Julie Delpy Threatened to Walk Away From the ‘Before’ Series If These Needs Weren’t Met
Actor Julie Delpy has been as essential to the development of the Before trilogy as her co-star Ethan Hawke and filmmaker Richard Linklater. So, when it came to writing the feature, Delpy wasn’t worried about putting her foot down regarding certain choices.
Julie Delpy made sure that her character was written correctly in the ‘Before’ trilogy’
Although they were playing characters, Delpy and Hawke put a lot of their true selves into their fictional counterparts. In an interview with the New York Times, the Training Day star confided that Delpy informed her character as much as he informed hers.
“Julie and I are using pieces of ourselves to blur the line between the character and the performer, to render it pointless. Julie has helped create Jesse. And I’m really proud of Celine — she’s an awesome female figure in movies,” Hawke said.
For Delpy, it was important that her own personal and creative touches were added to the feature. She was intent on making sure her character was written from a true women’s perspective. So much so that she threatened to walk away from the project if it leaned too much in a certain direction.
“Ethan writes a thing, then Rick edits a few things. And we bounce each other ideas. Sometimes I’m like, ‘It’s s***. If we put it in there I’m out.’ That’s what we did on Before Sunrise,” Delpy once said according to Contact Music. “I’m writing with two guys so I’m the one that has to stand for the female stuff and I’m such a feminist. I mean, I’m not a feminist wearing overalls and hating the male gender. But I’m a definite feminist. I don’t want to make Before Sunset into a little male fantasy, ever.”
Julie Delpy explained how her onscreen relationship with Ethan Hawke in the ‘Before’ trilogy hurt them
Delpy and Hawke’s relationship in Linklater’s Before films seemed so real that it left some fans wondering if they were in an actual relationship. It’s somewhat understandable how fans could confuse their onscreen love life for something authentic.
The Before films revolve around Hawke and Delpy’s characters having casual but meaningful conversations throughout the trilogy. Because of the films’ simplicity, Delpy and Hawke mustered a lot of chemistry to carry the movies.
Although the pair remained close friends, they never dated. The Moon Knight actor even asserted that their love scenes in the films were uncomfortable because of their friendship.
“It makes it weirder. You feel a little bit like brother and sister,” Hawke once told USA Today.
Still, there were quite a few who speculated that Delpy and Hawke were just being themselves in the Before movies. Which, according to Delpy, severely affected the series’ first sequel.
“You know, in the second film it almost hurt us, I think some people thought we were really together and they thought ‘Oh, they are not really acting you know? They’re just together and in love.’ A lot of people thought like that,” she said in a 2013 interview with IndieWire.
Did Julie Delpy really turn down another ‘Before’ movie?
It seems that Linklater’s Before movies have officially ended with Before Midnight. But many film fans are still clamoring for another entry to the romance flicks. There were rumors that Delpy turned down the opportunity to make another sequel. But the actor did an interview with Variety to set the record straight.
“What happened was that we — all three of us — agreed that we couldn’t come up with something good for a fourth one,” she said not too long ago. “It’s that simple. We didn’t fight. We’re not on bad terms. Everyone’s happy…It’s so much drama for nothing. We just didn’t come up with a good idea.”
