Yachtsman Irons Crosses The Channel For Sailing Film Role
by Toby Rose, The Evening Standard (London)
April 24, 2001
JEREMY IRONS will be singing cabaret songs and speaking in French in his next film.
However, not everything will be unfamiliar for the 52-year-old Oscar-winning actor - the movie is set around ocean racing, a sport that is close to his heart.
"And Now, Ladies And Gentlemen" begins shooting next Monday on the Normandy Coast at Fecamp.
In the romantic thriller, Irons plays a criminally inclined gentleman thief and solo yachtsman who falls for a singer. Irons's leading lady is Patricia Kaas, a chart-topping French singer, and the film is to be directed by Claude Lelouch.
Irons will speak French for part of the film, which includes scenes in Paris and London before setting off to Morocco for a key nightclub sequence.
An insider says: "There is a soundtrack of French classics like La Vie en Rose and Autumn Leaves. Jeremy is to sing a few songs in the club scene." New Wave director Claude Lelouch is most famous for the Sixties classic A Man And A Woman set along the Normandy coast at Deauville, starring Anouk Aimee.
Though Dustin Hoffman was originally approached for the new role, Irons is the perfect choice because of his love of sailing.
Director Lelouche says: "When we approached Jeremy about the role he was sailing a boat in competition between Australia and New Zealand. Something of a coincidence and certainly a sign of good luck." Irons was taking part in a leg of the BT Global Challenge yacht race in February.