And finally some news! Mélanie has joined the cast of another big international movie, “Night Train To Lisbon”. It’s in pre-production and scheduled for a 2013 release. Read a bit more below.

Vanessa Redgrave, Melanie Laurent and Bruno Ganz join cast of Night Train to Lisbon

Vanessa Redgrave, Melanie Laurent and Bruno Ganz are joining the cast of new movie Night Train to Lisbon.

The new thriller is being made by Bille August and it was already confirmed that Jeremy Irons would star.

According to Variety, Christopher Lee, Jack Huston, Lena Olin and Martina Gedeck will also appear in the movie, which is based on the book by Pascal Mercier.

It has been written by Ulrich Herrmann and Greg Latter and follows the story of a Swiss professor who finds a book by a Portuguese author that makes him leave his old life behind in search of the writer.

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Great news for Mélanie! The full-length she directed, “Les Adoptés”, won the Prix du Jury Jeune and Prix du Public at the 16th Festival for Young Directors. Congratulations!

Les Chisteras de la 16e édition du Festival des jeunes réalisateurs, d’une grande qualité, ont été remis hier soir par le jury présidé par Catherine Jacob.

Michaël R. Roskam a reçu le prix du meilleur réalisateur pour son film « Bullhead ». Le chistera du meilleur film revient à Thierry Binisti pour « Une bouteille à la mer ». Les prix du meilleur acteur (Matthias Schoenaerts dans « Bullhead »), meilleure actrice (Sandra Hüller dans « L’Amour et rien d’autre »), du meilleur court-métrage (« L’Accordeur » d’Olivier Treiner) ont ensuite été remis.

Le premier film de Mélanie Laurent « Les Adoptés », projeté en ouverture du Festival, a décroché le prix du public et celui du jury jeune.

Hier soir, le film « Forces spéciales » de Stéphane Rybojad a été présenté en clôture du Festival.

Séances de rattrapage aujourd’hui à 11 heures et à 20 heures au Sélect de Saint-Jean-de-Luz : deux films primés seront à nouveau projetés.

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Good news for Mélanie! Her debut film as a director, “Les Adoptés”, will be shown in competition at the 16th Saint Jean de Luz Film Festival for Young Directors. The festival takes place between the 11th and 15th of October. Hopefully she might win something and we get a few photos of her at the festival!

Mélanie Laurent : Une récompense pour son premier film ?

Actrice et chanteuse à ses heures perdues – elle a récemment sorti son premier album -, Mélanie Laurent est aussi réalisatrice. Et son tout premier long-métrage pourrait bien être récompensé lors d’un festival de cinéma !

Après avoir réalisé deux courts-métrages, De moins en moins et A ses pieds, Mélanie Laurent a dirigé son premier long-métrage, dans lequel elle tient aussi un rôle. Baptisé Les Adoptés, ce film sera projeté en ouverture du 16e Festival International des Jeunes Réalisateurs, qui se tiendra à Saint-Jean-de-Luz du 11 au 15 octobre prochain.

Présenté en compétition, le film raconte l’histoire “d’une famille. Une famille de femmes que la vie a souvent bousculée mais qui est parvenue avec le temps à apprivoiser les tumultes. Les hommes ont peu de place dans cette vie et naturellement quand l’une d’entre elles tombe amoureuse tout vacille. L’équilibre est à redéfinir et tout le monde s’y emploie tant bien que mal. Mais le destin ne les laissera souffler que peu de temps avant d’imposer une autre réalité. La famille devra alors tout réapprendre. La mécanique de l’adoption devra à nouveau se mettre en marche forçant chacun à prendre une nouvelle place…”, lit-on dans le synopsis du premier long-métrage de Mélanie Laurent, dont elle partage l’affiche avec Denis Ménochet, Marie Denarnaud, Clémentine Célarié, Audrey Lamy et Théodore Maquet-Foucher. Un film qui sortira dans nos salles obscures quelques semaines après le festival, le 23 novembre.

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I’ve added some new film stills and a new set still from Mélanie’s upcoming full-length as both star and director, “Les Adoptés”. No trailer or teaser trailer yet, but it’s not released til November so I expect it’ll be a while before we do. Enjoy!

Gallery Links:
Film Productions > Les Adoptés (2011) > Production Stills
Film Productions > Les Adoptés (2011) > On Set

I also spotted a new project that hasn’t made its way to IMDb yet. Apparently Mélanie will film a part in a film written by her ex-boyfriend Julien Boisselier called “Notoriété publique”. It will be director Karim Ada’s first full length and the other actors attached include Julien and Julie Ferrier. More info hopefully to come! A bit of investigation reveals it’s due to begin filming this autumn.

I’m eating my words, it seems! Mélanie has joined the film “Now You See Me”, as it was previously reported here that she’d been offered a part. Jake Gyllenhaal passed on the project, but I trust Mélanie’s judgment if she wants to be part of it. Read more below.

EXCLUSIVE: Melanie Laurent is in negotiations for the female lead in Summit’s magician-heist pic “Now You See Me.”

Louis Leterrier (“Clash of the Titans”) will direct with Boaz Yakin and Edward Ricourt penning the script.

Jesse Eisenberg will star, as Variety first reported June 8. Jake Gyllenhaal was also circling the project at one point, but passed.

Story revolves around FBI agents tracking a group of illusionists and magicians who pull off bank heists during their performances and shower money on the audience.

Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci will produce through their Kurtzman Orci Paper Products banner. Yakin and Bobby Cohen are exec producing.

Erik Feig, Summit’s President of Production; Michael Schaefer, Summit’s Senior Vice President of Acquisitions and Co-Productions; and Ashley Schlaifer, Summit’s Creative Executive, will oversee the project for the studio.

Best known for her role in “Inglourious Basterds,” Laurent can currently be seen in the Focus Features pic “Beginners” starring Ewan McGregor and Christopher Plummer.

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Mélanie allegedly has an offer for “Clash of the Titans” director Louis Leterrier’s  next film “Now You See Me.” The key word here is offer: she’s mentioned just recently in interviews for “Beginners” that she’s gotten offers for big American movies before that she’s turned down, and she intends to be picky with her projects. I would be genuinely surprised if she accepted because the part doesn’t sound very “her” at all, but see the article below for a bit more info:

The upcoming film from Clash of the Titans director Louis Leterrier may still sound a little goofy, but it’s seeking some big talent to possibly add some legitimacy. According to Variety Leterrier is working to cast Jesse Eisenberg, Jake Gyllenhaal and Melanie Laurent in Now You See Me, a heist film about magicians who “pull off daring bank heists during their performances, showering the profits on their audience.”Yeah, I have no idea how that would work either, but the idea of seeing Jesse Eisenberg trying to do it is so bizarre I can’t help but want to see it.

Eisenberg is only in early negotiations for the lead part, while Gyllenhaal and Laurent only have offers, which they could easily turn down. When we first wrote about his project back in February we had heard that the central characters would in fact be the FBI investigators tracking down the rogue magicians, which means we’ll probably see Eisenberg only solving crimes, not pulling a rabbit plus 50 gold bars out of a hat. Disappointing? Sure. But it sounds like there will be plenty more craziness to be entertained by in the movie, which Leterrier has planned as his post-Titans film.

While Gyllenhaal has been known to seek out these kind of action-y roles, and Laurent is so new in her career no choice could be seen as unexpected, Eisenberg seems to be really stretching here. Sure, he did a little action in Zombieland and will be doing it again in 30 Minutes or Less this summer, but since his Oscar-nominated role in The Social Network he’s seemed to be leaning a little more eggheady, filming Woody Allen’s new film in Rome this summer and considering a reunion with his Squid and the Whale director Noah Baumbach. But hey, he’s young and has a lot of newfound starpower– why not chase down expert magicians in the company of Jake Gyllenhaal?

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The specific Dior perfume Mélanie will be modeling for has finally been revealed: the house’s classic Hypnotic Poison. She succeeds Monica Bellucci as the face of the fragrance. She’ll also be wearing vintage Dior for the opening ceremony of Cannes!

The physical release isn’t until May 2nd still, but Mélanie’s debut album “En t’attendant” has been released digitally – finally! Considering she first went to record in May 2009 and the initial announcement she was going into music was even earlier, it feels like we’ve been waiting forever for this. I’ve added pictures to the gallery from her first live concert that took place April 20th in Cenon, France, as well as the album artwork. Take a look, and go out and buy the album!

Gallery Links:
Miscellaneous > Music > “En t’attendant” Album Artwork
Public Appearances > 2011 > Live Concert in Cenon

There is also a making-of called “Les coulisses de l’album En t’attendant” available through her record label’s Youtube channel. Watch that below and see the captures in the gallery!

Gallery Links:
Miscellaneous > Music > Making-Of “En t’attendant”