This Variety article caught my eye last week. It’s actually about the fate of some 200 projects after the split between DreamWorks and Paramount. But there’s an interesting paragraph:

Another 17 pictures — including “The Rivals,” starring Nicole Kidman and Marion Cotillard — stay at Paramount, with Spielberg able to co-finance which ones he chooses. If he doesn’t co-finance, and he’s a producer or director on any of those projects, he’ll get his 7.5% gross deal.

Apparently, Nicole Kidman – currently shooting “Nine” alongside Marion Cotillard – has been attached to play Sarah Bernhardt in this film for something like 5 years. What is it about?

The film is about the rivalry between 19th century stage stars, SARAH BERNHARDT and ELEONORA DUSE – who competed in their careers as well as in social circles and romantically.

More youthful than Bernhardt, Italian-born Duse became a threat to the older actress and, as the rivalry escalated, both would play the same part on the same night to allow critics the chance to compare their performances.

Now, here’s to hoping this project will come off the ground!

Think of the Daily Mail what you want, but when it comes to news about movies they’re mostly pretty accurate. Last week they reported the following:

Sophia Loren arrived Tuesday, Judi Dench joined up last weekend. The leading ladies of Rob Marshall’s film musical Nine are now all in London, rehearsing like crazy and taking singing and dancing lessons.

Nicole Kidman, Penelope Cruz, Marion Cotillard, R&B star Fergie and leading man Daniel Day-Lewis have have been working solidly, preparing to shoot at Shepperton Studios from next month.

There’s no truth to the rumour that producer Harvey Weinstein is learning tap so he can be in the male chorus line.

Nine director Rob Marshall is setting up a drama school where his stars, including Penelope Cruz, Daniel Day-Lewis and Marion Cotillard, can work exclusively on their high notes, dance steps and even their dialect.

Cruz reveals, “We have a camp in London where you go from the dancing room to the singing room, to the acting room to the dialect coach.

“It’s all day like that and I can’t wait to get started.”

Source: Hollywood.com

On another note, Fergie has joined the film’s all-star line-up and is very excited about it.

“I’m speechless. I’m definitely going to be a sponge on set,” the Black Eyed Pea was quoted by stv.tv as saying. “I want to pick up on everything that all these brilliant actors are bringing to the table. I’m probably going to be the quietest that I’ve ever been while working just because I want to watch and learn.”

Of her lady of the night character, Fergie said: “(I’m) just thrilled I get to play a character. I’m singing, but I’m not singing as myself. I’m going to be singing as a character, and that’s what’s really exciting to me.”

As reported by 312 Shining Diva – a blog about Chicago’s nightlife – yesterday the official wrap party of ‘Public Enemies‘ took place. No media was allowed so most likely we won’t get any pictures.

An hour later, Oscar winner Marion Cotillard (“La Vie en Rose”) sashayed in wearing a floral tee and jeans.

The film is slated for a theatrical release in the US on July 1, 2009. With filming for ‘Public Enemies‘ now being over Marion Cotillard can hopefully take some much deserved vacation before rehearsals for ‘Nine‘ start (reportedly) July 28.

Thank you everyone who emailed me about this and posted links in the forum. I’ve now added some additional pictures of Marion Cotillard as Billie Frechette taken on the set of ‘Public Enemies’ to the gallery. Some of those date back to the end of April and the newer batch is from last week. Doesn’t she look sublime? I can’t wait for this movie. The gallery now contains a total of 24,000 (!) pictures.

09 Public Enemies – 2009 > On Set

Earlier this week Variety reported that ‘Ondine‘ is set to start shooting in West Cork, Ireland this July now that financing and main cast have been set. Who’s playing the title character? The girl caught in the fishernet thought to be a mythological sea nymph (Ondine)? Not Marion Cotillard but newcomer Alicja Bachleda.

At the film market during the recent Cannes Film Festival – which to our knowledge Marion did not attend – writer/director Neil Jordan negotiated to direct his new project ‘Ondine‘ with Colin Farrell in the lead role. There’s been no confirmation as of yet that the film is to go ahead as planned but Ireland On-Line has some updates:

A spokeswoman for the Irish Film Board said a deal was close to being struck on the film and confirmed that West Cork was being considered as a possible location for shooting.

Speculation is mounting that the film will be primarily shot in and around Castletownbere and the Beara Peninsula. Jordan is a regular visitor to the region and purchased Waterfall House, three miles outside of Castletownbere, in the late 90s. The Sligo native, who is responsible for such Irish classics as ‘Michael Collins’ and ‘The Butcher Boy’ and international hits ‘Interview with the Vampire’ an ‘The Brave One’ has penned the script for the multimillion euro project.

French actress Marion Cotillard is being lined up to portray the mysterious stranger opposite Farrell in the film. Earlier this year she won an Academy Award for Best Actress for her portrayal of Edith Piaf in ‘La Vie en Rose’.

The film centres on an Irish fisherman who discovers a woman in his fishing net, whom he thinks is a mermaid, but may in fact be a prostitute.

Castletownbere-based councillor Noel Harrington said the shooting of the film in the area would be great news for the town. “There’s great excitement at the prospect of the film being shot here. Apparently, houses are being scooped up to cater for the film’s crew during the six to eight-week shoot. It’s brilliant news and any support that can be given to the area is very much welcome,” he added.

‘Falling for a Dancer’, in which Colin Farrell made his film début, was also filmed in the area. The new film will be produced by Octagon Films and is being partly financed by the Irish Film Board.

Reasons why this might be true: Marion Cotillard does appear to have free time over the summer with the shoot for ‘Public Enemies‘ soon being over and not having to start work for ‘Nine‘ until Fall. And ‘The Last Flight‘ probably won’t start shooting until early 2009. Also, according to The Hollywood Reporter ‘Ondine’ is a CAA-packaged project and in addition to her French agent Laurent Grégoire Marion does indeed have a CAA agent – her name is Hylda Queally. Still, I have not found proof of Marion’s involvement anywhere else so at this point, this is little more than a rumour.

Over the past few weeks there were quite a number of news about the cast members of the upcoming musical ‘Nine‘ directed by Rob Marshall. Here the news round-up: Unfortunately, Javier Bardem had to pull out due to exhaustion. Good news however is that the great Daniel Day-Lewis is confirmed to take over the role. Not only is he one of the most talented actors alive but he’s also an admirer of our Marion Cotillard.

In addition the cast includes Penelope Cruz, Sophia Loren, Nicole Kidman and Judi Dench and the musical is scheduled to shoot this fall.

In their coverage of the Cannes Film Festival Variety published an article about Marion Cotillard’s next French film project ‘Le Dernier vol de Lancaster’ (The Last Flight). Read the full article here. The film is described as a “Sahara-set adventure-romantic drama” and will apparently start shooting next January in Marocco after Marion finishes shooting Rob Marshall’s musical ‘Nine’.

Screenplay is by Remy Waterhouse, from an epistolary novel “The Last Flight of the Lancaster.” A tempestuous tale of conflict — between colonial forces and local insurgents, old and new loves, and men who face off for the love of Cotillard — “Flight” is set in 1933. Cotillard plays a dashing and thoroughly modern femme aviator who lands in the Sahara, looking for her lover, an English long-distance record-breaking aviator who’s crashed in the desert. Meanwhile, the local French Foreign legion fort faces a local rebellion.

Good news: The production company Gaumont is in advanced negotiations for Guillaume Canet, the film will be presented to buyers during the Film Festival and it will apparently be in English!

Recent French reports indicate Guillaume Canet would be playing the title character Bill Lancaster (his casting was confirmed by none other than Ms Cotillard’s mother herself in the forums of the official family site) while the name of Marion’s heroine is Chubbie Miller.

Another reason to follow the coverage of the prestigious Cannes Film Festival: A French Gossip site reported that Marion Cotillard confirmed her attendance.

Public Enemies – starring none other than Johnny Depp and currently filming in the US mid west – continues to attract great acting talents. Apparently, Billy Crudup – who played Marion’s husband in Big Fish – joined the cast to play former FBI director J. Edgar Hoover.

Back when the set was in Columbus this blog used to be a great source of news & updates reporting straight from where it was all happening and the blog continues to bring us all the latest info on what’s happening on the film’s set. Check out other links provided by JV in the comments section of a previous post here on this site. There was no mention of Marion Cotillard apart from an IMDB user reporting she did some interior scenes in a mansion with Johnny on the Thursday before the Easter weekend and claiming she didn’t come out the greet the crowds because she was cold from having been scantily dressed all day during shooting. Also a French gossip site reported that Marion then was able to take a few days off (probably over the Easter weekend) to come home to Paris, where she was spotted at a concert.

There are many comments about the making of the film, about Johnny Depp and also about the story behind the film – the true story of Dillinger – but finding information about Marion’s current involvement proves to be a bit more difficult. So if you come across any additional information don’t hesitate to comment here on the site to let us all know about it!