The Vincent |
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He's a master of that uniquely French brand of philosophical machismo; a little existential ennui, a lot of smoldering physical intensity. In a series of arthouse-oriented epic romances, the thirty-two-year-old Swiss-born actor has seduced the reigning female icons of cinema francais - Catherine Deneuve (Indochine), Isabelle Adjani (Queen Margot), and Emmanuelle Beart (Capitaine Fracasse) - and, not surprisingly, his real-life liaisons include Jacqueline Bisset and supermodel Carla Bruni. This month, Perez makes his American debut in a very different type of vehicle, The Crow, City of Angels, the sequel that revises the role created by the late Brandon Lee (who was killed in an accident while filming the original). Considering that Miramax/Dimension has invested more than $22 million (their biggest release), much is riding on Perez's ability to prove similarly seductive to mainstream U.S. audiences. As he so aptly puts it: "This movie could change everything for me in a weekend." Watching Perez pace around his SoHo apartment enthusiastically schmoozing into a cell-phone (he's clearly fluent in the language of Hollywood), it seems as if everything has already changed. He's even given up his beloved Paris apartment (home for the past thirteen years), a move that signifies the seriousness of his bid for stardom in America.
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