Thanks to Anne S:

MARION COTILLARD TO ACT ALONGSIDE RUSSELL CROWE

Lately, young French actresses attract a lot of attention from American and British film directors. While Audrey Tautou is currently working with Ron Howard and Tom Hanks on Da Vinci Code, we have just heard that Marion Cotillard with play opposite a big Hollywood star: Russell Crowe. Crowe owes his fame to Gladiator, the film directed by Ridley Scott. The same director has chosen Marion Cotillard to act alongside Russell Crowe in ‘A Good Year’, a film adaptation of British writer Peter Mayle’s novel which was published in France under the title ‘Un bon cru’.

The casting lasted several weeks-Vahina Giocante and Eva Green auditioned as well- but finally Ridley Scott, who will also produce, chose Marion Cotillard for the leading female role. The action takes place in the Luberon where filming will start on Aug.29. Shooting should last 8 weeks. The Gladiator star, his wife Danielle and their baby have already arrived. The actor prepares himself actively for the movie, which he is said to consider important for his career.

Russell Crowe plays Max, a British finance executive, hunted by debts up to the day when an attorney notifies him that he has inherited a large wine property in Provence. Helped by a friend, Aaron Eckhart (Julia Roberts partner in Erin Brokovich), he travels to the Luberon to discover his property. There he meets a distant US cousin, Marion Cotillard’s part, with whom a love relation will start (ed note from Anne: it seems that a word is missing in the article and it looks like they got the story wrong or maybe some script rewrite??? - From Murph - Wouldn't she play the French attorney?). Didier Bourdon will also join the cast and will play the wine grower who took care of the property in a very odd way.

Two years after her first US film, The Big Fish of Tim Burton, this is a very good opportunity for Marion Cotillard to pursue an international career. Speaking English fluently, she can now act in big US movies. However, Marion won’t forget her French roots: after the Ridley Scott film, she will act in ‘La Môme’ where she will play Edith Piaf.