Julie Delpy has long established herself as a woman of many talents. In the realm of film alone she has earned credits as a singer, songwriter, screenwriter, editor, and director. Of course, she's best known as an actress, or more specifically the ingénue of such heralded cinematic efforts as Three Colors: White, Three Colors: Red, Before Sunrise and Before Sunset. Yet Delpy, whose currently on the Sundance press circuit promoting her fourth directorial feature Two Days in New York, has stunned and saddened her fans by admitting to Deadline she's grown tired of performing, saying:
”I think I’m done with acting. Before, I just acted in movies with people I knew. Now I don’t want to pursue acting. I will pursue writing and directing.”
This may mean the end of a follow-up to Before Sunset, but there's some solace for fans that Delpy at least plans to continue as a filmmaker if not an actress.
Delpy's best-known effort as a writer-director is the 2007 romantic dramedy 2 Days in Paris, in which she starred opposite Adam Goldberg as a intercultural (French and American) couple who experiences a relationship-rattling culture clash when they visit the woman's parents. Her Sundance entry this year is a kind of follow-up, though Goldberg is gone, and Chris Rock has filled the role of Delpy's conflicted lover. In the film, the two experience a tense weekend when her father visits their NYC home. Albert Delpy, the filmmaker's real-life dad, reprises his role as her onscreen papa. Like its precursor, Two Days in New York is drawing praise for its humor, wit and deft capturing of human foibles, but Delpy insists there will be no Two Days in Los Angeles or Two Days in Madrid kind of franchise born from the dramedy's buzz.
Instead Delpy is eager to take on new genres, and has admitted interest in crafting a thriller. Still, it's a shame to imagine her movies without her in the lead, but perhaps this will be a chance for her to give rise to a new dazzling ingénue. She's certainly not intimidated by the unreliable world of fretful film financiers, ever so coolly explaining:
”I’ve already worked with money restrictions in filmmaking and it’s manageable. The only thing you can’t manage is death. But everything else is nothing.”
2 Days in New York is currently seeking distribution.
