Can it be possible that Carla Bruni-Sarkozy actually has feet of clay? This writer hopes not, having always found in her a really relatable role model — I mean, if a supermodel can rise from her lowly beginnings as heiress to a tire manufacturing fortune, daughter of a concert pianist and either an industrialist/composer or a Brazilian grocery magnate/classical guitarist, to become a singer/songwriter, actress, and, oh yes, the First Lady of France, then surely, so can we all.
Ok, so maybe she is like a creature from another planet where everything is always amazing, which makes it all the more remarkable that despite all that, we still kinda liked her. So we take little joy in reporting the Daily Mail rumor, via MovieWeb, that comely French rising star Lea Seydoux has reshot all of Bruni-Sarkozy’s scenes for Woody Allen’s currently filming “Midnight in Paris.” Snarkily reporting that the alluring Italian-born hyphenate has been “humiliated” and “caused widespread amusement in July when she took dozens of takes to perform a few simple dramatic tasks during filming,” the Daily Mail goes on to repeatedly stress how much younger her possible replacement Seydoux is, and even bizarrely asserts that “while Miss Bruni may still make a few seconds of the final cut, the fresh-faced Seydoux would be a far bigger box office draw.” Hm, really? All this serves to do is remind us how much we dislike the Daily Mail.
Apparently, Ms. Bruni-Sarkozy had trouble “walking in and out of a bread shop while saying nothing, and then carrying a small baguette while looking serious.” But come on, she’s Carla Effing Bruni-Sarkozy, for heaven’s sake! Who knows how long it has been since she has done anything as ordinary as walk into a bread shop or carry a baguette that isn’t a diamond? If she can even halfway convince in a role as a human woman, then it’s an acting stretch the like of which we may never have seen before. In fact, the woman herself confessed that she might well be a “terrible actress,” but that she just wanted to be able to tell her grandchildren that she was in a Woody Allen movie.
So yes, this is us leaping to the defense of poor, downtrodden, victimised billionaire Carla Bruni-Sarkozy. We’re as surprised as you are, but that Daily Mail article got our goat, and seems mostly to be a knife-sharpening teaser for Bruni’s forthcoming “sensational biography” which promises to reveal her plastic surgery secrets as well as details of her various affairs. Oh, whatever. Never mind them, Carla – we can still hang if you like.
It seems the filmmakers are keeping schtum, so “Midnight in Paris”’s Cannes 2011 premiere will be the first opportunity to see just how much of a role, if any, she has left in the finished film.