The making of “Blue is the Warmest Color” sounds like it was a pretty uncomfortable experience — but nothing can be as awkward as the back-and-forth that’s followed between the stars of the lesbian coming-of-age drama and its director.
The Palme d’Or winning film’s two female leads, Léa Seydoux and Adèle Exarchopoulos, told The Daily Beast in an interview last week that director Abdellatif Kechiche demanded their “blind trust,” didn’t know what he wanted from many scenes and then pushed them too hard with takes by the dozen – to the point where they wouldn’t want to work with him again.
That now-famous 10-minute sex scene, the girls say, was among the toughest to endure.
“He was making a movie about passion, so he wanted to have sex scenes, but without choreography — more like special sex scenes,” Seydoux told the Beast. “But once we were on the shoot, I realized that he really wanted us to give him everything. Most people don’t even dare to ask the things that he did, and they’re more respectful — you get reassured during sex scenes, and they’re choreographed, which desexualizes the act.”
Their complaints didn’t take long to get around to Kechiche, who reportedly blew up at a Los Angeles press conference, according to IndieWire, saying, “How indecent to talk about pain when doing one of the best jobs in the world! Aides suffer, the unemployed suffer, construction workers could talk about suffering. How when you are adored, when you go up on red carpet when we receive awards, how we can speak of suffering?”
Seydoux reportedly started crying during the press conference, then added: “I have given a year of my life to this film … I had no life during this shoot. I gave everything. I have not criticized the director I… I’m just complaining about the technique. It was my dream to work with him because, in France, he is one of the best directors.”
“Blue is the Warmest Color” opens October 25 in the U.S.
