Anamaria Vartolomei's Polyglot Film Year: 'De Gaulle,' 'Miles & Juliette,' & More

“The Seduction” star Anamaria Vartolomei is lining up a polyglot year, with projects spanning English, French and Romanian. Born in Bacău, Romania, and raised in Paris, Vartolomei won the César for Most Promising Actress for her breakout performance in Audrey Diwan’s Venice Golden Lion winner “Happening.” She has since maintained a steady presence in French cinema — balancing blockbusters like “The Count of Monte-Cristo” with auteur-driven projects including Bruno Dumont’s “The Empire” and last year’s Cannes Critics’ Week opener “Adam’s Sake” — all while steadily expanding her international footprint with English- and Romanian-language debuts in Bong Joon-ho’s “Mickey 17” and Teodora Mihai’s “Traffic.” More from Variety Nadia Tereszkiewicz Lines Up Eco-Thriller 'Souveraines' for Director Remi Allier, Films Grand Huit (EXCLUSIVE) Filmmaker Cedric Klapisch Collects French Cinema Award at Familial, Culture Ministry Ceremony Karlovy Vary Prizewinner 'Broken Voices' Sells to Multiple Distributors (EXCLUSIVE) She’ll press ahead on all fronts this year, promoting her French-language turns in Pathé’s two-part historical epic “De Gaulle” and Fanny Liatard and Jérémy Trouilh’s arthouse fantasy “Les Yeux Verts,” before filming the U.S. period romance “Miles & Juliette.” Vartolomei is also circling an as-yet-untitled Romanian project, currently in final negotiations and eyeing a late 2026 shoot. While Vartolomei could not yet disclose the director of that project, she cited Cristian Mungiu and Emanuel Pârvu among her favorite contemporary Romanian filmmakers. (Mungiu, notably, wrote and produced Mihai’s “Traffic” and has just completed “Fjord” with Sebastian Stan — another immigrant-turned-international star remaining closely connected to Romanian cinema. Stan is next attached to a feature from Berlin Golden Bear winner Radu Jude. On the arthouse circuit, all roads lead to Romania.) Back in France, Vartolomei will play a fictionalized French Resistance fighter in Antonin Baudry’s two-part drama “De Gaulle” — a project she describes less as a conventional biopic than as a sprawling and “very political” war saga. What interested me most was the global scope and artistic ambition,” she says. “It’s a huge-budget, ambitious film, and I wanted French cinema to take those risks. The project has a Christopher Nolan-like visual sweep, while the theme of liberation today can resonate with young people in many countries.” She also compliments the more artisanal visual aesthetic of Fanny Liatard and Jérémy Trouilh’s “Les Yeux Verts,” in which Vartolomei plays a young woman traveling through her brother’s subconscious in order to rouse him from a comatose state. “Their films mix fantasy and dreams, requiring a lot of effects and post-production work,” she says. “But those elements all complement another — making for something very abstract in their approach.” Vartolomei will next star opposite Damson Idris and Xavier Dolan in “Miles & Juliette.” Directed by Bill Pohlad and produced by Mick Jagger, the film reimagines the 1949 romance between chanteuse Juliette Gréco and jazz legend Miles Davis, with production expected to begin later this year. “Their love story is very little known,” Vartolomei says. “Putting a mixed-race couple on screen is still rare, even though the story is very universal and continues to resonate today.” “It’s also about showing the emergence of two icons,” she continues. “Today they’re legends, but at the time they were just starting out, both in their twenties. It’s about portraying an era and making it a true romance — full of promise, something wonderful, something that makes you dream.” Coming on the heels of “Mickey 17,” Vartolomei is looking forward to working in English again and hopes her role as Juliette Gréco will give her the chance to sing. Still, she stops short of dreaming of a Hollywood career — though she is signed with CAA, which packaged the film. “Doing American projects is a bonus,” she says. “When you’re foreign, it’s generally hard to land a first lead role or to avoid parts that are too clichéd. But if it’s something you want, you work toward it. And then it happens — or it doesn’t, and that’s okay. After all, the U.S. is not my home country.” Best of Variety Oscar Predictions: Original Screenplay — With Few Signals, 'Sinners' Takes an Early Lead Oscar Predictions: ‘Sinners’ Could Shatter the All-Time Nomination Record as International Films Hope for Recognition New Movies Out Now in Theaters: What to See This Week