Julie Delpy Interview

JULIE DELPY

One of the darlings of European cinema, Julie Delpy couldn't be happier to talk about her new film Before Sunset. The film is already a critical success here and in the United States, and as she sits in her London hotel suite it's clear that its success means a lot to the 34-year-old French star. Not only did she take a big risk in agreeing to reprise the same character that she played nine years before in Before Sunrise, but this time round she had a major hand in the writing of the script.

The film is a sequel to the 1995 cult smash, in which Delpy starred alongside Ethan Hawke as two young students who meet by chance in Europe and have a classic romantic day together - a kind of Brief Encounter for the 90s. Delpy confesses that the growing success of the film in the years in between made the new project a high risk one. "We enjoyed writing and making it so much that we were almost surprised that audiences have enjoyed it, because we thought we would pay the price later for having a good time making it", she says, "but there was always a fear of failure. We started writing it in 2002 but didn't watch the original until two weeks before we started shooting and we realised we really had to work hard to make everything true and right for the two characters".

The idea to make the follow-up occurred to the three main principals (including director Richard Linklater), when the trio worked together on Linklater's experimental Waking Life. Before Sunset is also experimental, consisting of a more-or-less real-time 85 minute depiction of the characters' reuniting, along with extremely long takes in which both actors deliver the most natural of dialogues. "Technically it was difficult. When you do such long takes you have to be aware of all of the camera implications as well as remembering all of the script. Everything was written in the dialogue, there was no improvisation".

One of the film's many highlights is its finale, which sees Delpy sing a song she had written herself. It comes as little surprise to discover that Delpy is a published songwriter, with her own album released in France last year. "We didn't know we were going to do a sequel when I wrote the song, so it was a coincidence, but Rick chose the song. It is weird though to see the film, especially because the first song they use was the first song I ever wrote".