Lea Seydoux “didn’t know n-dity” by taking on the role of The French Dispatch
Lea Seydoux has revealed she didn’t know she would have to appear n-de in The French dispatch until she took on the role.
The actress, 36, stars as Simone in Wes Anderson’s comedy-drama, 52, but admitted she didn’t know what the role entailed until the director showed her an animation of the stage.
Lea plays a prison guard who serves as a life model for a violent inmate and entertainer played by Benicio del Toro, which required her to pose n-ked in a variety of awkward positions.
She told the PA news agency that she was unaware of the nudity when she originally agreed to play the role, explaining “I saw him in Paris, and he said, ‘J I have this little role I’m thinking of for you, so would you like to do it? And I said, ‘Sure, Wes, I’d do anything for you.’
“Then he sent me the lines and only the lines, and it was hard to understand the character exactly.
“So after going to the city where we shot the movie, I started to understand what he had in mind.”
Lea revealed that Wes used an animated sequence to illustrate what she should do, as the two were “shy” about it.
She explained, “We never really talked about the character. He’s very shy and I’m very shy too, so little by little I understood.
“He does these little animated movies so I watched the movie, and it’s really funny. He does all the voices.
“So he played Simone and he did it really well, I have to say. And so I watched the animated film, basically, and that’s how I really understood what I was supposed to do.
The French Dispatch, which takes its name from Liberty’s fictional Kansas Evening Sun supplement, is divided into three stories told by the magazine’s reporters, heavily inspired by The New Yorker.
Lea added, “It’s so funny because when he sent me the lines, I had about five lines. And I was like, ‘Okay, that’s the part, five lines?’
“But it’s true that she says a lot without speaking. And that’s also what I like about Wes, is that you can express a lot with your body language, and it gives a very funny comedic dimension. I really loved this first part, it’s beautiful and very poetic.’
Lea who also appears in the latest James Bond film No Time to Die, stars in The French Dispatch alongside Timothee Chalamet, Frances McDormand, Saoirse Ronan, Jeffrey Wright, Tilda Swinton and Bill Murray.
