It’s been almost 3 months since I put up a temporary version and started work on this new version of Magnifique Marion Cotillard. Yes! The site has a new name and is now located at its own domain marion-cotillard.org! Since opening the tribute page in July 2006 I have discovered a large number of Marion Cotillard’s performances and she has definitely become one of my top favourite actresses and I really felt she deserved a complete website.

Today, August 23, La Vie en Rose is released on DVD in France and I chose this day to re-open the site. I am not quite finished – the Press section, older magazine scans and all the info on Marion’s additional projects are still waiting to be added/completed. However, I am sure you will find a lot to browse through already. The site features now an extensive filmography section and the gallery has been completely re-done and there are also a few video clips (sorry about the look) with many more to come!

And don’t hesitate to register and participate in the Forum! I really can’t wait for the discussion to start! And if you have a site of your own: I’m always looking for high quality affiliates, so don’t hesitate to apply!

Last but not least, I would like to thank Mycah for creating an absolutely amazing layout that is both stunning and simple at the same time. Without it all my work could never have been brought together so beautifully.

Variety, Playbill and other websites are reporting on what could turn out to be Marion Cotillard’s follow-up project on La Vie en Rose: a film version of ‘Nine’, based on the Tony Award-winning musical.

The Weinstein Co. is in talks with Penelope Cruz, Marion Cotillard and Javier Bardem to star in the musical. Marshall, who wanted to set his cast early to custom-fit the roles to the strengths of each performer, is also courting Sophia Loren and his “Chicago” star Catherine Zeta-Jones. Marshall will produce and choreograph with John DeLuca, his partner in Lucamar Prods.

Bardem just got the offer to play director Guido Contini, who experiences a creative and personal crisis as he tries to balance all the women in his life. That includes his wife, mistress, his film-star muse, agent and even his mother. Raul Julia originated the role onstage, and Antonio Banderas played it in the revival. The musical was inspired by the Fellini film “8 ½.” Cruz is in talks to play Carla, Contini’s mistress, while Cotillard is to play his wife, Louisa. Although they have not yet committed, Zeta-Jones is being courted to play the director’s muse, and Loren his mother, who appears as a ghost.

Michael Tolkin is adapting the script, with music and lyrics by Maury Yeston, the composer and lyricist of the original production. Mario Fratti adapted the original Broadway production; Arthur Kopit wrote the book. TWC acquired rights from Kopit and Yeston, who will be exec producers.

The combination of the sexy subject matter, and the fact Marshall is making his first musical since directing “Chicago” for Harvey Weinstein at Miramax, has made the four female roles enticing to many actresses with vocal and dancing ability.

Apparently they aim at a shooting start next March and a theatrical release for December 08. Rob Marshall told Playbill.com more about the casting process:

We’ve seen probably every feature-film actress in Hollywood for the women. We’re casting in New York, in Los Angeles, in London, in Paris and in Rome, so it’s been a huge undertaking — and we’re still doing it. Sometimes, there are real surprises. It’s just like casting ‘Chicago’ because we don’t know what film actors can sing. Sometimes there will be a surprise, and sometimes they’ll be a disappointment for someone you really love as an actor and they just can’t sing it.

This certainly sounds like an exciting project and I hope it turns out to be true that Marion will be part of it!

IndependentCritics.Com have released their updated ‘The 100 Most Beautiful Faces in the World’ list. Marion Cotillard comes in at number 4!

A natural beauty soon starring in “La Vie En Rose”… Marion is the best of the latest French talent pool.

Older films starring Marion Cotillard will soon be released with English subtitles. Good news is that it seems like they will be region-free although primarily released in the US.

Pretty Things, original: Les Jolies Choses, this features a very strong and powerful performance of Marion that is bound to blow you away. I’ve just re-watched the film yesterday. It also showcases her vocal talents. Release date: September 11, 2007

Furia This film is hard to come by. It had been released on NTSC DVD a few years ago but can only be purchased by private sellers. Ironically, the film never saw a release in its origin country France. I’m looking forward to seeing Marion in this, even though I’m not fond of Horror films. Release date: August 14, 2007 delayed now: August 28, 2007

Just saw Variety’s Women’s Impact Report 2007 and their feature about Marion Cotillard. Click the link to read the full article, I’m only going to quote a few bits. Other women in the report include Helen Mirren, Angelina Jolie, Salma Hayek, Tina Fey, Rosie O’Donnell, Paula Wagner, J.K. Rowling, Bjork and many more.

She’s one of the year’s first real Oscar contenders, which is no small feat considering how few Americans will recognize Marion Cotillard when they see “La Vie en rose.”

To watch Cotillard in action is to suspect that no human has ever lived as much — or suffered as deeply — as the wounded sparrow she plays onscreen.

To an outsider, re-creating such intense pain may seem like masochism, but “it’s what I like to do,” Cotillard insists. “When I play tragedy, I have fun. It’s a very vast place to express yourself.”

What’s next: Nothing official yet, but thanks to the international success of “La Vie en rose,” “I have very interesting offers now,” she says.

Although I try to refrain from uploading too many new pictures – updating 2 galleries (one is the new one) is not only tiresome but also kind of pointless – I couldn’t resist adding these new scans from a major US publication: Interview, July issue:

     

I’m very sorry for this rather boring look here. But I’m working on the site and to be able to do background work this version is needed. It is only temporary though and I’m really trying to get the new version up soon. Many thanks for your patience.

This great news just came in via Variety:

The Hollywood Film Festival has tapped Marion Cotillard to receive its Hollywood Breakthrough Actress of the Year Award.

Kudo will be presented at the festival’s Oct. 22 awards ceremony at the Beverly Hilton.

The org cited Cotillard’s performance in Olivier Dahan’s “La Vie en rose.” Previous recipients of the Hollywood breakthrough honors include Jamie Foxx, Jake Gyllenhaal, Scarlett Johansson, Keira Knightley and Naomi Watts.

Everyone who has had the pleasure of seeing Marion Cotillard in La Vie en Rose already (the film has just opened in the UK and USA) will agree that her performance is worthy of every award out there. So it will come as no surprise to us that Marion Cotillard has been awarded the award (Swann d’0r which means Golden Swan) for Best Actress at the 21st Cabourg Romantic Film Festival in France on June 16. This is certainly the first of many more to come. Congratulations!!!

Awarded the Best Actor trophy was Guillaume Canet. The 2 visited the festival before – also together – in 2003 to promote Love Me If You Dare.

Considering Marion Cotillard hasn’t signed up for a new project to follow up ‘La Môme’ yet and her statement that she would like to take a break for a while you may find the following interesting: A local newspaper reports her saying at the festival that she still has “a ‘hunger’ for new roles and more beautiful stories to tell”. Isn’t that a relief?

Many thanks for the help with the pictures goes once again to Mariana!

005 21st Cabourg Romantic Film Festival – Various
036 21st Cabourg Romantic Film Festival – Ceremony

Marion Cotillard flew from Cannes to New York to attend the ‘proper’ New York premiere of ‘La Vie en Rose‘ on May 31. Remember, there was one back in February this year during the Rendez-Vous with French Cinema. This time the event was organized by the film’s US distributor Picturehouse and Chanel. The day before she also attended the premiere of another Picturehouse film ‘Gracie’. Check out the pictures in the gallery (many thanks go out to Mariana)!

041 ‘La Môme’ Premiere by Chanel & Picturehouse
010 ‘Gracie’ New York Premiere