Julie Delpy is no a shrinking violet. She has many awesome opinions about how Hollywood treats women, which could be one of the reasons why, according to her, she has been fired by every agency in town.
But she really doesn’t give a crap about being an actress anymore. She’s sticking to directing, and now is on her second effort 2 Days in NY which is a follow-up on 2 Days in Paris.
Delpy came to our attention starring opposite Ethan Hawke is Before Sunrise (which they both also co-wrote but never got credit for) and then she made the unfortunate decision to star in the remake of An American Werewolf in Paris which was a big disaster, and then as quickly as she got that gig, the gigs dried up.
She says what’s on her mind and because she is now a director and because she is French, and especially because she could care less, she gets away with it. She tells the Guardian reporter that she was fired by her agent on the same day he (I am assuming it is a he) told her that she should stop writing the sequel to Before Sunrise because it will be a “stupid movie no one is going to see” and that she should “do something useful like go to the gym.” I would have punched him.
One part of the piece which I found interesting is the fact that when Ethan Hawke gets called to talk about her (they have remained close) he calls her “crazy.” Here’s how she describes it:
it’s funny, I’m really not crazy. I wouldn’t be directing movies — but I don’t think I’m crazy in the sense that I can’t function. He thinks I’m crazy because I’m a very intense person. When I write or do something, I don’t do it half way. It means something to me. I don’t let go easily. I don’t give up easily. I’m very determined in a way that a lot of women might not be. Or men.
No you are not crazy. But this quote is really illustrative of how women are treated. They are either crazy or a bitch. A very determined male director or writer is talented…but a woman is crazy. We have got to stop labeling women with these terms. They stick and it becomes very simple for people to believe they are true and then poof a woman who is intense is seen as crazy. Try getting a directing gig when people think you are crazy. Not gonna happen.
She doesn’t sound one bit of crazy to me. She just sounds like a director and writer who loves and believes in her work.
The film opens in the UK on Friday and in the US in August. Other release dates here.
Julie Delpy: Hollywood Hates Me But I Don’t Care (The Guardian)
