Thursday,
September 06, 2007
Monica Bellucci, International Star at 43, Age
is No Bar to Work - Actually Increasing
The
ANNOTICO Report
Guns and Gams
Monica Bellucci
Knows What's In Store When She's Cast In An American
Action Flick
Monica
Bellucci is arguably the most famous Italian actress working in American movies,
but, as proud as she might be of her heritage, she identifies herself as more
"European" these days. This might have something to do with her
career--first as a model, now an actress--which has kept her working across the
Continent and living in Paris for much for her adult life. In fact, she acts in
three different languages, Italian, French, and English. But, the truth is, as
much as Bellucci has become European, she's also become an international
star--and one who, rather than losing work after 40 as is the general complaint
of American actresses, appears to be getting even more of it.
"This
morning, a girl from New Line called and said, `Hurry up, you've got to be
here,'" she says, laughing. This is how her American day started from her
European point of view. "I said, `Relaaax. Calm down. It's no problem.
I'll be there.' It's just the way we see things."
About to turn 43,
Bellucci, who is probably best known here as Persephone in the final two Matrix movies, is not about to give up her way of life
either. "In
In 1992, Bellucci
made her American movie debut as one of Dracula's horny brides in Francis Ford
Coppola's flop Bram Stoker's Dracula; in 2003, she played the horny
bride of a snooty French computer program in the Wachowski Brothers' Matrix sequels; and, in 2004, Mel Gibson used her persona as
a sexual icon to slut up Mary Magdalen in The Passion of the Christ.
In her latest outing, the hyperstylized action flick Shoot 'Em Up, she plays another prostitute, this one lactating and
creatively, unsubtly, called DQ.
"I'm a woman,
but I love these kinds of movies," she says, laughing. "I'm not
ashamed to admit that. I grew up reading comic books.
"For me, Shoot
'Em Up is an American movie," she
continues. "We don't make these kinds of movies in
It's interesting
to note, though, Bellucci's starring role in 2001's Brotherhood of the Wolf, a French movie that became a cult hit here. Full of
derivative storytelling and cinematography, Wachowski Brothers-inspired slow
motion, and elaborately choreographed fight sequences, it could have just as
easily sprang from American or
"For me,
though, it's interesting to do both--to come here once in a while," she
says. "I never made the decision to move to
Nevertheless,
it's refreshing to hear a European do something other than bash Americans as
violent ogres. Of course, she is promoting one of the bloodiest movies of the
year. "You see all this violence, but you don't get scared because it's so
over the top," she says. "Nobody kills people with carrots. Nobody
makes love while shooting people--it's physically impossible!"
Makes love while
shooting people? Well, yeah, that's one of the scenes you'll get to enjoy in Shoot
'Em Up. It starts with Clive Owen as the enigmatic
Mr. Smith helping a woman give birth while he shoots down a gang of assailants
with Chow Yun-Fat panache and later reaches an emotional and literal climax
when Owen and Bellucci, the hooker with the heart of gold and breast milk to
feed the orphaned baby now in their care, have sex in the middle of a gunfight.
It's like a cartoon, influenced by spaghetti westerns and
Bellucci knows
the score, though. She has her, as she calls them, "arty films" in
Consider her
insight into the significance of the newborn baby that her character, along
with Owen's, sets out to protect from an assassin played by
With her breathy,
accented, but always playful voice, she adds, "You see, it's a violent
movie, but in the end it's all about love."
And
bullets.
And cleavage. And Monica Bellucci is OK with that.
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