French actress Audrey Dana. AUDREY DANA MAKES HER BOW
By
Alex Simon
Editor's Note: This article appears in the May issue of Venice Magazine.
Most actresses never get beyond the point of wanting to be an actress, one of the sobering realities of a business where there are more creative, talented people populating the insides of kitchens and the backs of bars than on the stage or screen where they know they truly belong. French actress Audrey Dana is one of the lucky few, however. The daughter of a French father and American mother, Audrey got her start training at the prestigious Conservatoire National d’Orleans, where she was awarded their First Prize of Dramatic Arts. After building her resume appearing on the French stage and television, as well as off-Broadway and Broadway turns in New York, the 29 year-old not only makes her film debut as the female lead in the Samuel Goldwyn release Roman de Gare, but does so under the gifted hand of legendary French filmmaker Claude Lelouch(Oscar winner for A Man and a Woman
). She is currently working on three new French films, including Lelouch’s latest epic, which is in pre-production. Audrey Dana sat down with us recently to discuss her life and its remarkable recent turn of events.
Tell us about what it’s like making your feature debut under the direction of a legend like Claude Lelouch.
Audrey Dana: Oh my God! It was truly…cloudless is the only word that comes to mind. It was serious, intense, real work that was full of energy, enthusiasm, creativity and life. What more could I wish for?
Were you nervous working with him?
No. I mean, I was nervous my first day on the set, because I’d never done a real movie before and there was this whole team of people on the set who were experienced veterans in the business. I was afraid they’d look at me like this inexperienced little girl who never should have shown up on the set. Also, Claude is well-known to really love his actresses (laughs), so…I was nervous about that. But after I did my first scene, which was two hours in a car with Dominique Pinon, I felt like everyone respected me, so my nervousness disappeared! (laughs)
And you got to work with two famous French actors: Dominique Pinon and Fanny Ardant.
Yes, two beautiful actors. Fanny and I only had a couple scenes together, but Dominique and I were in nearly the entire movie together. He’s just awesome, very generous and very serious and has something about him that makes you jump directly into the situation because he’s so present.
Dominique Pinon and Audrey Dana in Roman de Gare. Did you learn anything from Dominique?
I think we exchanged a lot of things from working together. It was almost as though we were playing in a playground together, but at the end of the day, you realize that you’ve actually learned a great deal from your playmate. It’s funny, the editor told me later that it was tough cutting our scenes because Dominique was always very consistent, doing the same thing, but I was always doing something different. (laughs) So that was an important lesson for me. Claude allowed us to improvise a lot, which I love, but Dominique isn’t really from that school, so to speak. So it was great for improvising, but crazy for the editor.
Did you study a lot of improv when you studied drama?
No, mostly the instruction was very traditional, but later a lot of the plays I did were very experimental, where the authors would allow us to sort of go off on our own, so that’s where I really developed by taste for improvisation.
Your character is a very interesting one because in the beginning, she’s not terribly likable, and for an actor to come up with a credible performance, he or she has to find something they like about their character, some shred of their humanity. How were you able to do this?
I tried to imagine how I would have become that girl. I thought about what would have happened to me had I not discovered acting when I was six years old. I had a very, very crazy life as a child. If I didn’t have that arrow pointing me in the right direction and saving me from a crazy childhood and crazy teen years, I easily could have been the sort of girl that got pregnant at 15, and just led a life that would have been completely fucked up.
What was so crazy about your life then?
The family thing was very crazy: four children and parents that didn’t get along, and didn’t love each other, plus my two older sisters were actually my Dad’s stepchildren from his first marriage who he adopted. Then I had two sisters from my mother who have different fathers. Then the really crazy thing was they bought a house in the most miserable part of France, where everything is so flat, you want to die. It’s awful: no one’s ever heard of it outside of France. It’s very rural, the people work in the fields, and there’s just this feeling of no hope whatsoever. It was very provincial and we were viewed as this freakish family, so I had very few friends. My mother opened a center, a home, for abused and abandoned children, many of whom were obviously really messed up and disturbed, so I grew up around all this, and most of those kids hated me as well: I was a good student, was passionate about wanting to be an actress, had a direction, and for all this, they hated me, too! (laughs) So I couldn’t wait to get out of there, as I’m sure you can imagine.
What did your parents think about you wanting to be an actress?
My dad wasn’t around much, and whenever I’d try to talk to my Mom about a problem, she’d be like “Shut the fuck up! You have no problems. All these kids you see, they have real problems.” There was lots of violence: knives held to my neck, chairs broken over my head…my Dad was in Paris. He was a brilliant journalist and really had a life of his own. He’s dead now.
How did your parents meet?
Playing bridge, believe it or not! My Dad was French bridge champion and my Mom always loved playing the game. They have those fancy clubs in Paris, with people smoking cigars, and everything. My Mom moved to Paris from Baltimore when she was 27, and they met when she was 32, while she was pregnant from another man.
Jesus Christ, you could make a movie out of your life!
(laughs) Yeah, right? You’re not the first person to say that. You could really make a movie of anyone’s life if you’re a good director, but I definitely have material there.
Audrey Dana in Roman de Gare. It explains in a way what drew you to acting. What happened when you were six that made you realize you were an actor?
It was one night during dinner and I was being very loud, and very funny and my sister said, in exasperation probably, “Oh gosh, you should be an actress!” Then when I was 18, I moved to New York City, and I decided I was going to stay. I created my own theater company and wasn’t on stage for much of it, just in small parts, but really enjoyed the whole creative process. After two years, I just started dying inside. I was in Tunisia with my Dad and I had a baby who was two months old, and I said to him ‘Sometimes I think of going back to Paris, because I miss acting, but I think maybe it’s too late for me now,’ and I was about 21 at the time. My Dad got really furious and he said “What are you talking about? You’re 21 years old, and you’re telling me you’re afraid to move from one big city to another big city? Of course you’ll make it if you go back to France. If you don’t make it, who will?” So I went back to Paris, started school, and have been acting ever since. Wow, I just told you my whole life here! (laughs)
You’re a real survivor.
No, I’ve met kids who have survived so much more.
Yeah, they survive physically, but they’re also irreparably damaged most of the time. It sounds like you’re pretty healthy in spite of all you’ve seen and been through.
I know that getting out of where I grew up was the key. I would have died if I’d stayed there.
Your mom is still there?
Oh yeah, but all my sisters have escaped. They’ve all traveled the world, and done what they wanted to do. That’s the one great thing they gave us: the idea that freedom was a reality and being open to open doors.
How do your mom and sisters feel about your success?
Really happy! It’s almost brought our family together again, as though all the struggles and everything we went through somehow now all makes sense.
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