French-Algerian actress Lyna Khoudri makes her debut in Hollywood as a co-star in Wes Anderson’s latest film. “The French Dispatch of the Liberty, Kansas Evening Sun” features an all-star cast including Timothée Chalamet, Tilda Swinton, Saoirse Ronan, and Bill Murray.
“The French Dispatch” is also nominated for the prestigious Palme d’Or at this summer’s 74th annual Cannes Film Festival. The nomination follows Ladj Ly’s 2019 Jury Prize win for his reimagined “Les Misérables” and French-Senegalese director Mati Diop’s Cannes 2019 Grand Prix win for the film “Atlantics”.
Lyna Khoudri lands her first Hollywood Feature
Khoudi has taken roles in six films prior to “The French Dispatch”. However, this latest role is the first filmed in English. “It all started with a video to be sent to production.” Khoudri tells L’Officiel USA about the casting process. “One night I filmed myself with my cell phone. I had to introduce myself. I talked about participating in a job at my high school in Saint-Ouen: I skipped classes and went dancing on the street with my friends.” Three weeks later, Khoudri got the part .
Khoudri acting career began in 2014. She starred in the French television series “Josephine, Guardian Angel”. She has since appeared in French shows such as “Blood on the Docks”, “The Blessed”, and the miniseries “Les Sauvages”. In 2019, she appeared alongside French-Algerian actor Reda Kateb in “The Specials”.
Khoudri also won the Orizzonti Award for Best Actress at the 2017 74th Venice Film Festival for her role in “Les Bienheureux” directed by Sofia Djama. Then in 2020, she won the Cesar Award for Most Promising Actress in France for her role as Nedjma in Mounia Meddour’s “Papicha.”
Lyna Khoudri speaks about her Algerian Identity
Khoudri is the daughter of a journalist father and violinist mother. “I was born in Algeria in 1992, when extremist politics were on the rise,” Khoudri says. “My father was a politically engaged journalist, and he was in danger—we had to leave the country.” First, the family fled to Germany. They then settled in Aubervilliers, France. Khoudri gained professional training from the Theatre national de la Colline in Paris.
“My social awareness started with the 2005 workers’ strikes in France,” she explains. “The Algerian war and the colonization were terrible. I started to read anti-establishment writers such as Aimée Césaire and Frantz Fanon. They built my understanding of where I am from, and who I am.”
“The French Dispatch” premieres this Summer
Anderson’s star ensemble brings to life a group of journalists publishing the final issue of an American Magazine in a fictional 20th-century French City. The dramatic comedy follows three separate storylines from the fictional journal’s collection. According to IndieWire, the film is a “love letter to journalists” inspired by Anderson’s love for The New Yorker.
Khoudri plays the role of Juliette, a student activist and the love interest of Chalamet’s character. According to Anderson, the storyline involving Khoudri took its inspiration from “The Events in May: A Paris Notebook”. Mavis Gallant’s two-part article from 1968 treats the nation-wide student occupation protests.
“The French Dispatch” will debut on July 6, 2021 at Cannes. Audiences can look for the film in United States theaters on October 22, 2021 after a screening at the 59th annual New York Film Festival.
Watch the trailer here:
