I don't feel good about copying anything from WENN, but Audrey Tautou's (alleged) comments about her playing opposite Tom Hanks in The DaVinci Code were precisely what I was thinking when I first heard of her casting. The piece says she was on holiday in Mexico when she was first contacted by director Ron Howard to play the part of Sophie, and that she "refused to go to LA and screen test opposite Hanks, as she felt too young to play the part." But Howard "was determined to have her in the film. WENN quotes Tatou as saying, "I didn't refuse to see [Howard]. He was doing one day of casting where he was going to meet everyone, but I was in Mexico and I said it's not even worth it for me to go. I didn't see how it could work. I thought this character had my strong-mindedness but it didn't go further than that. And I thought at 27 that I was a bit too young when Ron contacted me. To me, Sophie was older." Precisely! It was my feeling from the get-go that Sophie should have been played by Julie Delpy. Not only is the 36 year-old Delpy more age-appropriate for the 49 year-old Hanks, but, unlike the situation with Tatou, Hanks doesn't appear to outweigh her by 70 or 80 pounds.
Posted by Jeffrey Wells on May 9, 2006 at 9:15 AM
comment #1
Colin says ...
Those comments by Tautou are interesting. I remember when the movie was first being talked about and Delpy was being considered. I remember her being really interested in the part and thinking that she was good fit for the character. Now, it seems that Howard instead went for someone who actually thought that she was not right for the part and who really didn't even want to be cast.
Posted by Colin at May 9, 2006 10:30 AM
comment #2
Mike Gebert says ...
The motivating factor for the casting of every role in The Da Vinci Codfish was obviousness. Who's the most obvious French female that a Hollywood exec would think of at the moment? Amelie. Who's the obvious Frenchman to play the sidekick? The Professional. Who's the most obvious Englishman to play an art expert? Gandalf. And of course, who's the only A-list star who seems even remotely believable as someone with an advanced degree? Tom Hanks. (Okay, I could maybe see Harrison Ford with an MBA, but not art history.) It would be pointless to consider other possible actresses-- Sophie Marceau, say-- because there is always only one drearily obvious and predictable choice.
Incidentally, I had the same feeling of deja vu when I saw the casting for The Omen-- once I saw that Mia Farrow was playing Billie Whitelaw and David Thewlis was playing David Warner, I knew-- KNEW-- that the only possible choice for Leo McKern's role was Michael Gambon. And sure enough. Oddly enough, that predictable casting gave me a kind of comfort, that there would be absolutely nothing in The Omen which would surprise me in any way, and thus I could ignore it from here on out without the slightest sense that I was missing anything but a by-the-numbers remake.
Posted by Mike Gebert at May 9, 2006 11:03 AM
comment #3
Dave Polands Hair Piece says ...
No one that sees this will say that Hanks is too old for her. They wont even think twice. If they focus on that love story this movie will suck anyway.
Posted by Dave Polands Hair Piece at May 10, 2006 8:06 AM
comment #4
Thiago says ...
Audrey is fine, but Julie would be a better choice... I mean, for whatever part you cast her on... you could cast her in Tom Hanks' part for what I care, I just love looking at her...
Posted by Thiago at May 11, 2006 12:53 PM