Carole Bouquet

  1. Lois Chiles, Moonraker, 1979.
  2. Christiane Jean, Les spécialistes, France, 1983.    A zero role -the meat in a heros’ sandwich – that the Bond Girl actually had to test for. While waiting for something much better for her, realisateur Patrice Leconte gave Carole a small scene “for a great beauty” in Tango, 1992.
  3. Anny Duperey, Germinal, France, 1992.     Finding an actress to be Mme Hennebau was not easy for realisateur Claude Berri.  Bouquet passed and Duperery nearly quit as well, hating to be such an odious character.Carole and Berri remained friends; she replaced Juliet Binoche in his next film, Lucie Aubrac, 1996.
  4.  Meryl Streep, The Bridges of Madison County, 1995.    Clint Eastwood was impressed by her in Grosse fatigue when jury chief at the 1994 Cannes festival.“I would very, very much have loved being in the film. At that point, there was no talk of Streep – if there had been, it would be clear from the word go who would get the part.”
  5. Nathalie Baye, Catch Me If You Can, 2002.      Sweet revenge for Baye! She  had been pushed out by Bouquet of La Rouge et le Noir because the Italian partners of the French TF1 two-parter felt she was almost a has-been.  Now six years, one Venice Best Actress trophy (and, soon enough, a second César award), she beat Bouquet to playing Leonardo Di Caprio’s mother. When Baye had to miss the tests because of filming, Steven Spielberg (who’d loved her since Truffaut’s Une chambre verte 21 years earlier) sent his mate. Brian De Palma,  to Paris to test her as soon as she became available.  Some has-been! 
  6. Frances de la Tour, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, 2004.     From Bond Girl to Potter Woman – well, Hagrid’s woman – Bouquet was UK director Mike Newell’s original notion for Madame Olympe Maxime, headmistress of Beauxbatons Academy of Magic, in the fourth of eight movies from JK Rowling’s books.

 

 

 Birth year: Death year: Other name: Casting Calls:  6