Oscar-winning Cannes habitué Marion Cotillard returns to the festival with Guillaume Canet’s Karma and Bertrand Mandico’s Roma Elastica. These titles bring her Official Selection tally to 16 films since 2011, eight of them in Competition, including Jacques Audiard’s Rust and Bone, Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne’s Two Days, One Night and Leos Carax’s Annette. Karma revolves around a woman with a troubled past whose new life is upended by a child’s disappearance, while Roma Elastica follows an actress caught up in a crazy film shoot in Rome in the 1980s. Cotillard says both roles appealed to a desire for challenges during a period of transition in her life.
DEADLINE: You’ve been coming to the Cannes Film Festival nearly every year since the late 1990s, making your first appearance in the Official Selection in 2011. What does the festival mean to you?
MARION COTILLARD: When I was a kid, it was kind of a dream to see what was happening during the festival. The first time I came, I was so excited to be part of this very magical place
DEADLINE: Do you ever get to watch films when you’re at the festival?
COTILLARD: No… I used to a long time ago when I didn’t have movies in the festival… I remember seeing Moulin Rouge. One of my biggest shocks at the festival was Matthias & Maxime [2019], Xavier Dolan’s movie. I’m a big fan. To this day, it’s one of my favorite movies about love of all time. That was a very special screening for me.
DEADLINE: Can you tell us a bit about your role in psychological thriller Karma?
COTILLARD: Guillaume wrote the movie for me. I had a few years raising my kids and not finding anything strong enough for me to go away from them. He said, ‘I really want to write a movie for you with a very, very strong character, with something different from what you did before.’ He came up with this character whose past comes back and turns her life into something that is totally different from what she’s been living for years. He wrote a very, very strong and twisted script for me. She’s a woman who slowly reveals herself, who thinks she’s weak but discovers she’s not.
DEADLINE: This is your sixth film with Canet after Little White Lies, Blood Ties, Rock’n Roll, Little White Lies 2 and Asterix & Obelix: The Middle Kingdom. Do you think you will work together again?
COTILLARD: He is one of my favorite directors. He’s explored many genres, but always with a very intimate touch. He writes movies that, even if it’s not his life, are always connected to his life. He’s one of the best directors for actors I ever worked with, and I trust him with my life. He’s passionate and precise. Watching him on set is something that I will never be tired of. So, yeah, I really hope we will continue working together.
DEADLINE: The tale of an actress who heads to Rome in the 1980s for a film shoot, Bertrand Mandico’s Roma Elastica is in a very different vein. How did you get involved?
COTILLARD: It’s a very artistic movie. When I received the script, it was a very special script with images, and a mood board. At first, I was like, ‘Ooh, what’s this?’ I didn’t know anything about Mandico. I had never watched his movies. I read the script without knowing who he was and what his work was. At first, I was thinking, ‘I don’t know if this is the kind of movie for me.’ But it was silly of me to think that way. It was just all those pictures of the ’70s and the psychedelia. I loved the character right away, the way it was written, the dialogue, everything. The next thing I did was watch his movies. I loved them, and then we met. He’s such a special human being, a very, very strong and interesting artist.
DEADLINE: You’re joined in the cast by Noémie Merlant and an eclectic group of Italian actors including iconic stars such as Isabella Ferrari, Ornella Muti and Franco Nero. How was that?
COTILLARD: They all have, like, crazy, beautiful and very peculiar characters. Isabella Ferrari, I fell in love with her. She’s so amazing in the movie, as is Ornella Muti. She’s such an icon. They fit into Mandico’s universe perfectly. I already knew Noémie Merlant. We did Lee [2023] together with Kate Winslet. The relationship between our characters is beautiful and intense. I was so happy to be able to have this connection with her. She’s more than good, she’s insanely good, and really creates a very special character, who is moving and funny at the same time. It’s the kind of movie that you will maybe do once in your life.
DEADLINE: Your character has echoes of Anita Ekberg in Federico Fellini’s La Dolce Vita…
COTILLARD: The film is very much an homage to Italian cinema and the freedom of creativity and craziness that Italian movies once had.
DEADLINE: How was it shooting at Cinecittà. Had you shot there before?
COTILLARD: There’s this very special feeling about filming there because of all the masterpieces that shot there in the past, and this world of cinema that you can still feel.
DEADLINE: Outside of your movie work, you recently appeared in the fourth season of The Morning Show alongside Reese Witherspoon and Jennifer Aniston, as high-powered TV exec Celine Dumont, who becomes messily entangled with Billy Crudup’s Cory Ellison. Will Celine be back for a fifth season?
COTILLARD: You know that I can’t answer that question!
DEADLINE: Ok, let’s put it another way. Would you like Celine to return?
COTILLARD: I really enjoyed playing her. Again, this is how I choose my roles. I want a new adventure. I want something I never did before. How I choose to be part of a project, is when I feel that; that I never explored that side of humanity before.
DEADLINE: It was announced last July that you have been selected for a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame as part of the Class of 2026. Have you had the ceremony yet?
COTILLARD: Not yet. We’re figuring out the right time, but it will happen. I really didn’t expect this, never even dreamt of it. When it happened, it touched my heart. All those names on that Boulevard, people I admire so much, people that inspired me and are still inspiring me, it’s a very special thing.
DEADLINE: Where do you see your career going in the coming years. Do you think you’ll stay in France, or spend more time in the U.S., or move between the two?
COTILLARD: I had this period where I wanted to stay with my kids, and I had the luck to be able to do that. Now they’re bigger and I want to do more movies. I have some amazing projects coming my way.
DEADLINE: Can you talk about any of them?
COTILLARD: I have Nicole Garcia’s Milo, which is shot already, and Job with Yuval Adler, which will shoot at the beginning of next year.
DEADLINE: You’ve also produced in the past, taking credits on the animation Charlotte and activism documentary Bigger Than Us. Do you want to produce more, or even branch into directing?
COTILLARD: It’s very different being a producer and an actor, but there’s this similarity in that, with both, I bring the dream of a creator to life. I have a bunch of different projects, but I can’t talk about them right now.
DEADLINE: Before you hit the red carpet, you’re also renowned for your Cannes outfits. Festival fashion pundits still cite the silver gown you wore for the Annette premiere. Is this a nerve-wracking part of attending the festival or is it second nature for you now?
COTILLARD: I don’t know if it’s second nature, but I have the privilege to work with amazing artists. It’s going to be my first time with the new creative director of Chanel, Matthieu Blazy. So no, I’m not nervous. I really trust the people who work for Chanel and I’m looking forward to experiencing this new era.
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