Once again, the multi-talented Delpy does it all
One of the most pleasant movie surprises of 2007 was Julie Delpy’s “2 Days in Paris,” a sweet – and sardonic – look at love, jealousy and the hazards of introducing your cynical American boyfriend to your eccentric French parents. Not only was the film a riot, it also offered Delpy the opportunity to flaunt her talents as a writer, actor, director and composer.
Other than Clint Eastwood and Charlie Chaplin, I can’t think of another quadruple-threat quite like her. And although her name is unlikely to be mentioned in the same breath with those two Hollywood icons, Delpy is unquestionably a worthy member of their multifaceted fraternity. And to prove it, she returns with “2 Days in New York,” an even more outrageous sequel that intriguingly shifts the scene from the laid-back City of Lights to the more succulent Big Apple.
To mirror changes in her own life, Delpy has refitted her harried artist Marion with a new boyfriend, Mingus (Chris Rock replacing Adam Goldberg), with whom she’s raising two children (one his, one hers). Like Delpy, she also is grieving over her mother’s sudden death. Arriving just in time from Paris to soothe the pain (and fray her nerves) are her loutish but lovable father, Jeannot (real-life dad, Albert Delpy), her sexy (some might say slutty) sister, Rose (Alexia Landeau), and Rose’s stoner boyfriend, Manu (Alexandre Nahon). Let the comedy and heartbreak ensue, as Rock, of all people, plays straight man to a talented ensemble of merry fools.
In theory, “2 Days in New York” is just another in the line of nearly 50 movies that Delpy has either directed or starred in. But on a recent visit to Boston, the cunningly bright beauty said this film, which she wrote with her close friend, Landeau, was more like therapy.
“I had gone through a rough time with my mom passing away (in January 2009),” said Delpy, whose mother, actress Marie Pillet, played Marion’s mom in “2 Days in Paris.” “So writing with a friend was something that was very refreshing. It also gave me the energy to do get back to work. Originally, I wanted to write the screenplay while my mom was alive so I could include her in it. Then when she passed away, I was kind of blocked (creatively). But working with Alexia gave me back my joie de vivre.
“We wrote the film the year Mom died, and I felt I needed to dedicate the film to her,” Delpy added. “I speak about her in the film very lightly. I didn’t want to make it heavy or melodramatic. I hate anything that could be perceived as me exploiting my own sadness. I wouldn’t do that. I’m too respectful. But at the same time I wanted to make a very happy film because she was a very happy person up until the very end.”
Delpy said the fact that her mother’s death occurred less than a month after she gave birth to her now 3-year-old son, Leo, put her through the emotional wringer.
“It was devastating,” said Delpy, fighting tears. “It’s the hardest thing you go through in life. You either go on, or you kill yourself. I decided to go on. My boyfriend (film composer Marc Streitenfeld) was so affected by her death that he wasn’t able to offer much support. He was totally depressed by the whole situation. So it was very hard. My dad was a mess, too. I stayed a long time with him (in Paris) after she passed away, and luckily my dad has his mom, who is going to be 100 this year. So it helped him get through a really, really difficult time.”
She said reprising his role as Marion’s boorish, politically incorrect dad also aided her father’s recovery. And you can clearly see it in a scene-stealing performance in which he draws liberally on his ability to be simultaneously charming and uncouth. “Just like in real life,” said Delpy with a big smile.
“Because he is my dad, he can sometimes be a real pain in the ass,” she said, laughing. “But every single one of my friends that meets him secretly wishes he was their dad because he’s . . . so open minded, so funny, so sweet, so sensitive. Sometimes he’s insensitive because he’s kind of a tough-skin person. He’s been through a lot in his life, but deep inside he’s a very sweet, caring person. He’s a true anarchist, but not in the sense that he’s going to blow up places. He’s not a terrorist. He’s an anarchist in spirit.”
He’s also the perfect foil for Rock, who plays a beyond-mellow NPR radio host whose patience is repeatedly tried by Marion’s uninhibited Parisian family.
“He wasn’t the obvious choice to play Dingus, which is why I was interested in casting him,” Delpy said. “He was the first person that came to my mind when I asked myself, ‘who would Marion be with now?’ I had met him before briefly through friends, but I didn’t know him well. So I approached his agent and said, ‘Do you think Chris would be vaguely interested in doing an indie film?’ He called Chris and Chris had seen my work, and he was like, ‘Yeah, but you gotta write a good script.’ So I immediately got to work.
“I really wanted to have him play a real character. It’s true that Chris has the standup and he’s done parts in movies where he is the funny guy. That’s really his thing, but in this film he’s the lead character, and he can’t be the standup comedian. But there are moments, obviously, when he gets to be really funny. And I think he really enjoyed doing it this way. It wasn’t easy; it’s not an obvious thing for him, but we really worked on it together to get to that place … which was kind of fun and exciting for me and him.”
Delpy, an only child, said she also enjoyed creating a sister for herself in Landeau’s Rose to both bicker and commiserate with. “I always say that I wish I had a sister so I could hate her. I kind of like the idea,” she said laughing. But even more exciting, she said, was the chance to explore the modern family dynamic in which second and third marriages bring together a wild mix of exes, stepchildren and lots of emotional baggage.
“A lot of my friends are in this situation, which is really complicated logistically,” she said. “I feel like you’re raising the stakes. You’ve rebuilt a family; you were able to build something stable out of a dysfunctional situation. The stakes are high because you can’t afford to destroy that.”
As Delpy, 42, ages gracefully, she said she’s grown comfortable in her own skin. She’s also excited to explore opportunities beyond acting.
“I kind of do my own stuff because I feel there aren’t many good female parts,” she said. “There are some good parts, but I’m just not being offered them. Those go to A-list actresses, and I’m not A-list. I’m more like a G-list actress. So, to me, if I want to act, I’d rather not act than act in things that are one-dimensional, things that are totally uninteresting. I’d be happy just writing and directing. I still like acting, so I do it sometimes; but my main focus is writing-directing.
“… and music,” she almost forgets to add. “I love writing music and writing music for my films,” she said. “It’s a good combination: to be directing and writing music. It’s kind of cool to do everything.”
