These references are to printed articles in magazines and newspapers featuring Kristin Scott Thomas. Reviews of films she has appeared in are not included
Interview Magazine (entertainment mag - US) July 1988
Brief biography and interview following the release of A Handful of
Dust .
A heart-melting b/w photo of her, very
pregnant,
sitting up on her bed wearing dungarees, and with a huge grin on her face.
'The shoot [A Handful of Dust ] was the best thing that ever happened to her, and being pregnant proved an asset. "It helped a great deal, because it made me more open, more capable of crying at the drop of a hat."'
TV Times (TV mag - GB) 31 Aug 1991, p14
Short interview with the usual potted biography. Plus: "I do miss England ... it's so nice to speak your own language and meet people who want Marmite sandwiches at tea-time!" [Marmite = yeast extract spread]
TV Times (TV mag - GB) 3 April 1993, pp6-7
An interesting interview by Mary Fletcher, mainly about the making of Body and Soul , with a few remarks about Kristin's own religious experience.
"Most convent-educated girls of seven or eight think of becoming nuns, and I was no different. But at that age I couldn't have imagined the emotional crisis Anna has to face."
"I can understand totally how a woman could be drawn to the contemplative life where you're free of all worldly possessions, and all that remains is your faith and God. It was important to me to convey that, although Anna is torn, the convent isn't a dark, dingy place, but full of happy women. And playing Anna was a childhood fantasy come true."
"But I no longer have much faith, and it is not a life I would wish for myself now."
'Kristin saw the role of Anna as a blessing. But it wasn't an easy
part to play.
"She's not so much discovering her sexuality as her sex. Anna's been
in the convent from the age of 17 and knows that physically she's
facing her last chance to have a child. It's a kind of animal
reaction.
"Playing Anna was more difficult than I'd expected. She goes through
such hell. I seemed to be in floods of tears for weeks on end. We
melted into one another. But it was extremely tiring. At the end I was
so exhausted I felt as though I'd just had a baby!"'
Radio Times (TV mag - GB) 3 April 1993, p122
My kind of day . Biographical feature, presented entirely in the
first person. Here's the lowdown on the domestic front -- likes and
dislikes, etc.
Entrancing photo of Kristin in old jeans with her daughter Hannah aged
5 lounging together on the sofa at home: so sweet.
Independent On Sunday (review) (newspaper - GB) 4 April 1993, p23
Excellent long interview by Allison Pearson, prior to the first showing of Body and Soul . Intelligent, witty, beautifully written, with lots of revealing remarks and anecdotes. Colour photo, wearing a bright red shirt, tight jeans and brown boots.
When playing in Under the Cherry Moon
'... she picked up some unlikely tips for A Handful of Dust : "I
decided to base Brenda on Prince."
Her delivery of "Thank God", one of the most chilling lines in literature, when she discovers that it is not her lover but her small son who has died, was a revelation -- "unbelievably perceptive and clever, such economy and power", according to director Gavin Millar.'
She would "love to do something wicked. I've got so much to give."
Independent On Sunday (review) (newspaper - GB) 15 May 1994, p48
Kristin models for a wedding dress fashion feature at the time of Four Weddings and a Funeral . Four wonderful tabloid-size colour photos (1|2| 3|4).
Cahiers du cinéma (film mag - Fr) June 1994, pp58-59 (English translation)
Propos de Kristin Scott-Thomas . A very long interview after the completion of An Unforgettable Summer , presented entirely in the first person, where she delves deeply into her experience of being a film actress.
Télérama (TV mag - Fr) #2318, 15 June 1994, pp30-33
Biography, with just a few quotes at the end. A rather oblique
reference to KST playing Ysé in Claudel's play Partage du
Midi .
A delightful photo: very short feathery black hair, Jeanne d'Arc look
(as Ysé?)
"Avant d'avoir mes deux enfants, j'étais misanthrope.
Aujourd'hui, j'ai envie de jouer les femmes qui aiment, qui donnent."
[Before having my two children, I was a misanthrope. These days, I
want to play women who love, who give.]
"Mon actrice préférée est Julie Andrews dans Mary Poppins!"
Observer (Sunday newspaper - GB) 11 September 1994, p12
Scurrilous interview -- the British hack at his worst -- made on the set of Angels and Insects . But it's revealing and informative, despite itself.
'She agrees ... that the English generally enjoy period dramas because, beneath most of them, there is an underlying argument about class. "It is an acceptable way of talking about things that are not very acceptable these days but which everybody in England secretly loves. They love this class system which is so crazy, so they make films and TV programmes about it and say: That's the way they were. Wasn't it odd . And I wish it was like that, all in the past."'
Harpers & Queen (women's mag - GB) November 1994, p126
Short interview and fashion feature: "I don't fancy Hugh Grant" (yes,
that kind of interview).
Extraordinary colour photos, (1|
2|3|4)
including a full page stunner, in a mane
of black feathers, pale, wistful, dream-like.
W (women's mag - US) January 1995
Interview by William Middleton, at a café in Paris, near her home. B/w photo.
"I'm not very English, nor aristocratic, and I never pretended to be. It's just the way people perceive me, and that's what I think makes some people not like me."
"I was in drama school in London, and I was very unhappy so I just left one day. I came here to visit friends for two weeks and just stayed. I've been here for 14 years now."
On Under the Cherry Moon : 'After auditioning for only a minor
part, she was given the lead role' ...
"[Then] I went to America and found that I was moving in a circle that
I didn't really feel at home in. It was very show biz, very rock star-
land. So I came back to Europe and started again."
On Four Weddings and a Funeral : "Fiona was like the epitome of
all these characters I'd been playing. It was terribly sad, that part,
but when I read it I knew I wanted to play it, I felt that it was mine
..
"Everyone knew on the set that something was happening. It was like
the film was on wings."
"I prefer to be here. I'm doing things that may be less prestigious, in that fewer people see them, but I'm doing what I like to do."
Guardian (newspaper - GB) 24 May 1995
Interview/criticism at Cannes. Mainly around Angels and
Insects , but some bits about Le Confessional, Belle
Époque, Richard III, Under the Cherry Moon .
A charming small b/w photo: smart brunette business woman.
On Angels and Insects : "It's the clothes that make the part. It's the first time I've worn a corset for such a long time. I love it. It gives you a rigidity and sobriety you wouldn't normally have. You can't jiggle. I like formality that I can then break up a bit."
"Working in French can be frustrating. But in this case it's OK [Belle Époque ] because Truffaut had a thing about English women anyway."
ELLE (women's mag - Fr) September 1995, Quoi de neuf?
Lovely colour photo: unusual demure, boyish look.
ELLE (women's mag - Fr), October 1995, pp120-123
Excellent interview, giving many biographical details and KST's
feelings about her early life and her work.
Two amazing ambiguous colour photos: hard-hearted high-priced whore,
or soulful intellectual? Blond. (Looking very like Madonna).
"Mon rêve, c'est de jouer en bas de chez moi, dans ma rue!
J'adore Paris. Et surtout, je voudrais ne jamais m'éloigner
beaucoup de mon mari et mes enfants."
[My dream is to work right below where I live, in my own road! I adore
Paris. And above everything else, I never want to be apart from my
husband and my children for long periods.]
"Je n'ai aucune discipline, je me laisse emporter par mes
désires, je sais faire le clown. Quand j'étais enfant,
on croyait que je m'ennuyais. Non, j'étais ailleurs,
très songeuse."
[I have no discipline at all; I let myself be carried away by my
desires. I know how to play the clown. When I was a little girl people
thought I was bored. No, I was elsewhere, deep in thought.]
Télérama (TV mag - Fr) #2396, 13 December 1995, pp53-54
Short but very forthright interview around Angels And Insects .
A nice b/w photo: Victorian maiden.
"A quoi bon faire ce métier si c'est pour jouer les pots de
fleurs? Moi, j'aime provoquer. J'adore jouer les garces, par example;
être celle qui s'approprie l'homme important du film.
Évidemment, si l'on me propose de prendre sa place, c'est
encore mieux... Matty Crompton, dans ce film, est tellement plus
intelligentes que les autres!"
"Ce qui me plaît par-dessus tout, c'est ça jalousie.
C'est l'un des sentiments les plus intéressants que je
connaisse."
... "Je peux être très belle; ou bien sèche et
creuse, grise."
... "J'aime les hauts et les bas, les contradictions, le luxe à
coté de la pauvreté."
... "En France, je fais peur (...) Vous, les Français, vous
n'aimez pas les femmes désobéissantes."
[What's the good of this profession if it's just to play potted
plants? What I like is to provoke. I love to play sluts, for example;
to be the woman who attracts the principle male character of the film.
Of course, if I'm given the chance to take his place, that's even better.
Matty Crompton in this film is so much more intelligent than the others!
What pleases me above all is her jealousy. It's one of the most
interesting emotions that I know of.
... I can be very beautiful; or really dry and vacant, grey.
... I like the highs and the lows: contradictions; luxury along side
poverty.
... In France, they're afraid of me ... You, the French, you don't
like disobedient women.]
Empire (film mag - GB) January 1996, p60
Short but fairly interesting profile by Bob McCabe. the usual
biographical bits, but also some nice little anecdotes about Under
the Cherry Moon, Angels and Insects, Mission Impossible .
A great full page photo: dark vamp in little black dress.
Thrown out of London's Central School Of Speech And Drama for having no acting talent: "I was gutted. It was devastating. At 18 to be told this made me very depressed."
'She is unwilling to court Hollywood ("I wouldn't know what to say. Hello, have you got a job please? No? Thank you. ")
Premiere (film mag - US) Special issue, January 1996: Women in Hollywood , pp95-97
Interview with 10 'of today's bright young actresses.' Not much here.
Evening Standard (London newspaper) 29 January 1996, p1
Report on the Evening Standard British Film Awards ceremony, with a colour photo of KST holding her statuette.
Sunday Telegraph (newspaper - GB) 21 April 1996
An opinionated and mocking interview by Amanda Mitchison, yet Kristin's individuality and thoughtfulness break through all the flak.
'... what Scott Thomas hates above all, what she most loathes and reviles, are feelings .'
On Shakespeare: "I tend to downplay everything... But you can't say these lines as if you were waiting for the bus."
On the death of her father and step-father: "I'm sure that it has given me a sort of ... battery in my work. I think it is the source. It is very, very easy for me to plug into all that sort of tragic stuff inside. And I hate it because it is easy. And it feels like a trickster's way out. It is not acting. It is fraud. It is vulgar and it is a fraud."
"When I came to Paris it was to avoid wanting to be an actress."
'... she won't do any more cameo parts'
'"You know I suppose the sort of ultimate goal is to produce or direct
or something." She adds that there are a couple of books she thinks
would make fantastic adaptations.'
[Non-English readers may find the tone of this interview puzzling, so
if you care for it, here's my interpretation of what's going on. The
Telegraph is the most conservative of the British quality
newspapers, aiming at the genteel traditional Tory.
Ant-intellectualism and a condescending attitude to entertainers are
therefore the order of the day. Kristin Scott Thomas presents a bit of
a challenge then, because her background is from that same stratum of
the class structure, but her intelligence and quintessential patrician
elegance have taken her far beyond it. So now class envy creeps in.
One cannot take a film actress entirely seriously as a person, yet
one would not wish to be thought unmindful of the evident talents of
this particular specimen. Perhaps KST adopts the approach of:
if you can't beat them, join them -- give them what they want,
but more than they can actually deal with. It works here. By being
flippant and going over the top, her humanity and charm shine through.
The interviewer, on the other hand, is left looking grotesquely
inconsistent. Her remarks are littered with non sequiturs :
"thingie", for example, has nothing at all to do with class, but is a playful
expression common in all sections of society during the 60s, especially
in the north west.
You have another example of this style of journalism in the
Observer
interview of 1994. This paper is aimed more at the hard-nosed
Thatcherite, but the same sort of exercise is in play.]
Vogue (UK) (women's mag) May 1996, pp170-173
A brilliant long interview by Susie Forbes, after finishing The
English Patient . Good for the many quotes from others in the film
business as much as for Kristin's revelations about herself. It's
deep, and I found, very moving.
Four beautiful b/w photos (1|
2|3|4)
, showing her as her natural self, very real.
Duncan Kenworthy [producer, Four Weddings and a Funeral ]: "I consider Kristin's performance to be the best of the film. I know that it's invidious to say that when you've got so many great actors, but she was utterly convincing in what was an essentially unshowy part."
Anthony Minghella [director, The English Patient ]: "When you watch her perform you realise that you are witnessing a hot-line to her inner being. There's this fabulous transparency to her even when she's totally still."
Ian McKellen [writer and co-star, Richard III ]: "Hers is not acting that pushes itself at you; she reveals herself very discreetly. Kristin is prepared to reach deep inside in a way that can be uncomfortable to watch because you sense that she is drawing on something so terribly private. I should think that it costs her a great deal to be an actress. There's nothing easy about it."
KST: "I wish I were fuelled only by ambition. Life would be so much
simpler."
'In fact, she's thinking about having another baby. "I'm finding it
difficult to decide. I've really only just got my own life going;
though in a way that's because of the children. They've given me
that extra confidence. Having kids makes you feel so much more
useful somehow."'
Premiere (UK) (film mag) June 1996
Interview: typical joky film magazine style, but there are some
amusing bits about making Mission Impossible , meeting her
future husband, what made her so sexy in Four Weddings and a
Funeral .
A couple of strange full-page b/w photos: as Marlene Dietrich?
New Yorker (weekly mag - US) 14 October 1996
Brief profile and interview.
Vanity Fair (style mag - GB) October 1996, p138
Brief and rather shallow interview, but with an interesting bit about
how she was drawn to the character of Katharine in The English Patient
from the moment she read the novel.
"Playing it was the best thing I have ever done".
And how she feels about film making: "I just love it, love it,
love it when the camera is running, when you hear that little motor.
It's the best thing in the world."
A very posed photo in a museum somewhere,
wearing a sort of wigwam affair. The Jeanne d'Arc look again.
Interview Magazine (entertainment mag - US) November 1996
Superb wide-ranging interview by Graham Fuller, and seven varied and audacious photos (1|2).
"I love playing characters who make mistakes. That's what it's all about, really."
"People accuse me of being Methody, but I'm not at all. The one thing I don't want people to see is me. I don't want them to be able to recognize my faults and failures and qualities, and I won't use those things to spark off emotions or to illustrate. It's very difficult talking about this without sounding pretentious, because acting is basically a question of pretending to be someone else -- no different from playing cops and robbers when you're eight."
"I hate what I would call the whorish provoking of tears, and I hate feeling that I've been tricked into crying when I see a film. And I cry at the drop of a hat -- pathetic! I like economy, so I try to avoid sentimentality. I find it difficult to explain, but I'm quite ashamed of being an actress."
Harper's Bazaar (women's mag - US) November 1996, p240
The interviewer makes the common error of equating Kristin's real self
with the characters she has played prior to The English
Patient , and so is convinced he is meeting a changed woman.
A strangely uninteresting picture: pouting
boyish far-away look (or just bored?).
"I felt sure that I must play this character [Katharine, The English Patient ]. I've never felt like that about anything else before. I wrote to Anthony [Anthony Minghella, director], I bullied him, really, into having an audition for me."
New York Times (newspaper - US) 10 November 1996
Interview mainly around The English Patient . Comments from Anthony Minghella [director] and Roman Polanski [director, Bitter Moon ].
Gala (personality/gossip mag - Fr) November 1996, pp38-39
Interview in Montparnasse near Kristin's Paris home. She gives us some
of her feelings about the acting profession, and we learn a bit more
about her brothers and sisters and family background.
The same gorgeous photo as in Radio Times
1993 (at home with her
daughter) but in a larger format, plus a small picture with husband
François at the London premier of Mission: Impossible :
looking thoroughly in love with each other.
"Pour moi, jouer, c'est une question d'honnêteté. Je
déteste les comédiens satisfaits d'eux-mêmes, qui
se regardent faire. Je les hais. L'honnêteté consiste
à se demander comment faire pour que mon travail ait une raison
d'exister."
[For me, acting is a matter of honesty. I detest self-satisfied and
self-regarding actors. I hate that. Honesty means asking myself what I
should do so that my work has a reason for existing.]
"Mon métier d'actrice me frustre terriblement parfois. Il faut
se battre contre d'autres acteurs, couper son texte, refaire les
choses... Dès que j'ai fini un film, je m'enfuis dans l'Yonne
oú je tape, je cloue, je cultive. Je suis une manuelle ... Nous avons
acheté un ancien pressoir qu'on aménage peu à
peu... C'est passionnant!"
[Sometimes I'm terribly frustrated in my profession as an actress.
Having to compete with other actors, having your lines cut, doing things
over
and over again... As soon as I've finished a film, I escape to the
Yonne [region south of Paris where the family have a country home]
where I hammer and nail and cultivate the garden. I'm a manual
worker... We've bought an old wine press which we're renovating bit by
bit... It's thrilling!]
Movieolla (film mag - US) 8 November 1996
Short interviews with KST, Juliette Binoche and Anthony Minghella.
M: Did you talk to Micahel Ondaatje about the character of Katherine?
KST: No. I never spoke to him once. I couldn't bear to. I was far too...far too embarrassed.
M: Why?
KST: Well, because he wrote her, and there I am trying to be her. I was too shy. I just couldn't. I was afraid of even mentioning her. I just...oooh! I couldn't bear it. I don't know why. I tried very hard to make my Katherine as much as the Katherine in the book. I used to always have the book with me -- sort of shuffling through the pages looking for clues.
Los Angeles Daily News (newspaper) 11 November 1996
Standard piece about The English Patient , with quotes from KST and others involved.
Calgary Sun (newspaper - US) 24 November 1996
A brief interview at the time of the release of The English Patient .
Premiere (film mag - US) December 1996
Shortish interview by Josh Rottenberg, with a nice quote from
Polanski.
Three pictures (1|2)
with the long blond hair of The English Patient , looking quite
withdrawn.
'Director Roman Polanski remembers shooting the final moments of Bitter Moon , in which Scott Thomas's character, having gracefully endured a cruise rife with sexual and marital tension, finally lets her composure slip: "It was 5 in the morning, and we were all just beaten. We must have done fifteen to twenty takes, and in every take, when it was needed, tears would start gathering in Kristin's eyes and just fall on demand."'
USA Today (newspaper - US) 2 December 1996
A good article, with the background to casting and shooting The English Patient , quotes from the director, etc.
"It was so obvious to me, so painfully evident, that I had to be Katharine Clifton, that I am Katharine Clifton."
"My aim at the moment is to make fewer films. One good one a year would be just dreamy."
Rough Cut, 20 December 1996
Good business-like interview about making The English Patient : her reading of the book and of the screenplay.
US (entertainment mag - US) January 1997, p80
Odd interview, with some very personal confessions about doing the
plane crash scenes in The English Patient , and then shifting
to a frivolous piece about shopping in Manhattan.
Full page b/w photo, with a rather frozen smile.
"It suddenly freaked me out. I got very angry about having to be there -- 'Why are we doing this f---ing film, anyway? This bloody film is terrible!' -- sort of ranting and raving and behaving rather badly. It was cold, and I just didn't like having a parachute strapped on to me. I found it very, very difficult to let go of that. Because I knew if I let go completely, I would just become a blob of jellified Kristin. And I wouldn't be Katharine any more"
Buzz (Los Angelese monthly mag) February 1997, cover + pp51-55
A well-researched interview by Margy Rochlin, with four nice full page photos (1|2| 3|4): one wearing a white fur-collared jacket, looking the epitome of the elegant Parisian mother; another, sultry close-up in b/w. Also small shots from Under the Cherry Moon , Bitter Moon , Four Weddings and a Funeral and The English Patient .
Some nice quotes from Hugh Grant: "At the drop of a hat, she can make
you
feel kind of...hairy. Suddenly, you feel like a vulgar, badly dressed,
beer-swilling Englishman."
.. and Anthony Minghella: "She has this blind self-deprecation. She's so smart, but I think she's very quick to feel inadequate. There is some adjudication of her skill which is totally distorted in her."
Première (film mag - Fr) February 1997, p44
Small photo-montage, with shots from Amour et Confusions , Four Weddings and a Funeral , Aux yeux du monde , Angels and Insects , Mission: Impossible , and The English Patient
Allure (women's mag - US) February 1997, pp149-151
Short interview, with two startling full-page b/w photos (1|2).
KST talks about her family background and the shock of moving from the rarified world of boarding school to the rough-and-tumble of a London drama school. She has some curt remarks about juvenile leading men.
Sunday Times - Style magazine (newspaper - GB) 16 February 1997, p36
"Relationship of the week" -- the inside info on M. et Mme. Olivennes? I'm afraid not. This is more about the relationship of the journalist with herself than about Kristin and François. But there's a very nice b/w photo of the happy couple, similar to others taken around this time, but larger and more open to the camera.
Scotland on Sunday (newspaper - GB) 2 March 1997
Pre-Oscars article, mainly about The English Patient , but also has brief remarks about working with Prince and with Brian de Palma.
Time Out (London entertainment listings mag) 5 March 1997, cover + pp20-22
Combined interview and review of The English Patient , with three rather posed photos (1| 2|3). The focus is on her performance technique and self-image.
Hot Tickets (London entertainment mag) 6 March 1997, p3
Another standard interview prior to the British opening of The English Patient . Most notable for a tremendous full-page photograph of Kristin wearing what looks like a very unglamorous man's dressing gown, drawing hard on a cigarette butt, squint-eyed and mean looking.
Daily Telegraph (newspaper - GB) 7 March 1997, p19
Another good interview by the superb Allison Pearson (see the Independent On Sunday, April 1993), with a lovely playful b/w photo.
Kristin reveals more than she usually does about the deaths of her father and step-father, about her relationship with her husband, and about her singular life style.
Observer Magazine (Sunday newspaper - GB) 9 March 1997, cover + pp22-24
Article about The English Patient , with two more of those wonderful b/w photos by Brigitte Lacombe.
A quote from Anthony Minghella: "One of the things which the camera celebrates is that she's so full of secrets. You never quite feel you're getting access to the whole story with her."
Sunday Times - magazine (newspaper - GB) 9 March 1997, cover + pp34-37
A good interview, probing the psychology of her acting. Three photos: she looks fatigued, but smiling through it.
"Katharine Clifton is a terrible show-off, really. Turning up in the desert in that beautiful dress. As if, well, I'm going to the desert, of course I'm going to pack three or four beautiful dresses."
"I've always had that: the observer who sits back and watches an emotion."
Australian New Weekly Magazine 10 March 1997
The standard short "TEP" interview.
Télérama (TV mag - Fr) 2461, 12 March 1997, pp30-31
A short but penetrating and original interview, as always from this magazine.
Kristin describes how she was helped by the crew of The English
Patient in finding the character of Katharine:
"La costumière, par example: Ann Roth, une femme magnifique.
Elle a commencé par me dévêtir. J'étais
complètement nue, au milieu de la pièce, et elle s'est mise
à tourner autour de moi, de longues minutes. Puis elle m'a dit:
'Ça, c'est bien; ça, c'est très bien; ça,
ça l'est moins.' Elle m'a détaillée comme à
l'étal d'une boucherie. C'est vrai, je me suis sentie
humiliée. Jusqu'à ce que je comprenne qu'elle allait
masquer mes défauts et, donc, mes complexes. Elle allait m'aider."
[Ann Roth, the costume maker, for example -- a brilliant woman. She
began by stripping me. I was completely naked, in the middle of the room,
and she began to circle around me, a long time. Then she said: 'That's
good. That's very good. That, not so good.' She scrutinised me like meat
on a butcher's stall. It's true, I felt humiliated. Until I understood
that she
was going to hide my defects, and therefore my complexes also. She was
going to help me.]
Speaking of the core moment in A Handful Of Dust when
Brenda realises it is her son who has been killed, not her lover: Thank
God :
"J'aimerais bien rejouer cette scène maintenant que j'ais des
enfants..."
[I'd very much like to play that scene again, now that I have children
of my
own.]
Of An Unforgettable Summer :
"Pintilié étais vache avec moi! 'Arrête de minauder,
on dirait une actrice de sitcom!' Alors moi, évidemment, j'ai
commencé à lui répondre. Mais le dernier jour du
tournage, j'étais en larmes à l'idée de ne pas le
revoir le lendemain."
[Pintilié [director] was a swine with me! "Stop flirting, anyone
would think you were a sitcom actress!" So I, obviously, started to answer
back. But on the last day of the shoot, I was in tears at the thought of not
seeing him again.]
'Petit rôle pour Mocky dans Agent trouble , le temps
d'une réplique qui fait mouche: "Je vais me rhabiller, j'ai
froid au sexe! "'
[A small role for Mocky [director] in Agent Trouble , and the
occasion for a line that hits the bull's eye: I'm going to change
clothes, my sex is cold! ]
We also learn of the tedium of reading all those scripts she is now being sent, and what exasperates her most: red dresses, and revealing the character's life story talking to the best friend in the kitchen!
Gala (personality/gossip mag - Fr) 13 March 1997, pp34-36
A short interview, with a light, personal touch. Two gorgeous b/w stills on the set of The English Patient , wearing that white ball gown.
Asked what memories she has of her time at a catholic boarding school:
"Des souvenirs terribles, mais ma mère n'avait pas le choix car
son
second mari était dans la marine et elle avait cinq enfants sur les
bras. La leçon que j'en ai tirée, c'est que le pensionnat est
une invention barbare qu'il faudrait supprimer car elle vous rend
égoïste et intolérant. Rien ne peut remplacer la
présence d'une mère. C'est pour cela que je me sens si
coupable lorsque je suis éloignée de mes enfants à
cause de mon travail..."
[Dreadful memories, but my mother had no choice since her second
husband was in the navy and she had five children to care for. The lesson
that I take from it is that boarding schools are a barbaric invention which
should be done away with because they make you egotistic and intolerant.
Nothing can replace the presence of a mother. That's why I feel so guilty
when I'm away from my children because of my work.]
Was it for love of the French that she left England for France:
"Non, même si je trouve que les hommes sont plus gentils ici qu'en
Angleterre. Ils sont plus libérés, ils ont moins peur de nous.
Mais ce n'est tout de même pas pour eux que je suis restée.
J'ai choisi Paris parce que je m'y sens libre, loin du système de
classe qui régit tout et qui m'étouffait en Angleterre. En
plus, il faisait très beau le jour où je suis arrivée,
un temps froid et sec, avec un magnifique ciel bleu de janvier..."
[No, even if I do find the men here kinder than in England. They're more
liberated, they're less afraid of us [women]. But it wasn't for the men
that I
stayed. I chose Paris because I feel free here, away from the class system
that controls everything and which suffocated me in England. And then, the
weather was so beautiful the day I arrived -- cold and dry, with a gorgeous
blue January sky...]
Reuters/Variety 16 March 1997
Straightforward brief biography.
Film & TV Week (TV/film mag - GB) 22 March 1997, pp2-3
Full-page photo at home, looking sexy in her under-vest and old jeans hanging loose, with dark hair wet from the shower, the leather belt she suggestively holds up in one hand contrasting with the sweet grin she gives the camera.
Daily Telegraph (newspaper - GB) 26 March, 1997, p10
Report on Oscar night with a colour photo of KST and JB side-by-side. Plus a short piece about the head of Cheltenham Ladies College inviting KST to visit and see how things have changed [we don't think]. This lady is excruciatingly condescending.
Vogue (Australia) (women's mag) March 1997, p147
B/w photo, as in New Yorker Oct 96; article as in Vogue (GB) May 96.
HQ March/April 1997
A long interview, especially good for insights into life on the set.
GQ (men's mag - GB) April 1997, pp124-126
A nice brief interview, with three b/w photos (1| 2|3) by Brigitte Lacombe.
"I am socially, completely inept. At parties, I sit in the corner looking at
the books and wondering whether to join the grown-ups."
Her father's, or step-father's, death: "He was flying aerobatics in a Sea
Vixen. Technical fault, and he come down by parachute. The navigator was
alive and kicking, but my father wasn't."
'So where does the acting thing come from then? "Oh, just larking
about in
the garden when I was a kid, putting on little shows and tap-dancing and
stuff. I often think I would be happier doing end-of-the-pier shows."
Cable Guide (TV mag - GB) April 1997, cover + pp4-5
Brief interview, with two photos: one shows her spiky black hair and heavy makeup Mary Poppins look, the other the familiar soft dark bob.
"Sex and I don't really go together on screen. I suppose that's because I don't think I'm sexy."
Film Review (film mag - GB) April 1997, pp48-50
Standard interview, with shots from The English Patient and Bitter Moon .
Total Film (film mag - GB) April 1997, p71-74
Article about The English Patient , and a short profile of KST. A nice natural photo displaying the mysterious colour of her eyes: grey/green/yellow/blue.
Femme (women's mag - Fr) April 1997, pp28-31
Lovely interview/discussion with Juliette Binoche about The English Patient . Two photos (1| 2). Here is a highlight.
' -- Vous comprenez les désastres que peuvent occasionner une passion?
'Kristin -- C'est trop dur de parler de ça. Parfois, je me demande si on ne fantasmera pas toujours à propos de l'amour, de la passion destructrice... La passion, comme on la voit au cinéma ou ailleurs, n'est-elle pas qu'une invention de l'homme? Tout le monde a vécu une passion amoureuse mais nous sommes très, très peu à l'avoir suivie jusqu'à la mort ou, comme dans le film, dans une grotte au milieu du désert. Tout ça, ce ne sont que des images de l'amour. A la fin, on n'a pas envie de mourir, on a tous envie d'être sauvés.
'Juliette -- Il y a des passions qui vont jusqu'à la mort. Cela existe... "Roméo et Juliette" et plus près de nous, dans la vie elle-mêmes, les gens meurent par passion, par abandon de soi... Dans les journaux, la rubrique des fait divers en est remplie.
'Kristin -- Oui, mes cela a toujours un côté déséquilibré. Il y a toujours un rapport à la folie. Mon histoire dans le film est d'une banalité terrible, un adultère, mais la mis en scène et la poésie de Minghella font que cela devient quelque chose de grandiose et de sublime. Peut-être qu'avec les années je suis devenue plus cynique que toi...'
[ -- Do you understand how passion can lead to disaster?
Kristin -- It's too hard to talk about that. Sometimes I ask myself if we don't always fantasise about love, about destructive passions. Isn't passion, as seen in films or elsewhere, just an invention of man? Everyone has had a passionate love in their life, but there are very very few who have followed that passion to the point of death, or as in this film, as far as a cave in the middle of a desert. These are merely images of love. In the end, we don't want to die, we all want to be saved.
Juliette -- There are passions that go as far as death. It does exist. "Romeo and Juliet", and closer to home, in real life, people die through passion, through self-abandonment. Newspaper headlines are full of it.
Kristin -- Yes, but that always has an unbalanced side to it. There's always some connection to madness. My story in the film is dreadfully banal: adultery; but the direction and poetry of Minghella turn that into something grand and sublime. Perhaps with the years I've become more cynical than you.]
Vogue (Paris) (women's mag) April 1997, p168
Informal b/w photo by Brigitte Lacombe in the garden wearing worn jeans.
Vanity Fair (style mag - GB) April 1997
Two photos (1|2) at a stately home.
Entertainment Weekly (entertainment mag - US) April 1997, p43: Special Oscar Guide
A brief article and a full-page sepia photo, wearing a spangled ball gown and a white fur wrap.
Of The English Patient : "The part is a dream come true... I love the idea of being a woman with men."
Première (film mag - Fr) April 1997, pp79-83 (English translation)
A wonderful interview, and four wacky photos (1| 2|3| 4) at home.
"Je crois que la seule chose qui soit vraiment importante dans une carrière -- et je continue à le croire, même si je me plante --, c'est savoir ce qu'on aime et ce qu'on n'aime pas, ce qui nous fait rire et ce qui nous touche. Connaåtre ses goûts. Ils peuvent être très éclectiques mais il ne faut pas faire des choses qu'on n'est pas sûr d'aimer."
"[Dans Agent troublé ] Mocky m'avait fait mettre des petites lumières au bout des seins et je devais dire: «Comme ça, c'est mieux!», et clic, je m'allumais les seins!"
"[Dans Autobus ] le rôle de cette maåtresse d'école me semblait être juste un faire-valoir. Rochant m'a convaincue de faire le film en me parlant d'autres scènes qu'il y aurait dedans, mais toutes ces scènes ont été coupées. C'était un tournage un peu pénible parce qu'il faisait très très chaud, cet été- là, et j'étais enceinte..."
'Y a-t-il des rôles que vous avez regrettés de ne pas avoir?
"Oh, j'aurais aimé jouer n'importe quel rôle d'Emma
Thompson! Et n'importe lequel de Miranda Richardson! Mais je n'ai jamais
eu à regretter un rôle qu'on ne m'a pas donné. Ah si!
Je mens... Celui de Love, etc . J'aurais beaucoup aimé
jouer ce rôle. Je devais le faire, mais Marion [Vernoux]
a changé d'avis."'
"Secrets et Mensonges est un film qui m'a vraiment secouée. D'ailleurs, mon acteur préféré au monde, je crois que c'est Timothy Spall, qui joue le frère."
'Êtes-vous déja allée voir un des nombreux sites qui
vous sont consacrés sur Intenet?
"Non... À la maison, comme la plupart des Français
moyens, on ne «surfe» pas!"'
["I think the only thing that's really important in a career -- and I go on believing it, even when I screw up -- is to know what you like and what you don't like, what makes us laugh and what touches us. Knowing one's tastes. This can mean being pretty eclectic, but you mustn't do anything that you're not sure you like."
"(In Agent troublé ) Mocky had me wear little lamps on the ends of my breasts and I had to say: "Like this, that's better!", and click, my breasts lit up!"
"(In Autobus ) The role of that school teacher seemed to me to be just a prop. Rochant had persuaded me to do the film when talking about other scenes that were to be in it, but they were all cut. It was a rather disagreeable shoot because it was very hot that summer, and I was pregnant."
'Are there parts that you've regretted not getting?
"Oh, I would've like to play any role of Emma Thompson's! And any of
Miranda Richardson's! But I've never had to regret losing a role. Ah yes. I
tell a lie... In Love, etc. I would very much like to have
played that role. I would have done, but Marion [Vernoux]
had a change of mind."'
"Secrets and Lies is a film that really shook me. Also, my favourite actor in the world, I think, is Timothy Spall, who plays the brother."
'Have you yet visited any of the numerous Internet sites dedicated to you?
"No... In our house, like most average French people, we don't
surf !']
People (personality/gossip mag - US) 12 May 1997, p137
Brief profile and a photo looking delicate and elfin.
'To keep [her figure] doesn't require a gym. "In Paris you walk everywhere
and literally run around ... Life is too short to live on low-fat
everything ...
Baths are my favorite thing. I can have two, three a day. And perfume is
my big luxury."'
Vogue (Paris) (women's mag) May 1997
B/w fashion photo.
Esquire (USA) (men's mag) August 1997, p45
Full-page photo in off-the-shoulder velvet and gold chain -- queenly.
OK! (personality/gossip mag - GB) 23 May 1997, pp18-24
A long article about Serena Scott Thomas, Kristin's younger sister. Includes a small photo of the two together, seemingly at a party: how different they are!
We learn that Kristin is 16 months older than Serena. The two girls learnt to ride when they were 7 and 6.
In Style (fashion mag - US) special edition fall 1997, p119
A brief piece on hair cuts. A lovely photo, bare-foot and serious.
Vogue (USA) (women's mag) December 1997, pp302-309
A good long interview with three nice full-page fashion photos (1|2| 3) in Paris. Best for its quotes from film directors.
We finally discover why it is that journalists so often vary in reporting her age: she gives them a selection to choose from!
Belinda Haas [Angels and Insects ]: "Kristin's guardedness and contradictions do come out in the work. You see the effort it takes her to display feelings, which is much more emotional for viewers. At the end of the movie when she declares her feelings for Mark Rylance, transforming herself, taking a risk, it's extremely powerful. After we shot that scene, Kristin came out in the most awful, blotchy eczema rash -- I think it was a reaction to the strain."
Anthony Minghella [The English Patient ]: "Kristin is terrific fun to be around, but she's quite unknowable."
Robert Redford [The Horse Whisperer ]: "Her English control, which is bred in the bone, sometimes came in conflict with what was required. I said, 'Let go, let those moments happen, trust them. Don't wear the judgment hat.' It was hard, but she moved in that direction."
ELLE (women's mag - France) 22 December 1997, pp76-77
Bizarre sepia fashion photo spoofing the 1952 film Casque d'or .
Chic (women's mag - GB) May 1998, pp16-19
Interview done at end of making The Horse Whisperer.
Three inside photos (1|2|3) and the cover. One very nice full-page colour sitting on the stairs of an apartment block, heavily maked-up, looking 20.
On meeting husband François: "I think it was, love at first sight. I do believe in that. I mean, it happened to me at just 20."
US (entertainment mag - US) June 1998, p82
Four good photos: one full page colour, one lovely double page colour - warm and intimate, one full page b/w, one small b/w with husband François.
"What I campaign every day to do is to make tough, spiky people likeable. I will always be the ugly sister or the wicked stepmother, because I find that a million times more interesting than old goody-two-shoes Cinderella."
Harper's Bazaar (women's mag - US) June 1998, pp110-112
Interview in Paris. One full-page colour close-up (but obviously touched up); one full-page b/w photo wearing decorated armour on one arm and little else; and a small b/w photo on a balcony wearing a little black dress.
"I've only recently realised that acting isn't sinful or something one ought to be ashamed of, because people get so much pleasure from it."
Philip Haas: "Whatever Kristin does, the acting is incredibly real. Her roles have all been very different, but you always feel there is no difference between the person she's playing and herself."
Marie Claire (UK) (women's mag) July 1998, pp40-42
Article; one full page photo, one small photo with husband.
"I'm thrilled to be where I am now, but I think I've gone as far as I can go in one direction: you know, playing opposite Robert Redford, big Hollywood movie, so maybe it's time to go back. Maybe."
Harpers & Queen (women's mag - GB) August 1998, pp64-67
Short article. Photo on cover, full page b/w photo (same as Harper's Bazaar June 98), small photo with husband (same as Gala Nov 96).
The Irish Times (newspaper) 1 August 1998
A good article giving a lot of background to Up At The Villa and The Horse Whisperer , with quotes from Phillip Haas.
Electronic Telegraph (web site) 8 August 1998
A sourly opinionated article. The gimmick is, "has success changed her?"
Express on Sunday - magazine (newspaper - GB) 9 August 1998, pp12-16
An excellent article, with quotes from Robert Redford and Scarlett Johansson (Grace in The Horse Whisperer). Two b/w photos, the same as in Allure Feb 97, plus a new one on the cover.
KST on the way R.R. wanted her to play Annie: "It ran against my private little method of acting."
R.R: "What I liked about Kristin in her previous work was the contradictory mix of an imperious bearing together with a soft, vulnerable quality. I told her from the outset that I wanted to bring that contrast out in a major way. At the beginning I wanted her to play very sophisticated, very driven and cold, and then have her slowly unravel and expose very emotional and deep layers. It was tough for Kristin to do, because no one had ever insisted that she do that before. ... I think she even surprised herself with how far she could take herself, how she could go to the edge."
KST: "I was rather taken aback when I saw the first rough cut. I kept squirming in my seat and asking myself, 'How in heaven's name did I manage to do all that?'"
S.J: "[Kristin was] very intense and passionate; a lot of fun. I used to love watching her prepare for her scenes."
The Times (newspaper - GB) 24 August 1998, p17
Short article and a nice b/w photo: soft smiling eyes.
ELLE (women's mag - Fr) August 1998, pp44-49
Average sort of article but with 4 very nice b/w photos: long black shiny hair, looking very French.
Empire (film mag - GB) September 1998, pp54-55
One-page profile prior to UK release of The Horse Whisperer , plus one of the b/w photos that appeared in Premiere (UK) in June 96. Has almost identical quotes to the July 1998 Marie Claire (UK) article.
Film Review (film mag - GB) September 1998, pp52-54
Brief profiles of KST and Redford, with seven stills from The Horse Whisperer.
"I display everything. It was quite a shock when I saw the film. It's not what I usually do."
Cable Guide (TV listings mag - GB) September 1998, pp6-7
One-page biographical article and a beautiful full-page colour photo, smiling amorously into a mirror.
Paris Match (weekly mag - Fr) 24 September 1998, pp100-102
A rather bland interview, but two gorgeous b/w photos, one full-page Audrey Hepburn style, the other serious 20s look (as in Télérama 13 December 1995).
Asked about the character of Annie in The Horse Whisperer : "Je crois que tout le monde attend la personne providentielle qui, un jour, claquera des doigts en disant 'Réveille-toi'! Quelqu'un qui allumera la lumière."
[I believe everybody is waiting for that fateful someone who one day will snap their fingers and say "Wake up!" The one who'll switch on the light.]
Canal Plus web site (English tranlation) November 1998
Insightful and moving interview in French about the making of The English Patient .
Première (film mag - Fr) January 1999, pp100-101
Brief but humorous career rundown and an intriguing full-page b/w portrait -- a direct gaze, yet somehow mysterious.
'À revoir 4 Mariages et 1 Enterrement , on s'étonne
encore
que Hugh Grant ait préféré les cheveux mouillés
d'Andie au sourire de Kristin. Mais après tout, c'était du
cinéma' ... 'et cette année ... Robert Redford ...
préférait ses chevaux au sourire de Kristin: c'est toujours du
cinéma, mais on comprend pas plus.'
[Watching again Four Weddings and a Funeral it's astonishing that Hugh
Grant should have preferred Andie's sodden curls over Kristin's smile. But
after
all, this is cinema. ... and this year we have Robert Redford preferring his
horses to Kristin's smile. Cinema again, and still we are baffled.]
