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05 February 2007

Paltrow still attached to Dietrich biopic?



According to the article below, yes. I can't say I'm terribly pleased. Gwyneth Paltrow always looks like she just drank sour milk with the faces she makes. She has a jaw worthy of a horse bit, too. Too bad Louis Malle died. Uma Thurman would have been so perfect. The taste of Helen Jones she gave us as Poison Ivy in that otherwise forgettable Batman film left me wanting more.


Gwyneth Paltrow Talks Pre And Post 'Iron Man'
By Mitch Marconi
Feb 5, 2007


Gwyneth Paltrow hasn't been in a movie lead since she shot Proof three years ago. Paltrow says she's going back to work - and thinks it will make her a better mom, reports Jeannette Walls of The Scoop.
The "Shakespeare in Love" actress is Married to Coldplay frontman Chris Martin and she's been busy caring for their kids, two-year-old Apple and 10-month-old Moses.
However, she has now decided that spending more time in front of the camera will make her a better mom.
Jeannette has more: '"I hadn't worked in a long time. I was really committed to being home. Then I finally agreed to do this movie 'Iron Man' [a comic-book adaptation with Robert Downey Jr.]. I reached a place where I thought, 'It's okay that I have a passion for something besides my family,'" Paltrow tells Entertainment Weekly. "I love making films. If I do one thing that makes me fulfilled, then I'm a more interesting woman for my children."
But she says, she's not interesting to tabloids. "You want to be an actor. You don't want to be in whatever tabloid. To me, those worlds seem mutually exclusive," she told the mag. "And I fully understand that for whatever reason I'm one of those people where there's an interest, if you will, in my personal life. But I do think people are kind of bored. I've got a couple kids, a husband, I've just been at home."'
As far as what she'll do post Iron Man, Gwyneth tells Entertainment Weekly that she'll definitely take the rest of the summer off to be with her family. And then She would like to do something really character-driven.
Paltrow mentions a Marlene Dietrich story in development at DreamWorks, and would "really love to do that."

8 comments:

  1. Uma would be perfect!!! It would be so great if she and QT made a Dietrich film!!

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  2. I´m not sure, but Gwyneth nor Uma..I can´t imagine that. There will never be the second Dietrich..:/

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  3. Joseph, I was wondering if you ever saw the German "biopic" Marlene (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0192295/) directed by Joseph Vilsmaier starring Katja Flint as Marlene. I thought it was pretty bad, but I would love to hear your opinion. Reading your posts, I imagine you would probably write a very delightful entry on it!

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6Am4FHY8us (trailer)
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-dyoXPN-ng (beginning of the film dubbed in Russian?)

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    1. Yes, that sounds like Russian the way they say "Excuse me" ("izvinite"). It must be something that gets played on buses to Siberia. I tried to watch this movie years ago but couldn't find a version with English subtitles at the time. If anyone knows any copies with English, French, Spanish, or even Bulgarian dubbing/subtitles, please let me know.

      Karine, have you read/do you have Dietrich Icon, the collection of essays about Marlene? There's one about this particular movie by Eric Rentschler called "Vilsmaier's Recast Marlene." I should review Dietrich Icon some time because some of the contributions are hogwash, but Renschler's essay is quite lucid and insightful. He even contrasts Schell's documentary with Vilsmaier's biopic to shine the spotlight even brighter on the biopic's weaknesses. From what I've seen, the lighting and direction are what I would expect from a T.V. movie, not a film for theatrical release.

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    2. I don't have the book, is it worth ordering? I would like to read your review! Essays about Marlene sounds like something I should read.

      There is a DVD of this movie as part of a Marlene Dietrich DVD box. I have it, it is region 2 though. You can read about it in the comments of this entry:

      http://lastgoddess.blogspot.nl/2012/06/region-1-no-longer-marlene-dietrich-dvd.html

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    3. Thanks, Karine! I saw you wrote more comments on other threads, to which I'll respond. As for the book Dietrich Icon, I think it is worth ordering if you like books that treat Marlene as a subject of academic research. I like reading people's research myself, even if I disagree with them (e.g., there is an essay about how Marlene emulated Garbo to become famous and then dropped the copycat act when she came to the U.S., which I find incredibly speculative). Nevertheless, I have no regrets about buying this book and will likely read it again some day.

      Another academic book that comes to mind is Sybil DelGaudio's Dressing the Part: Sternberg, Dietrich, and Costume, which I found ridiculous at times. In fact, I wrote "absurd" in the margin next to this analysis (the bracketed text is mine and for clarification): "As Allison Lurie has noted, long hair has traditionally been associated with sexual women. Mary Magdalene in Christian art, for example, is usually depicted with hair that touches her feet. Lily's regret [about bobbing her hair] suggests a desire to maintain a spiritual, physical connection with the biblical character with whom she is associated [note that Lily's true name is Magdalen]."

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    4. Thanks for pointing out these books, I just found them on google books, so I can have a peek as well. I agree with with you, on reading research even when I disagree. Speaking of Marlene as a subject for academic research, quite some time ago I read a lecture about Marlene called "A Diva's War: Marlene Dietrich's glamorous female soldier". I managed to find the lecture again so I'll post it below. I have to say that I have to read it again in order to be able to say something about it... but I can recall I found the idea of Marlene in terms of Female Authorship interesting.

      A Diva's War: Marlene Dietrich's glamorous female soldier
      Written by Elisabeth Bronfen
      Lecture given on a conference at Goetheburg University on Female Authorship and Modernity
      http://www.bronfen.info/index.php/writing/146-A-Diva%5C%27s-War--Marlene-Dietrich%5C%27s-glamorous-female-soldier.html?366193355b075e744f209d10724ec1f6=aa4bf5bfcc8..

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  4. Joseph, I just remembered something... have you seen the film La Vie en Rose(2007) with Marion Cotillard as Edith Piaf? http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0450188/ If you haven't seen it, go and watch it!

    It's about the life of Edith Piaf and what is the life of Edith Piaf without Marlene Dietrich?! There is one scene where Marlene makes an appearance.
    (Have to take the dvd from the shelf to watch for a better recount) anyway here comes a global recount of what happens... Edith Piaf has had a performance in America and Marlene is there. After the concert Marlene comes up to Edith's table and pays in some kind of awe her respect to Edith's outstanding performance. It goes something like "Dear Edith, here in America I miss Europe and Paris very very much, but tonight hearing you sing I found myself back in Paris, your voice is the heart and soul of Paris. Merci!"

    I thought Marlene looked amazing and her speech and voice where good too, she definitely had a Marlene "presence" and I was wondering who this actress was. I just looked her up, it is Caroline Sihol. Looking at her photo's I have to say I do see a resemblence and she would be great to play a mature Marlene. I have no idea though if she could carry a MD biopic.

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