Melanie Laurent Tagged Articles at Cinematical

In what could be read as a big "nyah, told you so" press release, The Weinstein Company would like you all to know that Inglourious Basterds has not only grossed over $108M* in North America but has now out-earned Pulp Fiction, which was previously Tarantino's biggest money-maker to date.

But what's strange is that TWC is giving some of the credit to "an innovative marketing plan. The film was the first to make use of Twitter and other social networking sites in such a direct fashion, even involving Twitter in the film's LA premiere," according to the press release.

Harvey Weinstein is even quoted as saying, "It was great working with Biz Stone at Twitter on Inglourious. It took the campaign to another level."

Okay, what have I missed? How was the Inglourious campaign different from any other of the studios' use of Twitter or Facebook to promote movies through links, contests, and meet-ups? I don't even recall seeing anything on Twitter about it, other than the normal studios using Twitter to cross-pollinate coverage.

Starting with a gobsmacked VHS screening of Reservoir Dogs way back in '92, I've seen every Quentin Tarantino movie dozens upon dozens of times, but Inglourious Basterds is the first I will have seen only once before writing about it. Like the absolute best entries cinema history has to offer, his work demands repeat viewing, as much to catch all the in-jokes, references and homages as to see their cumulative, strikingly original impact. All of which is why I can only try to sufficiently deconstruct, classify and characterize Tarantino's latest, a wartime opus whose shortcomings upon first viewing are as immediately recognizable as the fact they will after many more of them prove to be virtues, ultimately creating a singular tribute to WWII movies done in the writer-director's signature, genre-bending style.

While the star of the film is really the story, there are three characters who cement together Inglourious Basterds' unwieldy but surprisingly even-weighted chapters. First, there's Colonel Landa (Christoph Waltz), a Nazi officer who earned the nickname "the Jew hunter" thanks to his indefatigable, shoe-leather-and-shark's-grin persistence. Next, there's Shoshanna (Melanie Laurent), one of Landa's few targets who escaped, who lives under an assumed name and manages a French cinema. And then there's Aldo Raine (Brad Pitt), an American soldier who recruits a rabid team of Jews to hunt down Nazis and strike fear with their exploits.

I was on Twitter the other day -- my favorite time waster -- and noticed an interesting question from Matt Dentler of Cinetic Media: "Will women pay to see Inglourious Basterds this weekend? No, seriously, I'm asking: are you, or do you know, a woman who will?" I replied that I'd paid to watch the movie at Cinemapocalypse, and would probably pay again to see it with my husband. Matt then told me the Alamo event didn't count -- he didn't quite explain why, but I think the point is that women who go to all-night movie marathons probably do not fit the traditional female moviegoer stereotype.

Anyway, my reply to Matt generated some retweets and a short, interesting discussion: "I wish the ads conveyed that it [Basterds] has strong female characters." "You nailed it," he replied, and I understood what he meant. He found the trailers misleading -- rightfully so.

Last year when Quentin Tarantino announced that he'd have his WWII epic Inglourious Basterds ready to screen at this year's Cannes Film Festival, the majority of us thought the guy was out of his mind. At the time, his script wasn't finished, the film wasn't cast and production hadn't even begun. Now, here we are less than a year later and Variety reports that the Cannes Film Festival has invited Tarantino's film to screen, and he has told them it will be ready to do just that. Nothing official is out yet, however, since the festival doesn't release its schedule until April 23, but you have to hand it to the man for sticking to his guns. Whether the final product is any good is a whole different matter.

This news comes as Vanity Fair revealed new portrait-style images from the set of Basterds, giving us our first good look at French actress Mélanie Laurent as Shosanna Dreyfus (see above), who, in the film, plays a woman who flees to Paris and opens a theater after witnessing Nazis murder her family. Inglourious Basterds will arrive in theaters on August 21; check out a few more VF images below and the rest over on their site.

Marc Esposito, French filmmaker and founder of the French movie magazine Studio, is heading to the world of fairy tales. Having recently wrapped production on his film Le Coeur des hommes 2, he told The Hollywood Reporter that he will be tackling the world of glass slippers and sinister stepsisters with Cendrillon (Cinderella). They're calling it a "film lover's fairy tale," presumably because it's going to reunite Jean Reno and Sophie Marceau, who were both in Michelangelo Antonioni and Wim Wenders' Beyond the Clouds. Or, maybe this Cinderella tale will have a taste of the movies.

Either way, Reno will play the king, Marceau the fairy godmother, and they will be joined by Catherine Jacob as the wicked aunt, and César winner for Most Promising Female Newcomer Melanie Laurent as Cinderella. (She recently co-starred in the WWII drama, Days of Glory.) So far, there's no word on the scripts details, and how closely it will follow the fairy tale, but the project will enter production next summer, for the nice sum of $36.2 million. In the meantime, you can always get Enchanted with some Snow White flavor, but somehow, I have the funny feeling that there will really be no comparison between the two.

What happens when you take Nick Cage's geeky sidekick and mash him up with a French actress, a hockey player-turned-model and a hobbit? You get a new bilingual, indie, romantic comedy called Shoe at Your Foot. The feature stars Justin Bartha (National Treasure), Melanie Laurent (Days of Glory), Jessica Paré (Stardom) and Billy Boyd (Lord of the Rings). According to The Hollywood Reporter, this will be the first feature for writer/director Jennifer Devoldere, and the English/French comedy has already started filming in Paris, which will be followed up with a week of production in Montreal.

Shoe is about an American guy named Jack (Bartha) who wins a vacation for two to Paris. However, his girlfriend (Paré) dumps him right before they're set to leave. Jack's Scottish best friend (Boyd) convinces him to go alone. He takes the advice, but finds further troubles as his luggage was swapped with a French businesswoman named Chloe (Laurent). One would think it would be as simple as the pair falling for each other as they meet and exchange belongings, but it is a bit more quirky than that. On one side, there's Jack, who can't speak French and is stuck in his hotel with no money or clothes. On the other, there is Chloe, who "falls in love with his belongings (including his shoes) and, feeling fate has brought them together, sets out on a search to find him." I wonder if this will be followed in a few years by Shoe to the Head, a sequel that covers their romance as they realize that weird shoe fetishes don't make for healthy relationships.