Juliette Binoche confesses that it's normal to find all her films “a struggle".
The French actress has predominantly starred in movies made in her home country, but has also ventured into Hollywood with features such as Cosmopolis and Godzilla. She has often been praised as one of the greatest actresses of her generation, but the 50-year-old doesn't let the comments go to her head.
"I feel like almost every film is a struggle. I wouldn't say it's easy. To do one film, and that film, and this film, and another film, each time it's a journey. It's not like it just comes out and I have this wonderful golden path in front of me I'm just walking on. It's not that at all," she told indiewire.com. "With [Certified Copy director] Abbas [Kiarostami], he said, 'Come with me to Iran,' and I said, 'Are you crazy? I read the newspapers. Do you think I would come to Iran?' And he said, 'It has nothing to do with what's in the newspaper. Come and you'll see.' So I went. Twice. From that came a story I loved, and the film came just like that. It came from stories."
Juliette can next be seen in Clouds of Sils Maria, in which she plays ageing actress Maria Enders, who feels threatened by a younger star. Appearing alongside her in the feature are Kristen Stewart and Chloë Grace Moretz and, while there have been rumours she taught the Twilight actress some skills, Juliette insists that wasn't the case.
"It's interesting, because I read in an interview - and I don't really read interviews - that Olivier [Assayas, director] said that there were moments when I was showing up Kristen, showing her how to act. For me it's never been like that," she exclaimed. "Sometimes I push her, because I know her potential. When you see that, it's very exciting as an actor to go and push someone. I think deep down I would like to teach one day. It's about mothering, about giving birth, a midwife kind of situation, and there's something very rewarding in a very hidden place."
