The actress channels the French New Wave as she speaks to L'Officiel about landing a role in Wes Anderson's "The French Dispatch" while on a stroll around Paris

Wes Anderson&rsquo;s <a href="https://www.lofficielsingapore.com/Culture/french-dispatch-anderson">The French Dispatch</a>&nbsp;is one of the most anticipated new films. Starring alongside an all-star ensemble cast that includes <a href="https://www.lofficielsingapore.com/Culture/timothee-chalamet-and-ariana-grande-to-star-in-upcoming-netflix-comedy-f7827c12-e998-496c-ac67-406e26cc6cef">Timoth&eacute;e Chalamet</a>,&nbsp;Bill Murray, <a href="https://www.lofficielsingapore.com/fashion/audacious-celebrity-mask-moments-the-prove-ppe-can-t-put-a-damper-on-style">Tilda Swinton</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;Frances McDormand, Lyna Khoudri holds her own. The rising&nbsp;French-Algerian actress plays Juliette, a student activist in Paris. Motorbike helmet in place, she protests for women&rsquo;s rights with her equally passionate boyfriend, played by Chalamet.

&ldquo;When I auditioned for&nbsp;the film, I still hadn&#39;t received the C&eacute;sar&nbsp;[for Promising Actress] for Mounia Meddour&#39;s Papicha,&rdquo;&nbsp;Khoudri tells&nbsp;L&rsquo;Officiel.&nbsp;&quot;Wes had never seen me on screen before. It all started with a video&nbsp;sent to production. One night I filmed myself with my cell phone. I had to introduce myself. I talked about my high school in Saint-Ouen: I skipped classes and went dancing on the street with my friends.&quot;

Three weeks later, Khoudri passed her first casting in Paris without knowing anything about the role. While waiting for a response from the production, she made a short film with friends in Algeria. &ldquo;It was my first time in the desert, and I was amazed. The rest of the world seemed so far away. I only looked at my emails at night. My agent was looking for me everywhere to tell me that I&rsquo;d gotten the part. But I still didn&#39;t know anything about my role! Nor who my costars would be.&rdquo;

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Khoudri then found herself in Angoul&ecirc;me, France for costume rehearsals. The treasure hunt to discover her character&rsquo;s love interest continued. &ldquo;There was mystery about everything. Each cast name was incredible... Tilda Swinton, Bill Murray, <a href="https://www.lofficielsingapore.com/men/not-just-a-pretty-face-the-cult-men-who-have-fronted-prada-campaigns">Willem Dafoe</a>, Frances McDormand. I only realised later that Timoth&eacute;e Chalamet would play my boyfriend.&rdquo;&nbsp;

On set, Khoudri only had her lines, about 15 pages worth, leaving the rest of the script a mystery. &ldquo;Then I got my share of the script, which was 40 pages long, but not&nbsp;the full plot. Only the technical team had it. Once, I ran into Bill Murray, who told me about his shooting of the day... Together we were able to understand a bit more of the story. But it was only at the final screening that I&nbsp;discovered the plot in its entirety.&rdquo;

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Every night during production, Anderson helped the actress to expand her cinematic knowledge.&nbsp;&quot;In the lobby of the hotel where we were all staying, there was a table full of DVDs,&rdquo; Khoudri remembers. &ldquo;Dinners were almost like quizzes. Wes would ask me: &lsquo;Did you watch Partie de Campagne&nbsp;by Renoir?&rsquo; &lsquo;No.&rsquo; &lsquo;Watch it.&rsquo; I went into my room and watched it immediately.&quot;

&quot;After devouring it, I threw myself into Jacques Rivette&rsquo;s&nbsp;Le Pont du Nord.&nbsp;It was the reference for my role, especially with the motorbike helmet and the leather jacket that the hero &mdash; played by Pascale Ogier &mdash; wore. Juliette is as rebellious as Ogier in the film. And then&nbsp;Le Pont du Nord&nbsp;is magical. It fed me. It is impressive to see Wes&#39; love of French culture. He knows exactly how to create a dialogue with this, while still remaining the American director he is. Everything is controlled. His accuracy is impressive.&rdquo;

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After wrapping up Anderson&#39;s&nbsp;film, Khoudri played the sunny and spontaneous role of Diana in&nbsp;Fanny Liatard&nbsp;and&nbsp;J&eacute;r&eacute;my Trouilh&#39;s&nbsp;short film Gagarine.&nbsp;&ldquo;It&#39;s a humanistic film about the peripheries, the suburbs,&quot;&nbsp;explains the actress. &ldquo;It was a dream job.&rdquo;&nbsp;

In a way, Khoudri herself grew up on the fringes. &ldquo;I was born in Algeria in 1992, when extremist politics were on the rise,&rdquo; she says. &ldquo;My father was a politically engaged journalist, and he was in danger &mdash; we had to leave the country. But my social awareness started with the 2005 workers&rsquo; strikes in France. I felt that, fundamentally, I was on the side of the strikers.&rdquo;

&ldquo;When you are in Algiers, you feel the soul of the city, the Ottoman Empire, Haussmann&#39;s France, and the last 50 Arabian years.&rdquo; This blend of cultures is written on&nbsp;the Khoudri&#39;s&nbsp;soul. And for her, Algeria represents history, but also colonisation. &ldquo;The Algerian war and the colonisation were terrible. I started to read anti-establishment writers such as Aim&eacute;e C&eacute;saire and Frantz Fanon &mdash; they built my understanding of where I am from and who I am.&rdquo;

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She keeps her homeland close. Algeria and the East are tattooed on the inside of&nbsp; Khoudri&rsquo;s wrist. &ldquo;It is a hand of Fatima. I chose it because I am very superstitious;&nbsp;it rejects bad energies.&rdquo; On her other wrist, she wears a bracelet of red thread with a pearl. &ldquo;My mother loves cultured&nbsp;pearls. I&#39;ve&nbsp;had cultured pearls as a birthday present ever since I was born, and the red thread is a symbol of protection in the Jewish religion.&quot;&nbsp;

Today, Khoudri is preparing for her next role in a still-under-wraps international film. &ldquo;Two hours of swimming and one hour of weight-lifting every&nbsp;day. It&#39;s much more intense than my 10 years of modern jazz &mdash; I wanted to be a dancer. It was my passion before cinema,&rdquo; she says.&nbsp;

Five minutes after having spent&nbsp;hours talking about cinema,&nbsp;Khoudri&nbsp;sends me a text&nbsp;message: &ldquo;Obviously,&nbsp;among my cult favourites is Fran&ccedil;ois Truffaut&#39;s The Story of Adele H. &mdash;&nbsp;a&nbsp;love story. She is part of me.&rdquo;

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Credits

Photography Marili Andre

Styling Vanessa Bellugeon

Hair Nabil Harlow

Makeup Gregoris

Photography assistant Enzo Le Hen

Styling assistant Cindy Lucas

Lyna Khoudri Is Wes Anderson's Newest Star

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