Catherine Deneuve
Catherine Deneuve
Catherine Deneuveis a French actress as well as occasional singer, model and producer. She gained recognition for her portrayal of aloof, mysterious beauties for various directors, including Luis Buñuel and Roman Polanski. In 1985, she succeeded Mireille Mathieu as the official face of Marianne, France's national symbol of liberty. A 14-time César Award nominee, she won for her performances in François Truffaut's The Last Metroand Régis Wargnier's Indochine. She is also noted for her support for a variety of liberal...
ProfessionMovie Actress
Date of Birth22 October 1943
CityParis, France
I'm not always the nicest person to meet, because I forget very easily that I'm an actress when I'm not working.
I'm afraid of being too sure, to just deliver. I think that's the biggest danger for actors - after a certain time, when you're known and recognised, people expect you to do what you're supposed to do, and there's almost no more criticism and that's very dangerous.
What I do is I come in the morning and get involved in the character, but I'm always very pleased to leave it at night and have my life.
Sometimes, just to give the impression that you have the strength and the vitality demands a lot. You can't always give that impression when you have heels and a wig on and it's 40 degrees outside.
I love to do very long and complicated scenes. I like to have this impression that we are all working together, where you can see all the technicians and everybody is really doing the same thing at the same time. With close-ups, of course you have the crew there, but most of them are just around and it doesn't involve that many people.
You're better off not preparing, because what you prepare will always be wrong.
I know who I am, how I was. I don't want to know how I will be because nobody knows that.
I like working with directors much, because I want to be able to give myself completely to their vision. Otherwise I would only do what I could do, again and again. I want to be taken by someone in a different direction.
Most of the time I've worked with directors who write their own scripts. The story is more important to me than the part. The project of the film has always been more important to me.
I think I will always feel a special relationship with The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, because for me it was something very, very special. It was a modern opera, and to play the heroine in a film that became such a success at a young age, and learning from him when I was so young and impressionable - really it was one of my most important experiences.
I think one of the few times I've been involved with real-life characters was the story of Marie Bonaparte. I think it's really difficult to become someone that really existed.
I am frivolous. But sometimes, that's the problem of my Christian education, when I know I've been frivolous, and I know I have to do it, then I feel guilty.
When you're young, you try to meet that expectation that people have of you. It can be very stressful. But with time it's become less of problem.
Being an actress is a very physical thing. If I didn't look the way I looked, I would never have started in films.