1. – Clotilde Courau, Le petit criminel, France, 1990. “I was working on an album with Serge Gainsbourg.” The singer refused all screen offers after her César-winning debut, Noces Blanches, 1989. “The scripts weren’t satisfying. Everyone saw me as a half-naked Lolita with the exception of Jacques Doillon” – and Jean Becker for her return in Elisa, 1994, which also featured her 1990 replacemnt, Clotilde, before she married Prince Emanuele Filiberto di Savoia of Venice.
2. – Famke Janssen, RPM, 1997. Tarantino compadre Roger Avary wrote the script – for Janssen, Daniel Auteuil, Yun-Fat Chow, Matt Dillon, Tcheky Karyo, Nastassja Kinski, Dolph Lundgren, Tom Savini, Terence Stamp – and Avary’s Killing Zoe stars: Jean-Hugues Anglade and Eric Stoltz. He then decided against directing. The producer hired Ian Sharp “and the two guys who did Grumpier Old Men [!?!] to rewrite my script.” Actually, Donald Cammell (using the pseudonym Franklin Brauner), helped out in the year before he died. Avary removed his name from the ensuing mess.
3. – Héléne de Fougerolles, Le raid, France, 2001. With a budget a dozen times that of his comedy hit, La ciel, les oiseaux et… ta mere!, director Djamel Bernsalah wrote his script with Vanessa in mind. His mind. Not her’s.
4. – Audrey Tatou, Le Fableux destin d’Amelie Poulain, France, 2001. Realisateur Jean-Pierre Jeunet was greatly impressed by her as La fille du pont, 1999, but she was – again – cutting a new album. Anyway, when Audrey walked in for her test. “she was Amelie.”
5. – Emmanuelle Béart, Nathalie Ribout, France, 2002. A second baby (with Johnny Depp) ruled her out as the hooker hired by Fanny Ardant for her husband, Gérard Depardieu, in Anne Fontaine’s “erotic film without any sex scenes.” Ah!
6. – Héléne de Fougerrolles, Le plus beau jour de ma vie, France, 2004. Vanessa was suddenly out of contention, following the rapid demise that year of Atomik Circus, le retour de James Bataille.
7. – Audrey Tautou, The Da Vinci Code, 2005.
Birth year: Death year: Other name: Usual occupation: SingerCasting Calls: 7