Juliette Binoche

Oscar-winning French actress Juliette Binoche says touring for her dance collaboration with Britain choreographer Akram Khan was so exhausting she's unlikely to take part in a similar project again. Binoche told a press conference Tuesday that working on the modern dance performance "In-I" was a great learning experience but physically taxing, joking that she thought about giving up "because it's so difficult" but couldn't because she signed a contract. "I learned to bend. I learned to shut my mouth because as an actress I was commenting a lot about what I was feeling," said Binoche, who won a best supporting actress Oscar for the ... Read Full Story

Oscar-winning French actor Juliette Binoche said Tuesday she welcomed the critical mauling her new dance performance received when it opened in London, as it sparked improvements in the show. Binoche, best known for her roles in films like "The English Patient" and "Chocolat", had never danced professionally before she took to the stage with top British choreographer Akram Khan in their show "In-I". The performance was panned by critics when it opened at London's National Theatre last September, with The Times describing it as "intermittently excruciating". The actor, who underwent around two years of arduous training for her role, said the tough assessment helped ... Read Full Story

Oscar-winning French actress Juliette Binoche said Wednesday she is planning to work with feted Chinese film director Jiang Wen after her six-month world dancing tour ends next month. "The English Patient" and "Chocolat" star said she planned to discuss plans with Jiang, whose film "Devils on the Doorstep" won the Grand Prix at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival. "I am going to meet Jiang Wen when I am in Beijing, and we will talk about several projects that we will be working on," she told a news conference in Shanghai, without offering further details. It would not the be the first time Binoche has ... Read Full Story

Picks: Into the Wild (DVD) : Sean Penn's beautiful film about Chris McCandless, the young idealist who leaves home after college, donates his entire $24,000 savings to charity, in a quest for ultimate freedom in the wilds of Alaska. I hadn't read the book (by Jon Krakauer) so I didn't know how the story ends. Hal Holbrook's performance is truly worthy of the Oscar nomination that he received...incredibly moving. ------ The Bank Job (in theaters) : A really fun ride about a bumbling group of bank robbers who don't even know the magnitude of the robbery they are committing. One of those rare "Thromedies" ... Read Full Story

A year at the Yale School of Drama costs $25,735. Juilliard is about $1,500 more. And you don’t even want to know what an education from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art will set you back. For aspiring movie actors, it would be a lot cheaper just to study the career of Juliette Binoche. A week with her movies might not make you a better actor - although I don’t see how it couldn’t. But it may make you wiser about the acting you should aspire to do. Binoche is as good an example as we have of an actor who appreciates the realities ... Read Full Story