Eva Green: Orlando's Princess

Beautiful, exotic-looking French model/actress Eva Green plays Sibylla, love interest for Orlando Bloom's crusading knight in Kingdom of Heaven. According to her director Ridley Scott, she was chosen because "the film needed an especially strong female presence to stand out in a male world. Eva is in her early twenties but she carries an old soul". You've seen Eva's remarkable smoky eyes in magazine ads. She made her film debut in Bernardo Bertolucci's The Dreamers in which she was part of a sexy threesome with two college guys.

When we spoke with the actress in Pasadena, California recently, she looked very European with her dark, smoky eyes and fluffy peasant blouse covered with a black trench coat. Her skull ring reminded us of Johnny Depp's pirate gear. Due to length, a lot of Eva's part was cut out of the feature film but she still calls it "a beautiful movie". Check out our chat with this young French actress as she talks about working with Orlando, her scenes that didn't make the film, the Moroccan doggie she saved and lost and what it was like co-starring in her first big Hollywood film.

TeenHollywood: After doing a smaller, indie film, was there a difference for you acting in this big Hollywood movie?

Eva: Do you mind if I smoke? I don't mean to be rude. I'm just French. Instead of a big Hollywood movie, [for me] it was just a movie. It was a very good experience. When I read the script I really loved the part and I fell in love with it and obsessed with it. I was very lucky to get the part, but I was overwhelmed with it too. The size of the crew and so many trailers, it was completely mad. There were so many fine actors and there were helicopters filming scenes. I mean it was quite a shock.

TeenHollywood: You are the envy of a great many girls getting to work with Orlando Bloom. Can you talk about working with him?

Eva: I think that Orlando did a great job on this because he went from a teenage heartthrob to someone who is tortured and somber. He's quite dark in the movie, which is a big change for him, and people are going to be quite surprised. He's quite sexy. He's a man. He's getting his hands dirty. Working with him was a great experience. He was very and down to earth.

TeenHollywood: Did you even know how famous he was?

Eva: When he was in Spain there were a lot of fans waiting outside for him and screaming his name. I didn't know how famous he was. I saw him in Lord of the Rings with this blonde wig. But he's taking his job seriously and he's learning at the same time. He brings a lot of gravity to his role but he's a happy person and he will never be in a bad mood. He will always be joking about things. He's not like a star. I didn't know he was a star. I think that is just a big movie for him, and he's very young and he's learning and I think that he shows many facets of himself in this movie. He explores a lot of emotion. In this movie he's very sexy. He's just bold and is a different person and it's good for his acting.

TeenHollywood: How did you get the role of Sibylla?

Eva: We had a lot of auditions. Like, I had to audition in England with a casting director who sent me sides [some of her scenes] of the movie. I wasn't allowed to read the script and I was really attracted to this character. It was very dark like Lady Macbeth and then I did so many screen tests. I should write a book about it. I've done many, many screen tests and I've gone to Pinewood Studios. I had to act with the costumes on. I had curly hair. I felt extremely ugly. And then I got a call in the middle of the night that I got the part and saying, in two hours I had to be in London. I had to rehearse with Orlando and with Ridley. I was like, 'Oh my God.' I was scared that they would find out that my English wasn't that good. It's difficult. It's a hard road.

TeenHollywood: How was being directed by Ridley Scott?

Eva: He is very British whatever that means. But he's very humble and very mysterious. He will never give you limits. He makes you feel liberated for the role. He trusts you completely and he understands how vulnerable you can be. He was like more of a father figure. He's got so much power and an energy that elevates you and you feel quite powerful with him. He doesn't put you down, and he isn't like, 'Oh my God, what are you doing in that scene? It's shit.' He's more like, 'This is good, but you can do it this way.' There's a lot of exchange and he listened to my ideas and he's open to changing the way a scene should be played.

TeenHollywood: Orlando saved a dog in Morocco. Did you bring back anything?

Eva: I found the dogs. I was the first person to find the dog and so his dog is the brother of my dog. But I had to leave my dog in Morocco. My dog was wild. It was quite sad. I saw him [Orlando's dog Sidi] today and he's a grown up. Mine was a bit like that. It wanted to bite everyone. I gave him to someone who was Arabic and loved her. It wouldn't have worked. She couldn't have stayed in my apartment. It's very sad.

TeenHollywood: Is talking to journalists like this new to you?

Eva: Yeah. I hate publicity. I hate talking about myself. I would like to find the right words to sell the movie and when I'm talking to you, it's something different. I think that it's really a Ridley movie because we shot a different version than what's going to be out on the screen. It's not the version that was the script.

TeenHollywood: Did they cut out a lot of scenes?

Eva: Yes, especially of me. It's still a beautiful movie. (My cut out scenes) will be released on the DVD.

TeenHollywood: What was left out that you wish was back in?

Eva: The relationship with Bailian [Orlando's character] was more complex and I had a son in the movie. It's a totally different movie. Today you can't have a movie that is so long because it will bore people and I completely agree that he [Ridley] had to make compromises and he had to focus on the relationships between the Muslims and the Christians. So I think that he's completely right, and that's life.

TeenHollywood: What made you want to take up acting in the first place? Your mom is an actress, right?

Eva: Yes. Well, I'm extremely reserved and shy and I didn't want to admit at first that I wanted to be an actress. If you're the child of an actor people say, 'It's easy to be an actor because you have some relationships.' Acting is a good way to go beyond yourself. It's like magic. You're able to do things that you can't do in real life. You can do crazy things. It's like therapy, but that's not the right word. It's like another dimension and this is the only time where I really feel alive and where I can express my darkness and depth. I don't know.

TeenHollywood: Did you have trouble with speaking English for the part?

Eva: When I'm working on a part my ideal thing is to really work with a voice coach because the intonations and the rhythms in English are very different from the French. French is very monotone and English has so many sounds. I've really learned when I was on Kingdom of Heaven how difficult it was to sound slightly English.

TeenHollywood: Do you feel typecast as the French girl sometimes?

Eva: The problem is that people don't have enough imagination. It's like people will say, 'Oh, she's too dark. She's French. She has dark hair. She doesn't have blonde hair.' And of course you can dye your hair. Everyone [actors] can really work hard and we can really give an illusion that we can be English or French or whatever.

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Lynn Barker is a Hollywood-based entertainment journalist and produced screenwriter.