French-born Roxane Mesquida (b. 1981) is a star in international films and an award-winning actress, most notably for her role in “Méduse” (2022) which earned her kudos at the New York International Women Festival, the Hollywood Gold Awards and the Los Angeles Film Awards. It comes as no surprise that Americans praise her skills as an accomplished actress, since she has resided in Los Angeles for many years.

She appeared in films opposite Isabelle Huppert, Vincent Cassel and Asia Argento. In France she worked with directors such as Manuel Pradal and best-selling novelist and provocative filmmaker Catherine Breillat, and in the U.S. she collaborated with critically acclaimed director Gregg Araki and Xan (Alexandra) Cassavetes, the daughter of John Cassavetes and Gena Rowlands. Ms. Mesquida also appeared in three episodes of the highly successful TV series “Gossip Girl” (2007-2012).

During last year’s edition of the Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival, Ms. Mesquida was a member of the International Jury. On a bright and sunny afternoon in Brussels, the following interview was conducted. We didn’t talk too much about her indepedent, artistic and/or experimental films—you won’t find any mainstream films in her oeuvre—but we rather focused on her life on both sides of the Atlantic which makes her, among today’s French leading ladies, a unique and one-of-a-kind actress in her country of origin.

Several of your films have been festival favorites for quite some time, haven’t they?

I had quite a few movies playing at festivals, and I have been invited to a genre film festival in France, which was the equivalent of the BIFFF. It’s exciting to talk to people who like these movies. That’s when I realized I’ve done many of them [laughs]. Although, they’re rather strange movies, I should say—they’re not really horror movies.

“Méduse” (2022, French-language trailer without subtitles)

You are one of the few French-born film actresses who also lives in the U.S. In the 1920s and 1930s there was this so-called colony of German-speaking actors and directors in Hollywood. Is there maybe also a French-language community in Los Angeles?

Not really. I come from very indie French movies; I have worked a lot with Catherine Breillat, and she’s loved all over the world, more than in her own country. So when I started working with her, she said, ‘You’d better work on your English because you’re going to work in the United States. It’s going to be hard to stay in France.’ And she was right. After three movies with her, I realized that. I was very lucky because I was invited to go to Los Angeles for a photo shoot; one of the films I did with Catherine was in competition at the Cannes Film Festival in 2007 [“Une vieille maitresse,” a.k.a. “The Last Mistress”]. While I was in Los Angeles, I met Gregg Araki, the amazing American director, and he asked if I was interested in working on his next movie. I was a huge fan, so I was thrilled and couldn’t believe it. Then I began making indie American movies. I didn’t go to Hollywood to be in big Hollywood movies. And I haven’t done that. They were very indie American films. I did there the movies that I would have done in France. Instead of being in big commercial movies, I was true to myself, to the movies I like and the directors I admire. I think it worked in my favor, and that’s why I have done so much stuff there. “Gossip Girl” [three episodes from 2011-2012] is probably the biggest thing I’ve done, and the favorite movie of the creator of “Gossip Girl” is “Fat Girl” [2001, originally titled “À ma soeur!”], the first Catherine Breillat film I did. It’s funny; you wouldn’t realize or think that you can be in a big thing like this after the creator saw you in this indie movie. So for me, the whole thing makes sense [laughs].

Do you still live in Los Angeles now?

After thirteen years in Los Angeles, I just moved to Paris because I have a French movie called “Méduse” [2022] that just came out in France, and so I thought, ‘Okay, I want to use that as an excuse to go back to France and see if I would like it.’ And I have to say, I really enjoy Paris now [laughs]. So I don’t want to return to Los Angeles quite yet. But I love Los Angeles; the city reminds me of Marseille [city in the South of France where she was born], with the nature, the pines, the people, and their friendliness. They are always ready to help.

For many actors or filmmakers, it would be a dream if they could live and work in Hollywood. What was it like for you when you first arrived there?

It was not really a dream for me to go to Hollywood. It wasn’t something I had been thinking about. I wasn’t even thinking about being in movies when I was a child. I grew up in a very small town in southern France and never considered becoming an actor. When I was thirteen, I was walking in the street; a director [Manuel Pradal] saw me and asked, ‘I’m trying to find locations for my movie. Would you be interested in a casting for this movie?’ He took out his camera, started asking me questions and hired me [“Marie baie des anges” a.k.a. “Marie From the Bay of Angels,” 1998]. If I hadn’t met that director at that moment, I don’t think I would have been an actress. Everything just happened. I did a movie with Benoît Jacquot a few years later [“L’école de la chair” a.k.a. “The School of Flesh,” 1998]. It all happened very naturally. Then I worked with Catherine Breillat and Gregg Araki and I thought, ‘Okay, I’m going to Los Angeles, shoot the movie, and we’ll see what happens. Maybe I’ll stay there for a year.’ I had a visa and stayed there for thirteen years. I met Quentin Dupieux and worked with him, then again with Gregg Araki on a TV show, then Xan Cassavetes and all these other directors. It just happened naturally; I didn’t force anything.

Living in Los Angeles for so many years must have been quite an experience, I suppose. Do you have any advice for someone who wants to live and work there?

I don’t know if I am the right person to give anyone advice. I wouldn’t even recommend this job to my daughter. It’s very tough. Some friends of mine are amazing actors, and they just don’t work. Nobody hires them. Very often, it’s not about being the best actor, unfortunately. There are so many other things, like social media; they might just take someone who is famous on TikTok, rather than a talented actor. So what I would say is, make sure you have another passion in your life because it can be very frustrating. Nobody has a career when everything is wonderful every day; you have ups and downs. When it’s up, that’s amazing. But when it’s down, it’s so hard. And you never know when—or if—it will go up. I have been acting for twenty-nine years, and I have been lucky to stay pretty constant. But it’s tough; the insecurity of our job can make you very anxious. And I have children. So do I want all that stress about my work that much? No. My children are more important.

You just suggested to have another passion, besides acting. You are a model too, aren’t you?

No, I am not a model [laughs]. I am too short to be a model. People always think I am a model. I mean, I love pictures and I love photography as an artistic medium. That’s why I have worked with a lot of photographers. But I have never been on a catwalk. So I don’t know why people have this image of me being a model.

Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival
April 21, 2023

FILMS

MARIE BAIE DES ANGES, a.k.a. MARIE FROM THE BAY OF ANGELS (1997) DIR – SCR Manuel Pradal PROD Philippe Rousselet CAM Christophe Pollock ED Valérie Deseine MUS Carlo Crivelli CAST Frédéric Malgras, Vahina Giocante, Nicolas Welbers, Amira Casar, Swan Carpio, Jamie Harris, Andrew Clover, Roxane Mesquida (Mireille)

L’ÉCOLE DE LA CHAIR, a.k.a. THE SCHOOL OF FLESH (1998) DIR Benoît Jacquot PROD Fabienne Vonier SCR Jacques Fieschi (novel “Nikutao no Gakkō” [1963] by Yukio Mishima) CAM Caroline Champetier ED Luc Barnier CAST Isabelle Huppert, Vincent Martinez, Vincent Lindon, Marthe Keller, François Berléand, Danièle Dubroux, Bernard Le Coq, Roxane Mesquida (Marine)

À MA SOEUR! (2001) DIR – SCR Catherine Breillat PROD Jean-François Lepetit CAM Giorgos Arvanitis ED Pascale Chavance CAST Anaïs Reboux, Roxane Mesquida (Elena Pingot), Libero de Rienzo, Arsinée Khanjian, Romain Coupil, Laura Betti, Albert Goldberg, Odette Barrière, Ann Matthijse

SEX IS COMEDY (2002) DIR – SCR Catherine Breillat PROD Jean-François Lepetit CAM Laurent Machuel ED Pascale Chavance CAST Anne Parillaud, Grégoire Colin, Roxane Mesquida (The Actress), Ashley Wanninger, Dominique Colladant, Bart Binnema, Yves Osmu, Elisabete Piecho, Francis Selleck

SEXES TRÈS OPPOSÉS, a.k.a. VERY OPPOSITE SEXES (2002) DIR – SCR Eric Assous PROD David Kodsi CAM Gilles Henry ED Anne Aravecchi MUS Jean-Claude Petit CAST Charlotte de Turckheim, Patrick Chesnais, Elisa Tovati, Antoine Duléry, Jean-Noël Brouté, Roxane Mesquida (Hélène), Véronique Boulanger, Stéphanie Lagarde

LE GRAND VOYAGE, a.k.a. THE GREAT JOURNEY (2004) DIR – SCR Ismaël Ferroukhi PROD Humbert Balsan CAM Katell Djian ED Tina Baz MUS Fowzi Guerdjou CAST Nicolas Calazé, Mohamed Majd, Jacky Nercessian, Ghina Ognianova, Kamel Belghazi, Atik Mohamed, Malika Mesrar El Hadaoui, Roxane Mesquida (voice only)

SHEITAN, a.k.a. SATAN (2006) DIR Kim Chapiron PROD Vincent Cassel, Kim Chapiron, Éric Névé SCR Kim Chapiron, Christian Chapiron CAM Alex Lamarque ED Benjamin Weill MUS Nguyen Lê CAST Vincent Cassel, Olivier Barthélémy, Roxanne Mesquida (Eve), Nico Le Phat Tan, Leïla Bekhti, Laj Ly, Julie-Marie Parmentier, Monica Bellucci

UNE VIEILLE MAÎTRESSE, a.k.a. THE LAST MISTRESS (2007) DIR Catherine Breillat PROD Jean-François Lepetit SCR (novel “Une vieille maîtresse” [1851] by Jules-Amédée Barbey d’Aurevilly; adaptation by Catherine Breillat) CAM Giorgos Arvanitis ED Pascale Chavance CAST Asia Argento, Fu’ad Aït Aattou, Roxane Mesquida (Harmangarde), Claude Sarraute, Yolande Moreau, Michel Lonsdale, Anne Parillaud, Jean-Philippe Tesse, Léa Seydoux

LA DÉRIVE (2009) DIR – PROD – SCR – ED Philippe Terrier-Hermann CAM Arnold Pasquier CAST Simon Buret, Andy Gillet, Dimitri Capitain, Charles Delpon, Roxane Mesquida (Antonin’s Sister), Brady Corbet, Christian Tual, Diane de Beauveau

KABOOM (2010) DIR – SCR – ED Gregg Araki PROD Gregg Araki, Pascal Caucheteux, Andrea Sperling CAM Sandra Valde-Hansen MUS Ulrich Schnauss, Robin Guthrie, Vivek Maddala, Mark Peters CAST Thomas Dekker, Haley Bennett, Chris Zylka, Roxane Mesquida (Lorelei), Juno Temple, Andy Fischer-Price, Nicole LaLiberte, Jason Olive, James Duval

RUBBER (2010) DIR – SCR – CAM – ED Quentin Dupieux PROD Julien Berlan MUS Mr. Oizo [Quentin Dupieux], Gaspard Augé CAST Stephen Spinela, Roxane Mesquida (Sheila), Jack Plotnick, Wings Hauser, Ethan Cohn, Charley Koontz, Daniel Quinn, Devin Brochu, Hayley Holmes, Haley Ramm, Cecilia Antoinette

SENNENTUNTSCHI (2010) DIR Michael Steiner PROD Bruno Seemann, Bernd Burgener SCR Michael Steiner, Stephanie Japp CAM Pascal Walder ED Benjamin Fueter, Ueli Christen MUS Adrian Frutiger CAST Roxane Mesquida (Sennentuntschi), Nicholas Ofczarek, Andrea Zogg, Carlos Leal, Joel Basman, Hanspeter Müller, Rebecca Indermaur, Ueli Jäggi

THE MOST FUN YOU CAN HAVE DYING (2012) DIR Kirstin Marcon PROD Alex Cole-Baker SCR Kirstin Marcon (novel “Seraphim Blues” by Steven Gannaway) CAM Crighton Bone ED Peter Roberts MUS Grayson Gilmour CAST Matt Whelan, Roxane Mesquida (Sylvie), Pana Hema-Taylor, Matthew J. Saville, Mandy McNeill, Sophie Henderson, Caren Pistorius, Steven Gannaway

KISS OF THE DAMNED (2012) DIR – SCR Xan Cassavetes PROD Jen Gatien, Alex Orlovsky CAM Tobias Datum ED John F. Lyons, Taylor Gianotas MUS Steven Hufsteter CAST Joséphine de la Baume, Roxane Mesquida (Mimi), Milo Ventimiglia, Caitlin Keats, Anna Mouglalis, Ashley Munns, Michael Rapaport, Ching Valdes-Aran

WRONG COPS (2013) DIR – SCR – MUS – CAM – ED Quentin Dupieux PROD Diane Jassem, Josef Lieck CAST Marx Burnham, Eric Judor, Steve Little, Marilyn Manson, Eric Warehem, Grace Zabriskie, Arden Myrin, Ray Wise, Steve Howey, Daniel Quinn, Eric Roberts, Roxane Mesquida (Special Guest)

RÉALITÉ (2014) DIR – SCR – CAM – ED – MUS Quentin Dupieux PROD Diane Jassem, Kevin Van Der Meiren CAST Jonathan Lambert, Élodie Bouchez, Eric Wareheim, John Glover, Jon Heder, Alain Chabat, Kyla Kenedy, Matt Battaglia, Susan Diol, Erik Passoja, Jonathan Spencer, Roxane Mesquida (Award Hostess)

MALGRÉ LA NUIT (2015) DIR Philippe Grandrieux SCR Philippe Grandrieux, Bertrand Schefer, Rebecca Ziotowski, John-Henry Butterworth CAM Jessica Lee Gagné MUS Ferdinand Grandrieux CAST Kristian Marr, Ariane Labeb, Roxane Mesquida (Lena/Louis’ Girlfriend), Paul Hamy, Johan Leysen, Sam Louwyck, Aurélien Recoing, Gabrielle Lazure

MERCURY IN RETROGRADE (2017) DIR – SCR Michael Glover Smith PROD Michael Glover Smith, Shane Simmons, Kevin W. Wright CAM Jason Chiu ED Frank V. Ross CAST Alana Arenas, Roxane Mesquida (Isabelle), Jack C. Newell, Shane Simmons, Najarra Townsend, Kevin Wehby, Clare Cooney, Amy Geist

BURNING SHADOW (2018) DIR Alexandre Nahon PROD Alexandre Nahon, Ehud Bleiberg, Nicholas Donnermeyer SCR Alexandre Nahon, Brian Swinehart (story by Alexandre Nahon) CAM Kit Pennebaker ED Vincent Tabaillon MUS Sebastien Chenut CAST Matthew Denis Lewis, Roxane Mesquida (Summer), Russell Dennis Lewis, Richard Edson, Julie Delpy, Sal Landi, Charlie Wadhams, Christopher Callen, Stevie Guttman

PLAY OR DIE (2019) DIR Jacques Kluger PROD Jacques Kluger, Sebastien Auscher, Serge de Poucques, Sylvain Goldberg, David Elfersi, Amélie Pimont, Yohann Zveig SCR Jacques Kluger, Amiel Bartana (novel “Puzzle” [2013] by Franck Thilliez) CAM Danny Elsen ED Thomas Vanthuyne, Soline Guyonneau MUS Sylvain Goldberg, Yohann Zveig, Emilien Levistre, Xiaoxi Levistre CAST Charley Palmer Rothwell, Roxane Mesquida (Chloé), Marie Zabukovec, Thomas Mustin, Daphné Huynh, Hippolyte de Poucques, Caroline Donnelly

MÉDUSE (2022) DIR – SCR Sophie Lévy PROD Franck Annese CAM Nicolas Desaintquentin ED Sophie Lévy, Sanabel Cherqaoui MUS Olivier Marguerit CAST Roxane Mesquida (Romane), Arnaud Valois, Anamaria Vartolomei, Pierre Nisse, Léo Dussollier, Maxime Gleizes, Amanda Rubinstein, Mehdi Rahim-Silvioli