Julie Delpy
Julie Delpy
Julie Delpyis a French-American actress, film director, screenwriter, and singer-songwriter. She studied filmmaking at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts and has directed, written, or acted in more than 30 films, including Europa Europa, Voyager, Three Colors: White, Before Sunrise, An American Werewolf in Paris, Before Sunset, 2 Days in Paris, and Before Midnight. She has been nominated for three César Awards, two Online Film Critics Society Awards, and two Academy Awards. After moving to the United States...
ProfessionMovie Actress
Date of Birth21 December 1969
CityParis, France
I find most films about fashion terrible because they are caricaturish.
Never take no for an answer. It took me 20 years between the time I wrote my first screenplay and the time I actually got money to direct a movie.
People think women directors are tough. Truth is, I'm a pussycat and I hate conflict. I just want everyone to be happy on set.
I'm quite neurotic, usually. But when it comes to work, I become extremely focused.
Some people have bigger egos than others. You have to take a lot of abuse, and take it in and not respond, because you don't want conflicts on the movie, you don't want to start screaming at people even when they treat you - even when they're not behaving properly, because you want them to do their job, and keep on doing it.
Basically, editing is done in rehearsal and in the writing process and in the acting, so it's very, very tricky, very, very tricky.
I would assume that there is a greater amount of joy for you in being able to write and help produce your own stuff and make a decent living, but not get rich versus always doing the other stuff that you don't write, and make more money.
I'm dreaming about making movies for eight weeks, because it's a luxury. But time is money. That's the reality.
In real life, when you speak with each other you overlap each other, so you can't fake that. Like especially when you have no cut. In a regular film when you want people to overlap you cut it that way. It's mixing and editing.
I think anyone who has had a fight and who's a very good observer of the situation and people's behavior is capable of writing a fight. But you do start thinking about writing during the fights that you have with your partner.
Our society is so much about fidelity being this thing that's sacred, and people are miserable. They're suicidal. It brings more depression than anything else on earth, probably. Sorry to say that, guys.
Most of our life is miscommunication, and when you add a language barrier to it, it just becomes total mayhem and confusion. It just adds to it with all of the cultural differences. It could be an American family meeting another American family and you could still have a total clash. With family, it's like visiting another planet.
The way I work is that I never let people do an assembly. I don't like it because it shapes the film in a way that I can't really control. To me, editing is making the film and it's a huge process and editors are under-rated.
My dad has always been such a great dad, and he's brought so much culture to my life. He dragged me to see every single movie at the cinématheque as a kid. I saw everything from Star Wars to Bergman.