Sophie Lellouche – Director of Paris-Manhattan
Interviewed and Written by Danielle Muir

As a young budding filmmaker, Sophie Lellouche fell completely and utterly in love with the works of Woody Allen.  Not only did she admire his filmmaking prowess, she “remembered to tell myself how my life would be so great if Woody Allen could be my friend.  My best friend.  Surely he’s going to give me some good advice for my life.”  Fast-track to 2012 and Lellouche’s film Paris-Manhattan (about the concept of a woman obsessed with Woody Allen) has not only gotten an international release, but Allen himself has starred in her first feature-film debut, cameoing as himself.

Lellouche’s zest for making films was almost crushed with her disappointment at the poor end result of her first short-film in 1999.  “I didn’t find the courage, I didn’t feel confident at all…the result of it, I say to myself, ‘forget it.  You don’t have any talent and you don’t have to make movies, it’s a waste of time.”  But luckily for her, the passion Woody has for filmmaking was what pushed her to overcame the fear of personal failure again.  “He is the one who spurred me to make movies because he’s so talented and so gifted.”  It was his approval and decision to star that was the only reason Lellouche made the movie at all, as the act of him declining would have obliterated the little self-esteem in her work that she had.  “I was not very confident so if Woody Allen would say no, I hear ‘your script is so bad, forget it.”

But it’s not all about Allen.  Being able to wrangle in a few French acting superstars was crucial in Paris-Manhattan coming to fruition, as being a first-time feature film director always makes the process of attracting support and funding more arduous.  Alice Taglioni and Patrick Bruel (Bruel’s ongoing support was crucial to the film being made) seemed the perfect fit, not only because of their fame but because of their natural born qualities that fit the characters so completely.  Alice “is a little tomboy and I love the idea that she could be beautiful and at the same time doesn’t know how beautiful she is.”  Which fits the character she plays, also named Alice, completely – as both appear dynamic, independent, individual and unashamed of the way she is, even if her mother would like her to swap the jumpers for blouses.  But it was Patrick’s involvement that sealed the deal for Paris-Manhattan, as Lellouche knew he was the one for the part.  “I asked myself which kind of actor are you going to love if you were Alice, and my answer was just clear.  Patrick Bruel.  I loved him for his character because he’s natural, he’s sensitive, he’s creative.  I love his character.”  It was with the help of Patrick and her “very good Producer” that she’s managed to snare such famous actors and a small but adequate budget for her debut.

But the greatest look of satisfaction that came across Sophie’s face was when I asked her whether she was the one who penned Woody’s lines herself, or whether Allen spouted his own.  Turns out it was Lellouche who wrote the wisecracks, and she’s “very proud of that because it was just like he wrote it himself.”  However no directing was required, as he was playing “himself, so what can I tell him?”  Again she re-iterates the generosity and care that Allen took after she tracked him down outside his venue where he played clarinet every Monday night, and the fact that he actually “takes the time to read, he takes time to answer, he was marvellous.”

So the once burned writer/director who had no faith in her abilities has now just completed her first feature-film, starring France’s most prolific actors and her most admired director, who she now keeps in contact by “send[ing] some letters to him for Christmas, I sent him my movie, a lot of things like that because I’m so grateful.”  I wonder whether the young girl sitting in the movie theatre all those years ago could ever have fathomed such a brilliant outcome, or that her favourite director is actually as kind and talented as she’d always fantasised.