Hair (Brit, Elle, Emily, Pierre) Paul Norton using Oribe (Tracey Mattingly) Hair (Rinko) Sheenon using Oribe (Tracey Mattingly) Photo assistants Check Wu and John Beecroft Stylist assistants Verena Hafner, Whitney Meyer, Christopher Lee Retouching Gloss
Astrid BergÈs-FrisBey
Two days before leaving for a month-and-a-half-long road trip, Astrid Bergès-Frisbey read the script for I Origins, with low expectations and little interest in working on an American flm. “I was like, Read this script before you leave. You won’t like it anyway, and you can leave Paris with your mind clean,” says the Barcelona-born actor, whose only stateside credit had been the mermaid Syrena in 2011’s Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, for which she was handpicked by director Rob Marshall. By the third page of the high-concept science-fction mystery, her interest was piqued. The moment she fnished, she called her agent to set up a Skype meeting for the next day with writer-director Mike Cahill, a Sundance star in 2011 for his visionary debut Another Earth. “I was really, really moved,” Bergès-Frisbey says. “I thought it was brilliant, and I thought it was emotionally strong. It could make people leave the screening with questions for themselves. I like that kind of movie.” She plays Sof, an enigmatic spiritualist who enraptures a skeptical molecular biologist pursuing a Ph.D. in eye evolution, played by Michael Pitt; together they drive one half of a twisting drama that thrillingly questions Intelligent Design, emotional interconnectedness, and the soul itself. For Bergès-Frisbey, whose concise CV includes French flms with Isabelle Huppert and Daniel Auteuil, I Origins heralded a breakthrough—and not just in terms of her performance. Its Sundance screening was so well-received that the actor, who usually fnds seeing her own movies impossible and so makes a quick exit, was inspired to sit tight. “It was a very beautiful moment for me,” she recalls. “They made me enjoy it almost as much as if I was watching it for the frst time.” mark jacobs Top Gucci p/f 2014 SkirT altuzarra S/S 2014 To See more from Sundance, go To VmagaZine.com