<\/p>\n
Isabelle Huppert brushed off any suggestion that she\u2019s prone to making bold artistic choices, telling members of the press on Monday at the Thessaloniki Film Festival that she\u2019s \u201cnot brave enough to take any risks.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWorking with all the people I\u2019ve been working with was not about taking risks. It was very safe,\u201d Huppert said. \u201cYou don\u2019t take risks working with Paul Verhoeven or Michael Haneke. No matter what the role is, you don\u2019t take risks [with them].\u201d<\/p>\n
More from Variety<\/strong><\/p>\n Appearing at the prestigious Greek fest, where she\u2019s being honored with a career-spanning tribute and an honorary Golden Alexander Award, the Oscar nominee and two-time C\u00e9sar Award winner opened up about why she\u2019s drawn to characters full of \u201cambiguities and complexities,\u201d dishing on memorable performances in films including Haneke\u2019s Cannes jury prize-winning \u201cThe Piano Teacher\u201d and Verhoeven\u2019s \u201cElle,\u201d for which she was nominated for an Academy Award.<\/p>\n Downplaying the challenge of inhabiting some of her more complicated roles through the years, Huppert praised her many artistic collaborators, insisting: \u201cWorking with people like this is never really difficult.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe difficulty would be to work with somebody that you don\u2019t really understand, or someone you don\u2019t trust,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s really a lot about trust \u2014 it\u2019s the key word in the relationship between an actor and a director and a film. If it doesn\u2019t rely on trust, it\u2019s very difficult to do.\u201d<\/p>\n Fifteen films from Huppert\u2019s oeuvre will be presented this week at the Thessaloniki festival, including Claire Denis\u2019 post-colonial drama \u201cWhite Material,\u201d Marc Fitoussi\u2019s comedy \u201cCopacabana,\u201d in which the French screen icon stars alongside her daughter, Lolita Chammah, and\u00a0Thierry Klifa\u2019s political drama \u201cThe Richest Woman in the World,\u201d which premiered this year in Cannes.<\/p>\n Also screening this week in Thessaloniki is \u201cHeaven\u2019s Gate,\u201d Michael Cimino\u2019s follow-up to his five-time Academy Award winner \u201cThe Deer Hunter,\u201d in which Huppert appeared in one of her earliest roles. The actress noted how the troubled Western epic \u2014 a notorious flop upon its release in 1980 \u2014 has received a belated critical reappraisal, something she described as \u201cpart of the history of moviemaking, and part of the history of art in general.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNow the movie is equally famous for its failure as for its success, but the success came over the years. When the movie first came out, it was really a big disaster \u2014 as the New York Times said, \u2018unqualified disaster,\u2019\u201d Huppert said. \u201cOf course, that was not encouraging for people to watch it. And I think, in a way, Michael Cimino never really made it [past] that failure, because it was a failure.<\/p>\n \u201cOver the years, whenever I watch the film, I realize to some extent the movie was really what we would call an auteur film. It was so personal. It didn\u2019t really \u2014 it did care about the audience, but\u2026there was nothing that made the movie really more [accessible] for the public,\u201d she continued. \u201cAnd also, probably the political content was hard to be heard at the time. And I think the movie would be even more interesting to be released now. Probably it would be more accepted now.\u201d<\/p>\n Looking back on her career, the actress expressed few regrets about her acting choices, though she quipped that she \u201cwould have loved to work with Alfred Hitchcock, but he was already dead when I started being an actress.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe forget about [our roles] very, very easily,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019m maybe very unfaithful to the films and the roles. The minute you do it, it\u2019s already behind you. Of course you care about the movie to be loved and liked and well-received. But in terms of how we keep it, there is not enough space to keep all of them.\u201d<\/p>\n Appearing in conversation with Thessaloniki head of programming Yorgos Krassakopoulos, the French screen star fielded questions about the checkered progress of women in European cinema (\u201cWe still have to improve\u201d), the war in Gaza (\u201cThere\u2019s always not enough noise about any suffering in the world\u201d), and whether she and the movie business have changed since the beginning of her prolific career.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t think I changed anything between now and the moment I started. I think I always had the same kind of curiosity,\u201d she said. \u201cWhat changed maybe is the way movies are being shown, that\u2019s for sure. You have so many ways to watch films. But of course, the best way and the one that has to remain is here, in a movie theater, on a big screen. Any other way is, for me, not the best way.\u201d<\/p>\n While Huppert has made her fair share of bold, provocative and unpredictable choices across her much-feted career, the 72-year-old insisted her work is far from done, saying: \u201cI\u2019m always looking for the unknown.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI think whenever you start doing something, it\u2019s like a jump into the unknown,\u201d she said. \u201cThis is always what I seek. And usually what I find.\u201d<\/p>\n The Thessaloniki Film Festival runs Oct. 30 \u2013 Nov. 9.<\/p>\n Best of Variety<\/strong><\/p>\n Sign up for Variety’s Newsletter<\/a>. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook<\/a>, Twitter<\/a>, and Instagram<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.yahoo.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Isabelle Huppert brushed off any suggestion that she\u2019s prone to making bold artistic choices, telling members of the press on Monday at the Thessaloniki Film Festival that she\u2019s \u201cnot brave enough to take any risks.\u201d \u201cWorking with all the people I\u2019ve been working with was not about taking risks. It was very safe,\u201d Huppert said. 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