Je revais de l'Afrique opened in France today and the reviews are starting to come in. It appears that the film might be more successful abroad. This must be encouraging news for Vincent! "

Vincent was presenter of the Best Actress award at the closing ceremonies at Cannes yesterday. The award was won by Bjork, star of Dancer in the Dark, winner of the Palme d'Or.

The photo below comes from the Traverso Collection. It was taken at the showing of I Dreamed of Africa on Saturday at Cannes. Vincent is absolutely glowing here accompanied by his beautiful wife, Karine, and director Hugh Hudson.

If anybody finds more Cannes pics of Vincent in the days and weeks ahead, please email me below with the URL, so they can be shared by all his fans. Merci beacoup :)

Cinzia Masina, our multi-linquistic translator, who was recently married (Congratulations!) is back and helping me with some translations. Since Italian is her native tongue, she was quickly able to do the August 1994 article in the Italian Elle magazine. Vincent comments on what attracted him to Jacqueline Bisset and Carla Bruni, and he names a few of his favorite things, one of which is love with a capital L!

Our Cannes scout, Laure Masseglia, was a bit disappointed today after not being able to get a peek at Vincent due to the number of people waiting outside the theater. The Carlton Hotel also had stricter rules in gaining entrance this year. She does report that Vincent was on French TV last night. He flew into Cannes on Wednesday about 5 pm. He spoke about his co-star Kim Basinger not attending the festival, and also about the story of how his daughter Iman was conceived in Africa while he was on location.

The French press has reported that Kim Basinger "evoked personal and family reasons in declining the invitation, spreading rumors that her refusal could be explained by the lack of success in the US of her last film, I Dreamed of Africa, which was selected for the Un Certain Regard category at Cannes."

Since Ms. Basinger has opted not to attend, Catherine Deneuve will now have the honor of presenting the Palme d'Or Award with Vincent presenting the Best Actress Award during the closing ceremonies, which will be broadcast live on IFC tomorrow afternoon. Repeats will be shown four more times through Monday morning, and Bravo will also cover it twice tomorrow evening. Check your local TV cable guides for exact times for all these programs. IFC will also feature "50 Years of Cannes" an hour before the live broadcast of the closing ceremonies.

Thanks to Heidi Kunstal of California, we have some photos from the online chat that was conducted yesterday via the live webcam direct from Cannes. It was 12:30 pm French time but 3:30 am for Heidi - hats off to a dedicated fan! For some reason, I didn't think we'd actually see Vincent during the chat, so this was a nice surprise.

Our Cannes scout on the French Riviera (Laure) reports that Vincent was on TV last night with director Hugh Hudson, and Hugh said he didn't know whether Kim would come or not. You'd think she would have made up her mind by now. Well, I guess all the attention will have to go to Vincent!

Laure Masseglia of Nice, France was in Cannes last weekend to check out the happenings. She reports that it's not definite whether Kim Basinger will make an appearance, but it looks like Vincent is at the Carlton Hotel. Laure will be in Cannes again this Saturday to catch a glimpse of him at the premiere of IDOA. Last year she was able to get a fantastic photo of Vincent at the Le Temps Retrouve premiere (featured in last month's newsletter). Hopefully, she'll have her camera ready for another snapshot!

Comment about IDOA from the review by Colleen Garvey of Icast:  "The push and pull between Basinger and Perez is superb, and their romantic and domestic exchanges work beautifully."

I've posted an interview from the Voila French web site in which Vincent discusses his experiences while making I Dreamed of Africa. And pictured below are some photos from the pressbook. The middle photo is of director Hugh Hudson discussing a scene with his stars. Be sure to click on them for larger images.

There seems to have been some confusion about the release date of IDOA in France. Most sites are now reporting a May 24th date. I just discovered that the folks in France won't be reading subtitles. They've already dubbed the film in French. I'm not sure if Vincent did his own dubbing. At times it sounds like him.

It appears that Vincent will be at Cannes! He's supposed to be doing an online chat sponsored at noon (French time) tomorrow direct from Cannes.

I Dreamed of Africa will be shown at the film festival on Saturday, May 20 at 2 pm and 10 pm. (8 am and 4 pm EST). Further comments by Vincent: "The role of Paolo offered a new experiment for me in interpreting a real and contemporary character. Kuki's book was a source of inspiration. In addition to her book, as a starting point, I used a man of great talent, an adventurous photographer named Peter Beard. His way of living and his work helped me enter the skin of Paolo."

Four new gorgeous photos found on the Net! The article that went with them is actually the old 1996 biography from Astrophile, which is already included in the Archives. Join me in thanking Elizabeth Payne of Louisiana for alerting us to these great pics. I'm very grateful for all contributions I receive. This communal effort on behalf of Vincent in order to establish a professional web site that's comprehensive and the definitive place to access the latest news on his career is becoming more of a reality these days with the help of dedicated fans and friends. And to Immo in Germany and all my Canadian friends, a million thanks for all those international magazines you keep finding!

Our French contact, Laure Masseglia of Nice, reports that Studio magazine has announced that Vincent will appear in director Antoine de Caunes' next film, Les Morsures de l'aube, based on the novel of the same name by Tonino Benacquista. This role may possibly be just a cameo. More updates later.

The Cannes Film Festival opened yesterday with reports of Kim Basinger's appearance. Now that Vincent is in Vienna filming Bride of the Wind, we'll have to wait and see if he can get away for at least the showing of I Dreamed of Africa on the last day of the festival. Sources say that featuring this film in the "Un Certain Regard" category should at least give it international recognition.

More comments on Vincent's performance in I Dreamed of Africa:

Roughcut Reviews: "Perez is well cast for the women that will come to see this film, primarily in relation to his nomination as one of People magazine's "50 Most Beautiful People."

Thereelsite.com: " French actor Perez captures the essence of European nobility."

Mrshowbiz.com: "A terribly sexy Vincent Perez."

In almost all the reviews mentioning Vincent/Paolo, the following descriptions were used: handsome, charming, suave, debonair, charismatic, beautiful, dream date, babe husband, dashing, and exotic. Guess they've got the right man for the role!

I woke up this morning to glance at the local morning paper, the Daily Freeman in Kingston, NY, only to find Vincent's photo on the front page! Inside in the Life Section was the interview that the Associated Press carried the other day called "Five Questions for Perez." The scan of the newspaper photo wasn't very clear, but I did manage to find the photo on the Net, so I've added it to that interview page. I wonder how many other small towns and cities across the country also saw the same article and photo. Wonderful publicity for him. Perhaps someday soon he will become a household name not just in France!

Yes, I've seen I Dreamed of Africa. No, I wouldn't give it thumbs up, though I am surprised that Roger Ebert gave it two out of four stars. (He'll be giving his review on TV tonight). I haven't yet read the book, (though I've packed it away for my Maine vacation), so it's hard to comment on its transfer to the screen. I agree with what many of the critics have said about the film being disjointed and characters not fully developed. I thought Kim Basinger's acting was right on target especially during the emotional scenes. There were a couple sequences that were filmed just beautifully - dialogue, music and cinematography all coming together. I don't want to spoil it for those of you who have yet to see the film, so I won't expand on that right now.

And now to Vincent - he had such a magnetic screen presence throughout the film. Director Hugh Hudson is so right when he says that the camera loves him. He can be photographed at any angle. He was so perfect as this passionate Italian, who relished adventure and lived for the moment as a free spirit. The "brief nudity" in the description of the film is Vincent's butt. Yes, girls, get ready for that.

Despite the lack of good reviews for the film, which is really based on poor direction, screenwriting and editing, I still believe that this role will advance his popularity in the US and abroad. The critics didn't fault his performance as they did Kim's. His acting was superb, and I especially loved him in all the scenes before they arrived in Africa. I just wish they had showed more of Venice and allowed screen time for their romance to bloom. It went much too quickly. Let me know what the rest of you think.

OPENING DAY OF I DREAMED OF AFRICA - SEE YOU AT THE MOVIES!

Allocine published the following article yesterday, again in regard to his new role. It's so complimentary and reflects exactly what we admire about him.

"Vincent Perez is an astonishing actor. The variety of his roles forces respect and admiration. Nothing indeed seems to quench his thirst to play and to invest in all projects that are different from one another.

Thus, he has just been allotted one of the principal roles in Bruce Beresford's new movie, Bride of the Wind. The film recalls the life of Alma Schindler (Sarah Wynter), a talented composer and musician, who gives up her dreams to marry Gustav Mahler (Jonathan Pryce). Finally, Vincent will manage to open out sexually and artistically. He will interpret the German expressionnist  painter, Oskar Kokoschka, once again pressing the ground of US cinema.

He has been admired in the very dark The Crow II, and he can be currently seen on the poster of I Dreamed of Africa in the US with Kim Basinger. And now this project arrives, proof that this French star can be separated from our borders.

Finally, no one can deny the obvious. Rare are actors able to pride themselves in playing such diametrically opposite roles and also export themselves abroad regularly like Vincent Perez.

Find an actor who can be incarnated as Diderot in Le Libertin and then play the role of a German expressionnist painter. Eclecticism is definitely the Master word of his career. For our greater pleasure."

There are a couple new interviews that appeared in yesterday's papers that I've posted. The first one is from the NY Times entitled "Five Questions for Vincent Perez." Many thanks to Cory Bentley for alerting me to this article! The second one is from the Calgary Sun called "Walk on the Wild Side." 

Filming begins in a couple weeks for Vincent as he takes on the role of Austrian expressionist painter and writer, Oskar Kokoschka, in Paramount's Bride of the Wind. The film stars Jonathan Pryce (Evita, Ronin, Carrington) as the famed opera director-composer, Gustav Mahler, and Sarah Wynter (The Sixth Day, Lost Souls) as his wife Alma, a talented musician and composer.

Scripted by Marilyn Levy, Bride will concentrate on Alma Mahler's life in Vienna during the early 1900s and leading up to World War I. She lived from 1879-1964 and was considered a muse to some of the great minds of the 20th century. In 1902 she married Mahler, but ten years later, had a passionate affair with Kokoschka that lasted three years. In the cultural environment of Vienna at that time, he aroused a furious sensation both through his painting and as the author of two theatre plays about sex and violence. The two lived and travelled together, and when they were not making love, Kokoschka painted her.

In 1913, he created an allegorical representation of their love affair called "The Bride of the Wind", a vivid image in which the two lovers are whirling around the space. Even on Alma's 70th birthday, Oskar referred to his immortal loved one as a "wild creature" and was convinced that they were "united in the 'Bride of the Wind' forever."

The $10 million-plus budgeted project will be headed by Australian director Bruce Beresford (Driving Miss Daisy, Tender Mercies) and is expected to be released next year. The film will use Alma's music for the soundtrack. Shooting locations will include Vienna, Prague and possibly Germany.

Here's a blurb about I Dreamed of Africa (two more days!!) from the Boston Globe: "Says costar Perez, 'Kim really threw herself into the role. She was working every single day for four months, and doing some really tough scenes. She was quite nervous at the beginning, but at the same time very passionate. She was carrying so much emotion in herself, so to see her deliver that in front of the camera, it was quite something.' Perez adds with a grin, 'It was also quite something to see Kim chase away that elephant that got into her garden in the movie, and to see her touch and handle those snakes.'"

The LA Times had an article yesterday on the film, mainly focusing on Kim Basinger. They did mention the following: "While I Dreamed of Africa is in part a love story, pairing her with actor Vincent Perez, who plays her second husband and partner in the African adventure, their physical passion remains largely off camera, by choice. Says director Hugh Hudson, 'I was torn in the beginning as to whether to show more of the sexual nature of their relationship - they couldn't keep their hands off each other is the truth. But it would have signaled Kim doing the same thing again. And so I became slightly chaste about it. She has no fear of sharing her sensuality on the screen, as you know, but we chose to show a more internal side of the woman.' 'I think there was just enough,' Basinger says. 'I don't think "sexy" is quite an appropriate word for this film. It's not about that.'"