Most actors would jump at the chance to appear in a film directed by Steven Spielberg, whose cinematic output over the years has included classics ranging from “Jaws” to “E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial” to “Schindler’s List” and many more.
For Juliette Binoche, however, it was an opportunity she decided to pass up — and not just once.
In an interview with Variety, the star of such films as “Chocolat” and “The English Patient” was asked to confirm a rumour that she’d passed on an offer from Spielberg not once but three times.
“I don’t remember very well but Steven reminded me!” she said.
“The first time was for ‘Indiana Jones 3’, because I was doing ‘The Lovers on the Bridge’ with Leos Carax,” she explained.
“The second time, for ‘Schindler’s List,’ I was pregnant, and then for the dinosaurs (‘Jurassic Park’), I had already committed to ‘Three Colors: Blue’. It would have been amusing to do ‘Jurassic Park’ to see how [Spielberg] makes the film, but at the same time, Spielberg is more of a men’s director, like Scorsese actually.”
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Would Binoche be open to working with Spielberg or Scorsese at this point in her career?
“Of course I would!” she declared. “Even if I find their approach to cinema to be very commercial, they have a fabulous technique which they own completely, and there’re storytellers. But their films lack women.”