Alice Jones' Arts Diary: Star of 'The Artist' to reveal his raunchy side in explicit French sex comedy
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Your support makes all the difference.Jean Dujardin is back. But unlike his charming turn in The Artist, his latest role is unlikely to leave audiences swooning. The actor stars as a serial adulterer in The Players, out next month.
The film, an explicit French comedy about infidelity as seen by seven different directors, includes one segment directed by The Artist’s Michel Hazanavicius, in which Dujardin plays a dull businessman with a greasy moustache trying to pick up at a conference. In another, he and his real-life wife Alexandra Lamy play a married couple revealing their indiscretions to one another.
The Players went straight to No 1 in France in March but has had a bumpy ride on the way. Its poster – Dujardin posing between the legs of a naked woman with the tagline, “I’m just going into anothermeeting” – was banned from Parisian billboards after complaints about sexism. And the movie reportedly had to be recut to remove a joke about 9/11.
In the deleted scene, Dujardin takes a call from his wife during an assignation in a New York hotel. “Yes, yes my darling, everything is fine”, he says, as the Twin Towers crumble behind him. Harvey Weinstein has snapped up the rights regardless. Is America ready for Dujardin’s raunchy side?
Francis Bacon as you've never seen him before – dancing
Ever wanted to hear Francis Bacon sing? Now's your chance. An opera dedicated to the artist will premiere at the Edinburgh Fringe in August.
Created by the experimental composer Stephen Crowe, its libretto is taken word-for-word from a notoriously tipsy interview with Bacon, conducted by Melvyn Bragg for the South Bank Show in 1986. "I was inspired by how uninhibited Bacon is and how willing Bragg is to join in with that", says Crowe. "He drinks as much as Francis does."
Described as a "boozy, artistic version of Frost/Nixon", the piece will be sung by two tenors: Christopher Killerby as Bacon, pictured, and Oliver Brignall as Bragg. The climax of the piece comes when Bragg asks Bacon what he likes about men.
"And they have a tender, drunken dance. They're not exactly flirting but they have a connection", says Crowe. "It's like two drunk guys after a football match."
From the atrocious to the psychedelic – art to go on display
Dig out your pastel still lifes and oil paintings of owls, the Bad Art salon needs you. Vic Reeves is looking for submissions for a show of the worst work ever to come out of an art school, a charity shop or an evening class for a show at Vintage Festival next month. Suggestions of appalling art should be sent to badartsalon@vintagebyhemingway.co.uk by Monday; successful applicants will receive a free day ticket to the festival. Peter Blake's 2012 update of the Sgt Pepper album cover will also go on show at the Northamptonshire festival in a separate exhibition celebrating the artist's 80th birthday.
Not the cinemagoer's customary garb
The world is divided into those who embrace fancy dress and those who don't. But for anyone hoping to get away with ignoring the instructions for this month's Secret Cinema, it's no dice. Those who buy tickets to the mysterious event are instructed to turn up to Euston Station, north London, pictured, dressed in uniform ready for work. Try to get in in civilian clothes and you'll be handed a boiler suit to wear at the door. Glam it ain't.
Jean Dujardin is back. But unlike his charming turn in The Artist, his latest role is unlikely to leave audiences swooning. The actor stars as a serial adulterer in The Players, out next month. The film, an explicit French comedy about infidelity as seen by seven different directors, includes one segment directed by The Artist's Michel Hazanavicius, in which Dujardin plays a dull businessman with a greasy moustache trying to pick up at a conference. In another, he and his real-life wife Alexandra Lamy play a married couple revealing their indiscretions to one another, pictured. The Players went straight to No 1 in France in March but has had a bumpy ride on the way. Its poster – Dujardin posing between the legs of a naked woman with the tagline, "I'm just going into another meeting" – was banned from Parisian billboards after complaints about sexism. And the movie reportedly had to be recut to remove a joke about 9/11. In the deleted scene, Dujardin takes a call from his wife during an assignation in a New York hotel. "Yes, yes my darling, everything is fine", he says, as the Twin Towers crumble behind him. Harvey Weinstein has snapped up the rights regardless. Is America ready for Dujardin's raunchy side?
a.jones@independent.co.uk
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