Eva Green on the film The Three Musketeers and working with Vincent Cassel

2023-04-22 08:54:39

Mysterious, sometimes sinister women who can be as strong as they are seductive have long been the trademark of Eva Green, who began her career 20 years ago in Bernardo Bertolucci’s controversial, open-hearted love triangle The Dreamers. The daughter of a French actress and a Swedish dentist, who lives in Great Britain, played inscrutable characters who may not always be up to good things in the James Bond adventure “Casino Royale” as well as in the comic adaptation “300: Rise of an Empire”. “, the horror series “Penny Dreadful” or Tim Burton’s “The Island of Special Children”. After the political thriller “Liaison” (can be seen on AppleTV+), she can now be seen again as Milady de Winter in “The Three Musketeers – D’Artagnan” (in cinemas since April 13) in a version of her signature role (a second part is to be released). to follow in December). We had arranged to meet her in a luxury hotel in Paris – and then, due to the cold, only spoke from one room to the next via zoom.

Ms Green, the number of film adaptations of Dumas’ classic “The Three Musketeers” can no longer be counted on two hands. Did you yawn when you were offered the role in this new version?

I would have if it was just another version of the same old story that was always the same. But I quickly realized that this time it is ultimately a much more modern version. The balance of humor and darkness is one that you don’t always find elsewhere. In addition, the characters this time are much more complex, abysmal and ultimately more human. Compared to previous film adaptations, there’s a lot more meat on the bone, to put it that way. At least I could really identify with these almost 200-year-old characters for the first time.

Also with your role, Milady de Winter? It’s usually the somewhat one-dimensional cliché of a scheming femme fatale, isn’t it?

There’s something to it. And of course that was exactly my concern, because I wouldn’t have wanted a character who really is nothing more than a clichéd villain. But then I read the scripts—both of them, since it’s a two-parter—and I was amazed at what they got out of the character this time. To me, she’s a feminist here, kind of an outsider, and definitely ahead of her time. Of course, she still knows how to manipulate her environment and is a ruthless chameleon. But she also has a heart, and you can tell under all that facade, that armor of hardening, that it’s badly injured. That’s what I found so appealing about the role.

According to reports, the films are one of the most expensive European productions of all time. Does a large budget automatically make your working conditions more comfortable?

You mean because then the catering is better or the mask trolley is bigger? Of course you notice differences, but from an artistic point of view I think the talent of the participants is much more important than the money. And this time I was impressed. Above all by our cameraman Nicolas Bolduc, some of whose pictures look like beautiful paintings. I also find the action scenes more exciting than in many other films, simply because you get so close to the characters and you’re almost right in the middle of their fights.

You were also recently seen in the series “Liaison” with Vincent Cassel, who plays Athos. Is it a coincidence that you stood in front of the camera together again immediately afterwards?

Actually, I have to ask Vincent how that went. I believe that before we even started filming Liaison, he put my name on the cards with the producers of The Three Musketeers for the Milady role. We didn’t even know each other personally! If that’s really the case, I should think about using him as my agent, right? In any case, it was a blessing that we got on so well, because shooting two such big projects with someone you don’t like, I imagine it would be quite uncomfortable.