended AFI Fest which showed the film and presented a tribute to her career. Rust and Bone opens in select theaters Friday.

CraveOnline: Obviously the legs transform you quite a bit, but it’s all a special effect that you may not see until later, so does that make it easier or more difficult to feel the transformation?

Marion Cotillard: Well, first of all when we did the first costume fitting, we had to try those pants that were empty of my legs and I had to fold my legs in the wheelchair. That image was so powerful that we kept it throughout the movie. And also we worked with amazing CGI guys, this team was really, really talented but also that’s what we do as an actor. We believe something and if we work hard enough and we’re lucky enough then the audience will believe it too.

The scene where you wake up in the hospital and realize what’s happened to your legs, what were your thoughts on how to play that moment?

We didn’t know. It’s something that’s really hard to imagine so we tried many versions of it and then in the editing room Jacques [Audiard] decided for this version because also, there is not only one reaction. You take four people and in that situation they will have four different reactions. So we experienced and we explored different ways to find the authenticity of this moment.

What other ways did you play?

Well, we played shocked, silent shocked like you cannot even scream, you shook almost. And we tried a very violent reaction. We tried many things and the only one that stays actually stays.

Were the love scenes in this film like no other you’ve ever filmed?

Yes. I usually hate doing love scenes. I’m very uncomfortable but this one was very different because the sexuality of those two people is really part of the movie and also I happened to be so happy for her. That was almost something that I was giving to my character and I had to enjoy it because it’s something so powerful that happens in her life at that moment.

And she would continue this arrangement as long as it’s exclusive right? She’s not pushing for a relationship, she just wants “this” to be exclusive.

I don’t know if it’s about exclusivity. I think it’s about being respectful and the relationship with Alain starts with Alain looking at her as a human being in the most simple way and without pity, without anything but simplicity. That’s what creates a very strong connection between both of them, but he looks at her as a human being but not as a woman yet. That’s what she can teach him.

I first saw you in the movie Love Me If You Dare before I knew anything about you. I understand that became an important film for you personally, was it an important film for you professionally?

Yeah, I had always wanted to do a romantic comedy and that was a very special romantic comedy, crazy, crazy romantic comedy and I loved the screenplay and so wanted to do this movie. It took forever for the director to tell me that I was the one he had chosen and it was kind of hell to wait that long but yeah, I loved doing it.

It goes quite dark too, for a romantic comedy, doesn’t it?

Yeah, that’s why I loved it. It was not like a sweet romantic comedy. It was really dark.

One of your first jobs was an episode of “Highlander: The Series.” Was that a good experience?

That was an amazing experience. All the first experiences that I had, even sometimes [when] it was not exactly what I wanted to do, but it still was an experience as an actress and I was living from my passion.

Here we see actors like Brad Pitt and other really big stars on American shows like “21 Jump Street” before they were famous. Was “Highlander” like that where they were looking for European actors?

Well, yeah, because they were shooting in France so that’s why I ended up doing this episode.

How were your experiences on the Taxi films?

That was totally different. That was comedy and I didn’t feel very comfortable because I had no experience at that time. I would do it totally differently now but that’s an amazing experience for me because that allowed me to meet a huge audience and we had a lot of fun doing it too.

What did you think of the American remake?

I haven’t seen it.

How does that feel to have an AFI retrospective at this point?

I don’t really know. I’m just really happy to share this movie with the American audience because I’m very proud of it and I love French cinema. I’m always very happy to share the cinema of my country which is full of diversity and creativity.

Did winning the Oscar have different impacts in Europe and Hollywood?

I don’t know. It was different because I was known for my work in France before the Oscar and I was not known for my work here. It opened doors of the American cinema and I would have never thought that I would work here one day, but it makes me very happy.

from NBC / by Scott Huver

The actress turns in another award-attracting performance, this time in her native language.

No matter what language she’s speaking, Marion Cotillard is utterly fluent in fine acting.

The 37-year-old French stunner took home an Academy Award as Best Actress for her immersive performance as singer Edith Piaf in 2007’s “La Vie en Rose” and has crafted an impressive list of Hollywood credentials in the aftermath, most notably working with director Christopher Nolan in “Inception” and “The Dark Knight Rises.”

Cotillard returns to performing in her native language with the unpredictable drama “Rust and Bone,” playing a whale trainer whose life is upended after a shocking accident, placing her on a journey of redefinition alongside an unlikely potential soul mate (Matthias Schoenarts).

Already topping many critics’ lists as a leading contender to take home another Oscar trophy, Cotillard provides a look into how she crafted her performance.

On delving into her complicated character:

What was different from the other thing I did before was that when I read the script, even at the end of it, Stephanie was still a mystery. And that was a mystery that [director] Jacques Audiard and I needed to solve. But I also found out that, usually when I work, I need to explore every bit of a character. I need to know who this person is entirely, and I realize that that mystery that she was not to be solved entirely because it was part of who she is. When we started working, before we started shooting, and even when we started shooting, Stephanie was a big mystery and we tried many things. And that one day, Jacques told me, ‘Yeah, I know now: she’s a cowboy.’ I thought it was kind of genius, and from there everything found its place. At the end of it, I didn’t expect to be so moved by her. She turned anger into power. That’s a cowboy thing, right?

On playing scenes in which her character’s lost limbs are exposed:

The physicality was never an issue. First of all, the CGI guys were really talented. They went really fast. They were very discrete on set when they were with us every day. But the fact that I actually have legs never got in our way. It was never an issue. Basically, it’s very technical: I wore green socks and they [digitally] erased my legs, so we had funny moments because I had to put my legs in this certain position so I would not cast some shadows on Matthias’ back, for example, in some scenes. So we actually had fun doing it.

On the most challenging physical demand of the role:

I had to swim in the sea – it was freezing, it was late October and I got bit by a jellyfish. The camera was not working and I knew that if I would go back on the boat, it would take longer, so I stayed in the water with the jellyfish biting me. And man, it burns! And I didn’t allow anyone to pee on myself.

On the most challenging mental demand:

What was the most difficult for me was to go to Marineland, because I don’t feel comfortable in a place like this. And I needed to consider the animals as an actual animal and not as something that was turned from an animal into a clown or something, an animal who does a flip-flop when you ask the Orca to do it.

And the first day, I thought it was kind of horrifying, when I would ask them to do something and they would actually do it. And I thought the connection was easy to have because I would give them some fish, and they would do whatever I wanted them to do, if I did the correct gesture. But then on the second day, I had this rehearsal for the scene behind the glass, and that was not choreographed like the show is. And that was basically improvisation with the gesture that I knew, and that day, I had a real communication with the whale, and that changed everything for me.

On facing her own strong personal feelings about aquatic theme parks:

On my first day, I arrived five minutes before the show and I watched it. And I thought it was horrifying. And my trainer turned to me after the show and said, ‘Did you like it?’ And I thought, ‘Okay – What am I going to answer? Am I going to lie? Am I going to tell the truth?’ I couldn’t lie, and I said, ‘Well, no – I hated it. But I don’t want you to think I’m disrespectful.’ Those people, they have a passion. They’re passionate about what they do. They love the animals, so they made my job easy because passion is contagious.

I will never go back to Marineland. This is an open question because some people’s children won’t ever have the possibility, because of money, to go and see the whales in their environment, and sometimes it can raise an awareness and the desire to save those animals. But then again, I have this example and maybe it’s silly, but I remember when ‘Finding Nemo’ came out. This is a story about not taking those fish out of their environment, and there was an explosion of sales of clownfish after this movie. And that was something that I really couldn’t understand because the story of that movie is telling the opposite: DON’T take them out to put them in an aquarium. And that’s exactly what happened. So sometimes, I don’t know – I’m really wondering if those Sea World, Marineland, however you call them, really make a difference.

On tackling the role after just becoming a new mother:

I usually never talk about my personal life, but my personal life was totally stuck to this project because, yes, I had my baby with me. And he was very, very young, and all the crew was really amazing with me because it was not easy – neither for me nor for everybody!

On moving between smaller-scale films and big-budget blockbusters:

I feel very lucky that I can travel from one very special universe to another very special universe. My experience in Hollywood with the big blockbuster, though, is very special too, because it’s a blockbuster directed, written, produced by Christopher Nolan, who’s not a studio director. I had some propositions of big movies, and I met the director, and I thought, ‘This guy is just here because they need a director, but it’s not the most important thing in his life to tell this story.’ I need to work with directors who have the need to tell a story – and Christopher Nolan is definitely a director who needs to tell stories.