2DaysInParis Tagged Articles at Cinematical

After touring the festival circuit, with stops in Berlin and Tribeca, Julie Delpy's new film, 2 Days in Paris, recently opened domestically to very good critical reception -- it's currently sporting an 87% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes. If you haven't seen it, it's a romantic comedy about a native Parisian played, of course, by Delpy, who brings her American boyfriend home to Paris for a visit. The boyfriend is played by journeyman actor, writer and director Adam Goldberg, who most of you probably remember most for his large role in Saving Private Ryan. In the years since then, he's appeared in movies such as Deja Vu, How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, and David Fincher's Zodiac, while also writing and directing a film called I Love Your Work. Cinematical recently spoke with Adam about the experience of making 2 Days in Paris, a film that's in some ways, semi-autobiographical -- he and Delpy were formerly in a relationship, and the film draws heavily from their time together.

CINEMATICAL: I was on your character's side in this film -- as a cultural outsider, it falls to Julie's character to make your character feel as comfortable as possible when he's not on his home turf.

AG: I totally agree. Even if it's not necessarily about it being a cultural difference, just the idea of, when you're on somebody's home turf, if you're gonna meet their family, obviously, then you have to make the outsider, the alien, feel as comfortable as possible. She kind of affects this sort of oblivious attitude, which I think is sort of part of her way of kind of goading him and getting attention. He's got his own ways of goading her and getting her attention, and so I think it's something that they both sort of kind of do to each other, you know, a little bit? Which tends to happen sometimes in relationships, you know, a few years down the line.

RS: Do you think those characters have the makings of a successful relationship?

AG: For entertainment value purposes. I mean, that was sort of one of the things we would talk about -- this idea of almost kind of keeping themselves amused by, maybe sort of battling wits, maybe kind of in an effort to not really deal with the more serious underlying issues of the relationship. So I think there's potential for success, but basically they're both emotionally a bit underdeveloped. [Dogs barking] Hold on one sec ... I think they both need to be in therapy. There's no mention of therapy, you know. But certainly, if they keep going the way that they're going, they're going to start aging in dog years.

Not long ago, I had a chance to sit down with Julie Delpy in Manhattan to talk about 2 Days in Paris, her upcoming directorial effort that's bowing on August 10th. (You can check out Erik's glowing Berlinale review here.) As she waited on some black tea to arrive, we quickly got into talking about the film, which is about a native Parisian played by Delpy who brings her American boyfriend home to Paris for a quick visit; the two of them try to survive what the resulting cultural shockwaves do to their relationship. We also got into the subject of her next directorial project -- a biopic of the infamous 16th century 'Blood Countess' Elizabeth Bathory -- and discussed the unconventional arc of her career in general. Delpy has been quite vocal about having grand ambitions as a director -- she dreams of helming major action/sci-fi blockbusters -- but told me with characteristic bluntness that her filmmaking goals wouldn't force her to put acting on the backburner. "I don't have to choose, so I'm not going to," she said, pointedly. Here's the interview.

RS: Have you seen Zoe Cassavetes' Broken English yet?

JD: I didn't see it yet. I want to, though.

RS: The reason I bring it up is because [spoiler warning] they came pretty close to ripping off the ending of Before Sunset.

JD: They did?

RS: Yeah. Girl meets French guy in New York, she chases him to Paris, can't find him, finds him at the very end, they're deciding if they will stay together, and he says something along the lines of 'you're gonna miss that plane,' and that's the end.

JD: No..

RS: Yes. Lots of critics noticed it at the time, not just me.

JD: Really?

RS: Yeah. It was like, why would she do that?

JD: Why would she do that? That's weird. Was it conscious?

RS: I don't know. I thought maybe you two were friends, and it was an homage. Who knows?

JD: Maybe it's an homage.

Samuel Goldwyn Films has sent Cinematical a new trailer for Julie Delpy's upcoming romantic comedy 2 Days in Paris. The film, which Delpy not only stars in but also wrote and directed, has criss-crossed the festival circuit for the past few months, landing in Berlin (where it was reviewed by Erik) and at the Tribeca festival. Delpy plays Marion, a native Parisian who drags her American boyfriend Jack (Adam Goldberg) to her home turf for a romantic getaway. Once there, Jack has to deal with, among other things, Marion's non English-speaking parents and her old boyfriends, who come out of the woodwork. Erik raved about the film in his dispatch from Berlin, calling it "charming, hysterical and sometimes gut-wrenching." He also said that "if you're not wiping off tears of laughter and heartache by the time the end credits roll ... well, then you're simply not human." Wow -- guess we'll have to check this one out, huh? 2 Days in Paris is opening in limited release on August 10.

Note: if you can't view the video box above, see the trailer by following this link.