Dumbo isn’t a total flop, but it’s definitely underperforming at the box office, and it’s definitely not critically acclaimed. There’s a lot of talk about how Tim Burton has really lost his mojo. Has he? I don’t know. But I am starting to wonder if Eva Green really is the best “muse” for him, you know? Eva has a big role in Dumbo, and she gave some interviews to promote the film, like this cover interview she did with ES Magazine last week. Eva is an unconventional, gothic, un-Hollywood person, which… okay, it takes all kinds, and I find her interesting and beautiful. But maybe she’s not the person for a Disney film, you know? Anyway, some highlights from her ES Magazine profile:
On her goth cred: “I have embraced my Gothic-ness, because everyone says that’s what I am. Black is just concretely very easy to wear. It makes you thin. And you can be a dirty girl and it won’t show.”
Whether she’s dating anyone: ‘Such a boring question! I will remain mysterious.’
Moving from France to England: ‘I wanted to be my own person and go to another country. I loved London — I studied there [at Webber Douglas drama academy] before I moved there — and I bought a little flat in Primrose Hill, my agent looked after me and I began to make friends. I can’t say Paris is ugly but it lacks trees and London has that village feel. People are less judgemental in London and I love the British sense of humour.’ When she got back to Paris the day before our meeting she could ‘smell the fires’ set by rioting gilets jaunes, whom she mentions with an eye-roll. She hopes Brexit doesn’t mean she has to leave Britain. Moving to LA was never an option: ‘I went there for The Dreamers and I hated it. I hated meeting people. It was the cliché of the plastic smiles and the dead eyes and “we love you” but there is nothing behind it.’
On being assaulted by Harvey Weinstein: ‘He was like a god. He could make you, destroy you. You think, maybe something will change — I could win an Oscar! So the first time you meet him you feel privileged. But what happened [to him] is a miracle. There is justice. But you know, there are a***holes everywhere, in every field.’
She’s worried about ageing: ‘There is always that insecurity. You depend on the desire of people. I read interviews with women going [smug voice], “Oh, I’m soooo confident now I am in my 30s or in my 40s, I have found myself.” Well, actually, pfft, it is difficult for an actor, or for any woman, ageing. You think, my God, will people still like me? I’ll be in my 40s soon but I always feel like I am 15.’
I didn’t realize that she just lives full-time in England now – I always thought she probably had an apartment in Paris and only went to England for work. But tell me, Europeans in the know: is London really less judgmental than Paris? Are British people less judgy than French peeps? Hm. As for what she says about ageing… it reminded me of what Kristin Scott Thomas said several years ago, that even though she never put much stock in people’s compliments when she was younger, as she got older, she felt invisible without that kind of attention.
Photos courtesy of WENN, cover courtesy of ES Magazine.
I think Parisian society can be very unforgiving, from what I know about it, especially for women. You have to be chic but in an artless way, always correct, very thin, never drunk. We Brits are a bit more freewheeling. British aristos can be very judgy, but I would imagine that Eva runs with a more artsy crowd.
Also French don’t hide dissatisfaction or disapproval, they are very vocal and upfront about it. Brits are more restrained and more diplomatic I find.
God French people are judgemental. The reason why the fashion is so tight is because they’re all looking down their snooty noses at each other simultaneously feeling superior and insecure. But yeah the arrogance and hubris is really overwhelming from the French.
“always correct, very thin, never drunk” – ugh. That does put Britain in a better light!
I love her. I was bummed when she became Tim’s latest muse because I feel he sucks the life out of every actress he works with and they all become prototypes of his “ideal Goth woman”. Eva is an amazing actress and I don’t think Tim’s films and roles do her justice. Eva and I are the same age (our birthdays are a month apart) so I know exactly what she’s talking about. I feel like I’m 25 still. I look younger than I am but there is that feeling of that time of being “desired” is passing. At the same time I do feel more like myself at this age than I did even at 30.
Hi VV. Well put and Oh gosh me too. I just turned 30 and had an absolute meltdown. It feels like the time of being desired is passing, and it makes you realise as a woman how much of your identity is based on being desired. I was always invisible and lonely until I hit my 20s, and then I got so much attention for being desirable for years, and even though a lot of the attention was horrible, the thought of losing that thing that made me feel not invisible is so, so scary.
The grief of ageing is a call to women to develop real self esteem, which honestly, feels so much better than getting looked at.
Prim, YES. For me, the two couldn’t exist at once. I’m happy for those beautiful, young women who are self-actualized, but I was a rotten young person. I miss my looks, but have gained so much more in aging, and it’s freeing. I finally feel like a person.
Honey, you’re only 30! I’m 43, I still get flirted with. I do get ignored if there’s 20ish women nearby but you know, that’s the flaw of men, not our flaw. I met my husband in my late 30s. All the single men my age seemed to want 20ish women and it made me feel bad about myself. I saw my first wrinkle and was freaking out. I met my now husband at a sports bar, his uncle was a bouncer there. He is 6 months younger than me, he wanted a woman his age. Cause he was mature and ready for a real relationship. Those guys chasing younger women are just looking to get laid. My husband has always made me feel beautiful in the 7ish years we’ve been together. And now at 43, younger men seem to like older women. I get hit on by guys in their 20s. Crazy. I miss my younger face with it’s lack of wrinkles. But it’s been a gradual process and I still look like myself. It’s the first couple wrinkles that are the worst. After that, you kinda get used to it. You just gotta decide if you want to age gracefully or fight it. I have deepish crow’s feet and tried Botox, hubby likes me better natural. I want a breast lift, he saiddon’t go under anesthesia if you don’t have to but it’s your decision. Real mature men aren’t afraid of some miles on their women. BeSides girl, you’re only 30!
Yes. Aging is scary. And there will be a mourning period. The non-stop interest, desire, flirtations and compliments will inevitably dissipate, and there’s no getting around it. Everything about whistles and inappropriate attention you rolled your eyes at when young will become a nostalgic memory. If you have good genes, you might retain one or two features you’re proud of and refocus attentions. Here’s the thing though, when you look at young beauty, your heart might skip a beat, but when they open their mouths, you’re reminded so very much how you wouldn’t trade places. Shallow beauty is relied upon when young, but if you ignore your core, your mind, your heart, the truths which make you YOU, you will be scrambling to catch up when looks fade. It’s a process. A series of phases and what finally becomes most important in your lives is precisely what should be important in your lives.
Beautifully written!
I absolutely loved this comment so much, Mabs. Beautifully stated.
Bravo
I love Eva. I like that she beats to a different drum.
And yes, I’d agree London is less judgmental than Paris. For one thing, in Paris I always feel like one needs to dress with a bit more polish (feel the same way about New York), as people are more pulled together in Paris. London is a bit more relaxed about dress in comparison. More generally, I’ve always felt Paris is a bit more blatant with the tut-tuts than London. That said, Brits are often just thinking it but keeping their disapproval to themselves rather than saying it aloud, while the French will say it loudly.
I don’t see Paris that way. In the 8th of course you can dress without being dressed and to some extent the 4th and Bastile require more edge but I find that whole “you have to be perfect” such a cliche. I wear leggings, no makeup and generally never try to look nice, no one bats an eye. And in the 16th, it’s like California. Gym wear is acceptable wear. You just have to find the neighborhood that works for you. Whereas I feel like in England I would probably be forced to wear makeup and the like. Frenchwomen don’t put an emphasis on makeup and bedhead is chic. To each their own
I watched Dumbo with my boyfriend and his 9 year old son and it was BORING. Way too long for kids (you could hear how fussy children got). I don’t think Eva has a big role in the film – Colin Farrell does. Eva appears in the last part of the film and she’s very overlooked and underused as an actress.
The story also felt fractured between BEFORE DUMBO FLIES and AFTER DUMBO IS ACQUIRED BY A DISNEY-ESQUE CIRCUS.
I did tear up a bit in the scenes in which mother and child are separated, but the animation film was more interesting and better. Dumbo, at least, was cute.
Brits and French people are the same amounts of judgemental, it’s just that French people will tell you to your face and give you dirty looks while British people will mostly just fume silently.
Yep it’s the whole cold polite thing in Britain but people sure do judge here as well.
That’s how I felt last year when I visited. And I felt more welcomed by the French, to be honest.
Are you American? I feel the French are so much nicer to Americans. I think it probably pisses English people off because there’s hostility towards them. But the French are genuinely so happy to talk about dumb American stuff. It helps that our culture is so widespread and you know we didn’t have 1000 years of animosity. I find that in England they like making fun of you more. Even my boyfriend (who is English) hates Americans (despite dating one) for no other reason than “we’re Americans”.
I’ve been invisible my whole life, so aging should be a pretty easy transition. Lol!
Eva is such a great actress, but every Burton project I’ve seen her in has been….meh? I think he’s definitely lost his mojo.
Oh Neva. I feel you. I’m ugly and fat since little.
I’m 36 now but feel 21. My 30’s is simply the best maybe because I’ve come to terms with all my flaws.
I’ve lived in both cities (now in London) as a foreigner and prefer London by far. It’s much more open and varied.
What I also know is that all countries have flaws and humans are majoritarily conservative and afraid of diference. I travel a lot for work and have lived in many cities and countries. That’s the conclusion I get to. Revolutionary France? Punk Britain? Reactions to the very established arrogance of the rich and the huge power of establishment.
Paris isn’t representative of the rest of France, however I totally understand Eva when she says London is less judgmental. The “scene” in France is marginally smaller, and they are all up there in Paris. They do like to judge and gossip. If you don’t play the game, you’re quick to be ostracized. Which means no work.
Only from visiting, I preferred London to Paris…both beautiful with amazing culture! However London seemed a bit more welcoming and it wasn’t that the French were rude necessarily but more like they couldn’t be bothered, if that makes any sense. Again my opinion means very little as I haven’t lived in either place.
I haven’t lived in either place either, but interestingly, I’ve had the opposite experience. Speaking in broad generalizations, I’ve always found Parisians more welcoming than Londoners. But that might be because when I visit those cities, I’m usually on a book tour, and the French take writers more seriously than pretty much anyone else does. (Sample French book tour audience Q&A question: “How do you see the role of the artist in combating the rise of nationalism here and abroad?” Sample American book tour audience Q&A question: “Do you like to write with a pen, or do you use a computer?” )
Annabel, I felt the same way when I visited both cities. Loved them both, but I felt more welcomed in Paris.
Traveling solo, I’m treated far more cordially in Paris than in London. I’m American & have only residual snippets of French language left over from school days. Parisians were willing to help with directions & gave several “random acts of kindness” but Londoners were cold, supercilious & often borderline rude. Best part of UK for me is Ireland where people were very welcoming & helpful, even to the point of asking me to join their groups @ pubs, etc. I’m elderly so there was no thought of flirtation.
Tuille, Ireland is not a part of the UK. It’s an independent, sovereign nation. I can’t believe tourists go there and don’t know that!
Funny, when I went to London and a small town of England I felt the opposite, people were so kind and warm , specially the local ones.
I do not think she speaks about French society but rather about French cinema. Unlike actresses like Marion Cotillard, Mélanie Laurent or Audrey Tautou, Eva Green has always been snubbed by the French film industry despite being a better actress than Léa Seydoux.
Moreover half of her filmography includes more of British and European films than French. Add to that in France she is constantly compared to her mother Marlene Jobert who a great French actress, I understand that she prefers to live in England.
Given that anywhere between 66,000 and 400,000 French nationals live in the UK (depending on whose statistics you accept, be it the ONS or French Consulate among others) and the majority of those in London, she’ll have to avoid certain areas so as not to feel out of place, as it were….
As a French girl, and a Londoner for 2 years now, I never get those dirty and judgy looks here in London, while breastfeeding in the tube or in cafes or restaurants, for instance, or with my kids, whereas French people would look at people with children in a very rude way. In London, people will just ignore you and live their life (or smile at the baby) (and maybe they internally judge, but they don’t show it, and it’s all that matters to me. Being a parent is stressful enough).
As a Parisian, yes we are demanding compared to holding. The Parisian style is defined by a false chic simplicity, when people dress differently we judge and doing all to let the person know that she is badly dressed.
Tim Burton takes the most magnificent women and suck the LIFE out of them and up end their careers….
And when I heard he was doing “Dumbo” I SERIOUSLY questioned reality…because other than the paycheck…”WHAT EVER IS THE POINT?” Heck, if I’m Tim Burton…not even THE CHECK is the point….but then…today’s Tim…IS not the Tim of yester year….
I think it has to do with having a strong personality. Maybe he has to be a director at home as well as at work. Or maybe he makes sure to date women who want to learn from him rather than the other way around.
As for Dumbo, maybe it was for the paycheque or for his kids or maybe, again, he likes putting his stamp on certain stories. He’ll get into his groove once he finds the right one, but wow, it’s going to take some time yet.
Yes, London is paradise compared to Paris, if we are talking looking different or wearing alternative fashions. As a goth having visited Paris many many times, people will stare, holler, try to take stealth pics with their phones in public transport, talk rude about you with their friends in French thinking you can’t hear or understand etc. I am not saying that people in London don’t judge, maybe they do, but you wouldn’t know because they will not bother you about it.
I am so out of the loop that I didn’t know Dumbo was getting a remake until last week and I didn’t know Tim Burton directed it until just now. I hated the original Dumbo, it was so scary to me as a child. A Tim Burton version of it sounds absolutely dreadful, and I say that as a fan of his. I do think Burton has lost his mojo and I think his frequent collaborations with Disney is part of it. A lot of Disney movies have an underlying creepiness that I don’t want to see played out further. Burton brings all the creepiness front and center and it ends up ruining the movie for me. Alice In Wonderland was like that. Just way too weird and Burton-y for a Disney movie. I always wanted to see what he would have done with a Harry Potter movie.
I don’t really have any thoughts about Eva Green. I agree with her about aging. It’s not something I’m looking forward to and I like hearing women admit they have this concern too.
The person with who she lives lived at London when she left the France and she has a « bad » reputation (no nepotism no casting couch ) in the French cinema
I find people in Toronto unfriendly and self-involved. Shall I move to London?
I appreciate that Eva is so outright honest. It’s an interesting read.
I lived in London 20 and in Paris 10 years ago and I’m visiting Paris every now and again. The French mentality is more bourgeois than most people think and even though Paris is much more cosmopolitan than other towns or regions in France, I wouldn’t describe Parisians as open-minded and outgoing.
As other posters have pointed out, the French can be quite harsh in their judgements and don’t restrain themselves to tell or show you what they think. This also becomes evident with regard to foreigners speaking French. Outside touristic areas, there often is open disapprovement and only little appreciation for speaking French if you’re not fluent and don’t have an almost perfect pronunciation, although it has gotten much better in Paris over the years compared to other places in France.
In my experience as a non-native English speaker, the English are more forgiving in this regard, mind you though, it has gotten so much more xenophobic in England and London as well, so I’m uncertain as to what living as a foreigner in today’s London would be like.
London is one of the most multicultural cities in the world so if Londoners don’t like you it won’t be because they are xenophobic because they could originate from anywhere in the world, it’s probably you.
Eye-rolling the giles jaunes?
If only the prols were to so lucky as to just casually move to London full time because of its trees.
If you lived in Paria you would eye roll the gilets jeunes as well. They’re a menac to society. They come into the city every weekend and cause havoc and destruction for destructions sake. They ruin transport, they burn our streets, don’t play your violins when they turn this city into a mess. 17 or whatever weekends of the same nonstop violence? Yeah I don’t care anymore what their demands are, they want to be tugs and burn everything in their path, they can find somewhere else to do it.
‘Such a boring question! I will remain mysterious.’
Love that response
Also love her as Vesper Lynd and in Penny Dreadful
Well, I’m one of those women who prefer way more the 30s than the 20s. I don’t miss the catcalling because I know it has very little to do with beauty anyway. The 20s are the adulthood’s adolescense: you’re suppposed to keep yourself together, but the insecurity and lack of self knowledge is still there. However, I know it’s easy to say that because 31 is not really, really old.