Latest News - The Vincent Perez Archives

13 April 2018

On April 5, Vincent and his wife attended the Madame Figaro dinner at Automobile Club de France. Certainly the men at this affair were more appropriately dressed than some of the women. Surprising to see some very unattractive outfits. Marion Cotillard, Camélia Jordana, and even Karine were on that list.

It appears that both Vincent and Karine are into hats these days. Here's a recent photo of the two of them about to jet off to another destination.

Though it was announced a year ago that Sony Pictures Classics had bought the North American rights to Roman Polanski's "D'après une histoire vraie" (Based on a True Story), the film still has not received a release date in the US or Canada. The film continues to open this spring in several other countries. Here are some new screen shots of Vincent:

What do you think of this caricature of Vincent? It certainly captures some of his features though I would have done more with his nose.

Blast from the past - a photo of Vincent from a 1992 edition of Japanese magazine "Switch".

01 April 2018

Easter Sunday Blessings!

In my last post, I discussed "The Crow: City of Angels" unaware that there was another Tim Pope/Vincent Perez collaboration going on. Pope, best known for directing music videos and documentaries is to direct "Drone", his first narrative feature film in more than 20 years. Pope describes the story - "It's about a 22-year-old boy, who looks after his mother and finds freedom with his drone. He forms a relationship [through the drone] with a woman who believes she is Marilyn Monroe." This synopsis sounds dreadful but evidently Pope developed this script with Vincent. The pair spent a weekend together at the director's home in England working on the screenplay and then Pope finished developing it. He says it will be shot on a "relatively small budget" but it will be "very cinematic".

Over the past several years, Vincent has been seen at several Renault events, perhaps there's a financial connection, but I came across Vincent in a recent Renault ad in a Japanese edition of Esquire magazine. The second photo shows him looking youthful and suave at Cannes in 2010 and the third photo was also at Cannes the following year. Being a partner at Cannes, Renaults are used by celebrities at the annual film festival.

26 March 2018

Sophie Marceau and Vincent are teaming up once more! Another international role for our Swiss thespian, this time in China. Filming has begun this month on an adaptation of Giacomo Puccini's famous opera TURANDOT. The film's helmsman, Zheng Xiaolong, is an acclaimed director and screenwriter in China. The story is based on the Italian opera, which is set in China and tells the story of Prince Calaf, who falls in love with the coldhearted Princess Turandot. The suitor must solve three riddles in order to marry her, with a single wrong answer punishable by death. Though "Turandot" is well-known globally, it is still an exotic legend to audiences in China. In fact, the name "Turandot" is not Chinese in origin, but rather a Persian word meaning "the daughter of Turan," a former part of the Persian Empire. The opera has been adapted for the screen several times by various countries. The poster above is from a Chinese 2014 version. The director is seen below in these photos from the launch party last week. He's the man in the black sweater in the middle photo.

In my goal to update some of the film pages in the VPA, I have begun with THE CROW: CITY OF ANGELS, which was an important film because it was Vincent's introduction to American audiences. Director Tim Pope’s 1996 sequel was a largely unsuccessful attempt to cash in on the successful 1994 hit "The Crow", without star Brandon Lee, who was killed in an on-set accident. The marketing folks did well to guarantee the lack of opening-day reviews but there was no way to control the bad news once the movie was seen. This sequel has been much maligned over the years as being unnecessary, bad filmmaking, and trading on the Brandon Lee tragedy. Jon Bon Jovi auditioned for the role of Ashe, but Vincent was ultimately selected because of his performance in "Queen Margot". For inspiration, he looked to Jim Morrison and Hamlet though some reviewers thought he was channeling Jack Nicholson's Joker from "Batman". "I'll second that. What probably hurt his performance the most was his deep French accent, which at times made his dialogue indiscernible.

Here are some photos taken recently of Vincent. He looks as if he's aged ten years. The dark-rimmed glasses don't help. He's either going for a more mature look with the full gray-tinged beard or he's preparing for his role in "Turandot". Fans, what do you think?

10 March 2018

On Monday evening, March 5, luxury leather goods brand Lancel and interior designer Sarah Lavoine presented the fruit of their collaboration in a new collection of leather travel bags and accessories. Vincent and Karine attended the fashion event.

Here's a photo from late February showing Vincent with Nicky Depasse, a journalist for Belgium's Elle magazine. Ms. Depasse writes, "At each interview, Vincent Perez surprises me. Now it is photography. He's published a book on Russia with fabulous portraits, unusual landscapes, pieces of this country he loves. It's splendid."

02 March 2018

Roman Polanski was questioned recently about casting his film, "Based on a True Story". He was asked why he thought of Vincent as François, Delphine's partner? He replied, "I have long been looking for an opportunity to work with Vincent Perez, he’s a friend. In the role of Francois, I wanted someone who resembled Delphine De Vigan’s real partner in life [François Busnel] who reminds me of Vincent. I thought of him immediately. We met and he quickly accepted the role. He instinctively knew how to balance the kindness and the distance that the character required."

It was announced back in November that Vincent's daughter Iman, along with Flore Giraud and Mathilde Pinault, would be the new faces of Miasuki IX - equestrian wear. Here are a couple quotes from Iman:

"I was riding every day from when I was five years old until a few years ago. One day, my family sat me down and said, 'Sorry Iman, but we can’t afford this anymore.' I was forced to stop for a year and went into depression. I just cannot not ride! So I started saving up from my modeling jobs and knocked on doors of various companies for sponsorship. Luckily, I managed to find my own way to carry on. I truly believe in 'where there’s a will, there’s a way'."

"When I’m not riding, I go to the gym and enjoy a great boxing session. Sometimes I do hip-hop ballet because it’s a good way to combine my love for 90s soul, R&B music and ballet dancing. It helps me relax and unwind. I very much enjoy being in the fashion industry and I find great satisfaction in building my own career, but ultimately, my dream, my goal is still to become an Olympic show jumping athlete."

10 February 2018

Shoot vertical and go to Cannes! Nespresso Talents 2018 is a short film competition dedicated to videos filmed vertically, which favors the emergence of talented young filmmakers while breaking the conventions of cinema. Vincent has volunteered his time to be on the jury along with Myriam Sainz. Three winners will be chosen and invited to Cannes to present their short film as well as receive € 6,000 each.

03 February 2018

In an interview last week with Swiss paper L'illustré, Vincent reminisced about his childhood. Here are some excerpts -

As a child: "I could be a clown, a little rowdy, but respectful of the teachers. I liked making my friends laugh. It masked my shyness."

His first photographic image: "The first I made was at age 9 - the portrait of Pierre Gisling. He was a painter and a magnificent pedagogue. He has passed on to many children his passion for art - painting, sculpture, photography - particularly through his shows for French-speaking Swiss television. He became my spiritual father, my friend and my brother at heart. He left us a year ago. He is a man for whom I have immense admiration. I miss him terribly. I consider him my second father."

Before photography and drama, there was painting: "I do not know why. I spent a lot of time painting. For a long time, I thought I was going to make it a career. There was no other possibility in my life, apart from football maybe. I played a lot. I met Pierre Gisling by winning a drawing contest. And that saved my life in the sense that the drawing opened an essential door in the making of the child that I was, both psychological and artistic. I painted two guys in a car. A very cinematic plan. One was driving, the other was talking, drinking and smoking. They did not look at the road. Danger! The police in Lausanne organized this contest as part of a prevention campaign (laughter)."

Early cinema experience: "There was the western. Then my dad passed on Chaplin's passion to me. I imitated Jerry Lewis. I watched Laurel and Hardy too. The cinema made a very strong impression on me. It was at the cinema that I became aware of the existence of another world. 'Here,' I said to myself, 'we can have many lives!'

31 January 2018

It was party time with the rich and famous this past weekend. Here's Vincent hanging out with Lambertz CEO Hermann Buehlbecker, who enjoys hosting an annual Schoko & Fashion party. The first set of photos are from the pre-dinner event held Sunday at the Hotel Marriott in Cologne, Germany. The second set is from Monday night's party held at Alten Wartesaal. Looking like quite the playboy, Vincent is joined in some of these photos by Andie McDowell, Nastassja Kinski, Casandra Cava, and Dita von Teese (who forgot to button up or zipper up). So funny... And where was Karine?

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On January 27 it was father & son time when Vincent and Pablo attended the Ligue 1 match between Paris Saint Germain and Montpellier Herault SC at Parc des Princes in Paris. Acting like a typical teen, Pablo looks thoroughly bored.

10 January 2018

In America we have "O, the Oprah Magazine" and in Paris a new magazine has been launched by Vincent called "VINCENT". This is the translated description: "Perez, Paris and Photography have never been so well associated. VINCENT is a magazine on Paris whose photography is the thread. These are favorites but also rants. It is a mirror game during which a dialogue takes place between a city, authors and a personality. It's the Paris of a man who is both an actor and a director, who has a passion for photography. It is also a magazine on Paris told and illustrated by thirty photographers, including those from the Hans Lucas studio. VINCENT is a 108-page magazine distributed in a network of booksellers and in Relay press sales outlets. The cover portrait of the magazine was produced by Martin Colombet." Here's the January issue:

And speaking of Oprah, from Paris comes an open letter, published in Le Monde, from 100 French women, including Catherine Deneuve. The letter criticizes the #MeToo movement and warns about a new "puritanism" sparked by recent sexual harassment allegations. Interesting...

BTW, I too take pleasure in my photographs taken during my travels, forever anticipating a place of unique grandeur such as this country road in Wyoming.