We are with Stacy Martin. Hello!
Hello.
You are on "Taj Mahal", a french movie
written and directed by Nicolas Saada,
that will be released on December, 2nd.
And you play Louise,
the daughter of two expatriates
who decide to move to India.
This is based on a real story.
Can you tell us how you took on the story?
For me, let's say that it was
one of the big challenges,
to combine the real story
and my part as an actress,
in order to create a movie
that was not just like a documentary
but a movie that makes people think,
that makes them wonder about things
that they wouldn't have thought about otherwise,
questions that don't belong to our daily life
and that are not necessarily answered in the movie.
People have to find the answers within.
And I think there a not many films that
do that nowadays,
and that was what I was interested in,
how can I actually play something
something that already exists,
without feeling limited or make a caricature.
Because that was not the point
And precisely, Nicolas Saada,
the director of the movie,
had met the real Louise. How about you?
Yes, I did.
I met her 3 or 4 weeks before shooting.
And I was terrified,
because I didn't want her to think
that I was going to steal her story,
or that I was going to change it
I really wanted her to feel comfortable,
to think about the project and the people
she was giving the story to,
and then to trust us.
And when I met her,
I told her right away:
"Listen, I am a sponge, the sponge of
your story, I am not here to play Stacey Martin
in a hotel room in India,
I'm here for your story".
And she really was calm, open
and open-hearted, she is like a diamond,
she put so much trust in me.
Were you surprised by any difference
between the story you pictured with the script
and the one she told you ?
Well, she told me the script was very close
to the reality as far as sensations
or writing are concerned.
It was very similar.
She came on the set and she was chocked
to see that it looked just like her room
And...
We actually didn't ask her the colors
of the bed, the walls,
It was really...
an instinct that we all got
when we were doing the movie
and it matched in a very... very good way
Thanksfully laugh
Did you find it stressful to play
a real story that belongs to a real person ?
Yes, Yes.
In this story,
she lived things I can't even imagine myself
Very intense things,
I didn't want to do something caricatural,
I didn't want to do something
she couldn't be proud to watch
It's a great story to share,
She didn't tell it to everybody,
And there is a reason why she tells it know
so it's important to have that in mind
when we do the movie.
So no pressure at all laugh
I am even more impressed by you,
now I know that because when I was
watching your performance,
I wondered if you went through similar traumas
to be able to give so much emotions to the role.
Not at all.
Ok. Well go see the movie !
Cecile Martin is impressive in it.
Seriously there are long moments in the movie
where you are alone in the hotel room.
So in order to keep the spectator in suspense,
as you did - I was personally captivated -...
You do that on your own.
I wondered how you lived those scenes ?
How long did it last,
being alone in a bathroom with a old phone
With a Nokia which didn't work
It was interesting because i've made my preparation
I did a lot of the work that I could alone
Before starting