The Big Picture
- Amélie is a visually stunning and unique rom-com that pushes the boundaries of storytelling, making it an iconic film globally.
- Audrey Tautou’s portrayal of Amélie is unforgettable, and it’s hard to imagine anyone else playing the role.
- Despite inspiring other films, director Jean-Pierre Jeunet has distanced himself from them and believes the subsequent musical adaptation was a disaster.
Amélie is a weird and beautiful fantasy-like rom-com, stretching the bounds of what visual storytelling can do. Jean-Pierre Jeunet outdid himself directing a near-perfect mix of fun and profundity. No wonder Amélie remains one of the most iconic films, not just from France, but from anywhere in the world, more than twenty years on. A huge commercial success, Amélie makes you laugh, tear up, and laugh again. But could you imagine anyone else playing the titular other than Audrey Tautou? Who else could unite two weird lonely souls in the way Tautou’s portrayal of Amélie did, or give us those unforgettable phone booth peeks at those she was playing games on? Who else could make us look at life in the simplistic way that the Amélie we now know did? Turns out, the film’s director, Jeunet, had his mind on British actress Emily Watson for the role. Unfortunately for Emily, her French wasn’t good enough for the role, and she was also committed to filming Robert Altman‘s Gosford Park. Recasting meant Tautou would play the famous role. Jeunet had previously noticed Tautou on a poster of another French romantic comedy. Perhaps Tautou was born to play the role because she killed it!
‘Amélie’ Is a Spectacle Masterpiece That Inspired Many Films
Much has been said about Amélie’s picturesque presentation, earning it five Oscar nominations including Best Cinematography. And while it didn’t win any of the categories for reasons, the New York Times reported Jean-Pierre Jeunet believes were undeserved, Amélie won the hearts of fans globally. Surprisingly, it was not initially admitted at the Cannes Film Festival until much later, and its lead, Audrey Tautou, became maîtresse de cérémonie at the 66th Cannes Film Festival. With its success and Tautou being indistinguishable from the role she played in the film, it is unfathomable that director Jean-Pierre Jeunet had Emily Watson as the actress to play the titular role. While Emily Watson is a successful actress having worked on films such as renowned scientist Stephen Hawking’s biopic, The Theory of Everything, and Breaking the Waves, for which she earned an Academy Award nomination, it is unimaginable to see anyone else other than Audrey play the popular role of Amélie Poulain.
Per the New York Times, while Jean-Pierre Jeunet has distanced himself from some of the films that Amélie inspired, it hasn’t stopped filmmakers from exploring the winsome character that Tautou portrayed in Amélie. Amélie’s screenwriter, Guillaume Laurant, has said that while they were determined to preserve Amélie’s specialness by not producing any other film linked to it, he was intrigued by the idea of a musical for the film, which led to a musical with the same name, shining through Broadway, even though director Jeunet has said that he only accepted to it for the sake of the children who would benefit from the open-heart surgeries resulting from the film’s proceeds. Jeunet added that the resultant musical was a disaster.
What Would ‘Amélie’ Have Looked Like with Emily Watson as Its Lead?
Audrey Tautou’s portrayal of Amélie is spot on, making the quirky, intelligent, and compassionate character with a whimsical way of looking at the world unforgettable. Amélie is not the only iconic character whose actor was not initially meant to play the role. Other interesting actors that chanced upon their iconic characters include Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark in Iron Man and Michael J. Fox as Marty McFly in Back to the Future. It is also unbelievable that Emilia Clarke was not the first choice for Daenerys Targaryen in HBO’s Game of Thrones series. Maybe some roles are meant for particular actors.
