I have added a new photo session Astrid took during the Cannes Film Festival back in May. Take a look!

I hope everyone is having a wonderful summer, thanks a lot for visiting!

Hey everyone, this is Ivonne (you may know me from some of my other sites: Léa Seydoux and Gaspard Ulliel amongst others) and I will be helping Hillie on keeping this wonderful site up to date.

Astrid was part of the jury in this year’s edition of the Festival du Film de Cabourg which took place between June 15th and June 19th. She attended various events, one of them was a beautiful photocall by the beach. Take a look at the pictures in the gallery!

Gallery Links:
Public Appearances from 2011 > 06.17.11 : 25th Cabourg Film Festival
Public Appearances from 2011 > 06.16.11 : 25th Cabourg Film Festival – Opening
Public Appearances from 2011 > 06.18.11 : 25th Cabourg Film Festival – Photocall
Public Appearances from 2011 > 06.18.11 : 25th Cabourg Film Festival – Awards Ceremony

She also most recently attended the Chanel Haute Couture Fall/Winter 2011/2012 show during the Paris Coutoure Fashion Week wearing a beautiful white Chanel dress from their Couture Spring 2009 collection.

Gallery Link:
Public Appearances from 2011 > 07.05.11 : Paris Fashion Week – Chanel Haute Couture

Thanks to Lindsey for this amazing photoshoot of Astrid!

I’ve added new outtakes from four photoshoots of Astrid, behind the scene photos from an unknown photoshoot and scans of Next magazine to the gallery. Enjoy!

French up-and-comer Astrid Bergès-Frisbey prepares to make a huge splash stateside in Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides.

With her sparkling hazel eyes and modelworthy bone structure, Astrid Bergès-Frisbey looks every bit the part of a delicate ingenue. But this French actress is no fragile flower. “I grew up in the countryside riding horses, and I also ride every holiday in Spain, which is where I was born. It’s a big part of my life,” the starlet says.

The 25-year-old certainly needed to muster her inner tomboy to tackle the role of Syrena, a mystical mermaid, in her U.S. debut in this summer’s Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides. “Working in water is so difficult,” explains Astrid, who spent up to twelve hours a day submerged during shooting. “But I liked having something very physical to do—you realize you’re strong. It’s a really good feeling.”

Of course, playing Syrena posed a major beauty challenge too. “My skin is very sensitive and was even more so when I was filming because of all the makeup and prosthetics I wore every day,” she says. To calm and soothe her reactive complexion, both on and off the set, she swears by Mario Badescu Cucumber Make-Up Remover Cream and Avène Thermal Spring Water. “For me, taking care of your skin is the most important step. You can cover it with all the makeup you have, and it’s still not as nice as beautiful skin,” she says. However, she happily admits to loving Benefit Cosmetics Benetint (“When you’re tired, this makes you look like you’ve slept for hours”) and Chanel liquid lipstick in Santal (“It’s the color of my natural lips”). In a twist of fate, her current nail-color obsession is none other than Chanel’s Black Pearl, which happens to share the same name as Captain Jack Sparrow’s ship in the Pirates series—perhaps a serendipitous sign that Astrid was destined to have this breakout career moment. “I’m just trying to enjoy every step of the journey,” she says.

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Here are the videos from the behind the scenes and animated cover of the May issue of Jalouse and I’ve added the screencaps to the gallery.

Astrid, 24, plays a mermaid in the film and said that the special effects in the film make it look perfect.

“Working with Rob Marshall is interesting in the sense that he is very meticulous, and he wants everything to look so real. I think that is something that is so important because the special effects in the film are what make it. I had dots all over my face and on my legs, pretty much all over (laughs) in order to create the animation,” she said.

JJ: How has life changed since Pirates?
ABF: I learned so much while I was able to do this fantastic project. I’m more on an airplane now than ever, flying from place to place.

JJ: How was working on your first American film?
ABF: The Pirates films are very particular films. They are produced with such a budget, so my experience in America has been something very particular, not all films are this big or involve as many people as this film did. A Pirates of the Caribbean set is phenomenal.

JJ: What was it like landing this role?
ABF: What I love about this franchise is that anyone can audition for a role. They select English people for American roles, Australians for English, it’s a very open field. Everyone can audition for a role. I worked with the best vocal coaches and it was really interesting. I learned a little English on the set, and luckily my accent isn’t so strong because I can pick up languages. Of course, I don’t feel as comfortable with English as I would like to.

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When Jerry Bruckheimer, Rob Marshall, Johnny Depp and the Pirates of the Caribbean crew began to think about the two actors that would portray the young lovers in the latest installation of the Pirates franchise (in lieu of Orlando Bloom’s Will Turner and Keira Knightley’s Elizabeth Swann) the search went global. To fill the role of Philip (the minister set adrift in a sea of bloodthirsty pirates) the team tapped twenty-four year old British actor Sam Claflin, fresh out of theatrical training – as well as a few smaller films and television series. (You can read our interview with Claflin HERE).

To portray Philip’s love-interest, the stunningly beautiful and absolutely deadly mermaid Syrena, the production found Spanish-French actress Astrid Berges-Frisbey. We had the chance to interview Berges-Frisbey at the Los Angeles press day for Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides. Though we normally don’t take this approach, allow us to set the stage of our interview for you: had we attempted to imagine the ideal setting for an interview with a French super-model, it could not have been more perfect.

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I walked in to find the stunning Ms. Berges-Frisbey sitting on her balcony, smoking a cigarette, drinking red-bull out of a high-ball glass, and eating chocolate in small increments. When I approached, the actress very graciously asked me if it was okay for us to convene outside and if the smoking “hurt” me.

I assured her that the smoking did not, and when she made the kind offer of a cigarette (though it had been over two years since my last indulgence) I figured, “hey, when with a French super-model…” and took a moment to smoke a cigi with the lovely Ms. Frisbey.

Berges-Frisbey had the opportunity to play a character that has rarely been seen in cinema over the last several decades, a ferocious and fearsome mermaid. The actress agreed that, “The mermaids in the movie are different than the mermaids we have seen before, and the mermaid that I play is even different than the others because she meets Philip.”

The mermaid depicted above is representative of what we see of Syrena’s “sisters.” They are more the sirens of lore than the “little mermaids” we have become accustomed to in films. These ladies are indeed outstandingly beautiful women who lure men to their bloody and brutal demise. Syrena stands apart from the other mermaids as one with a mysterious quality of compassion, just as Philip differs from the humans he is accompanying as a man of integrity and wisdom. “I think that their relationship symbolizes something really great and powerful,” Frisbey mused, “like kind of two cultures meet and try to trust the other one and take off all the protection.”

“I like the mystery. I like that you don’t know how magical they are. You don’t really know their world and you don’t know how she appears here and there. I like that you don’t know where they live and you don’t know really anything about them. It was so interesting for me to play a part that is not really human.”

In terms of finding her character (a being of the unknown) Frisbey consulted with both director Rob Marshall and “the CGI person in charge of the mermaids” who would update her as the look of the creatures developed. The visual references helped the actress imagine the world she would inhabit. The mermaids in this film have been likened to “vampire fish” – given the look of their (seriously terrifying) incisors. Coincidentally enough, Berges-Frisbey had to live a bit like a vampire during the course of production. Staying indoors and out of the sun all day, and only venturing forth to socialize at night.

“I wanted to be really pale. Because they live really deep underwater, so they never get sun. I had just come from a set that was outside so I was quite tan, so I really wanted to get rid of the tan.”

In addition to the vampiric existence the actress endured to achieve the look of Syrena, Berges-Frisbey spent four to five hours in the make-up chair putting on a prosthetic breast plate (so that she would appear naked) as well as the “dots” – so that the CGI tail and the more fish/creature-like appearance of her face in certain moments could be created.

Many people are finding the mermaids to be one of the more compelling aspects of this film – begging the question will we see a to the world of the siren creatures and a reprisal of her role in future iterations of the Pirates franchise? According to the the actress:

“Everything is possible in a ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ movie, people can die and come back even. So you don’t know. I think they will try to find the perfect script. I trust them about the way they will write the next one. I don’t know if I will be a part of it… but I know, definitely, I will watch it. I learned so much, and had such a good time, so it’s impossible to not wish to be part of the next one, but I don’t know.”

Certainly anything is possible in a Pirates of the Caribbean movie, and though nothing has been settled definitively yet, the franchise star, Carn’ Jack himself , Johnny Depp quipped in the Pirates press conference that, “There’s a very clever idea about 5 and 6, we’ll shoot them on the ride just in nonstop circles. Like Warhol’s sleep. Closeups on everyone.”

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We’re in Beverly Hills sitting on a patio briefly chatting with the beautiful-without-make-up young French/Spanish actress Astrid Berges-Frisbey who has made such a splash in the new Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides.

Lovely Astrid, who was headed for a medical career as an Osteopath, caught the acting bug and was chosen to play the captured mermaid Syrena whose special tear is needed to activate the magic of the fountain of youth sought by both Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) and the pirate Blackbeard (Ian McShane).

Along the way, mermaid meets pious young missionary/sailor Philip (hot Sam Claflin… the new Prince to Kristin Stewart’s “Snow White”) and the two have a cross species hook up… well, at least a strong love connection.

How did Astrid, who is still valiantly struggling with her English, get the part, get paired with Sam and why was Johnny Depp waterlogged on set? Read on…

TeenHollywood: When you first knew that Sam Claflin was going to be playing Philip, what did you think? He’s pretty cute.
Astrid: The day I met him, I had gotten the part before and he was just really happy for me. I was the only girl left. He asked me “you are the only girl (here). Did you get the part already?” Sam was the first person I told I got the part. When I knew he would be Philip, I was amazed and called him up to say congratulations as he had done for me because he was so excited for me. But, from the first audition, I thought he would be marvelous because he is such a good actor and, at the same time, such a good person and so professional and cute with everybody. Such a pleasure.

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TeenHollywood: He just got the part of the prince in the new Snow White and the Huntsman film with Kristen Stewart.
Astrid: I just (heard) that he will be Prince Charming and I’m so happy for him! Those people are really lucky to have Sam in their cast.

TeenHollywood: You saw the first “Pirates” when you were a teen but had you seen Disney’s “The Little Mermaid” as a child? If so, were you pretty surprised when you read that these mermaids were very different, had sharp teeth and killed sailors etc.?
Astrid: Yeah, of course. I was such a big fan when I was a child. I have a sister who was six when I got this part and she is such a huge fan of The Little Mermaid and she was so excited and it’s kind of a dream to bring this dream for my sister, to be a mermaid for her.

It was so interesting about the new appearance of the mermaids. I was excited how they wanted different mermaids than we have seen before. They are closer to the original myths like “The Odyssey” by Homer. Because I’d heard about those stories, so I was even more excited that my mermaid had the opportunity to show another side.

TeenHollywood: Mermaid Syrena and missionary Philip don’t seem like they could be a couple. He is kind to her whereas others are cruel. Do you think that love and kindness can change even a savage creature into being “tame”?
Astrid: It’s a challenge for those characters because they are two different species. They are symbols of two cultures. It could remind us of “Romeo and Juliet”; two enemies with enemy families and I think their relationship is so great because the first moment they look at each other they find immediately the person inside is similar. Even if it’s the enemy and a different species, it’s fine. I think it’s why she appears more human. She sees that he is such a good man.

TeenHollywood: Did anything funny happen on set or between takes? Like Sam was carrying you. Did he ever drop you?
Astrid: No, he didn’t but I remember, in one scene when I’m in the glass coffin, Johnny (Depp) is on the bank of the river and he just fell in the river and everybody was like “Oh my God, Johnny! Are you okay?”

TeenHollywood: Were you shown any artwork or drawings of how your character was supposed to look with her tail? You were in a motion capture suit and didn’t have a tail.
Astrid: Yes and that was really good for me. The CGI people in charge of the mermaid were showing me each stage and they were making me aware how they work. (They were saying) “This is how they find the movement for the tail” and things like that.

TeenHollywood: Are you personally a good swimmer? Did you do a lot of her swimming?
Astrid: I’m a quite good swimmer. All the swimming parts you see, I did all that. (The director) Rob asked me when we met. “Do you swim? Are you afraid of water?” Good thing I was not.

TeenHollywood: You were told to not go out in the daytime in Hawaii to keep your pale skin. Was that not fun for you or did you manage to go out and party a little at night?
Astrid: I went out. I went to the beach at night or at sunset. That was cool.

TeenHollywood: Was there anything in particular that Johnny Depp did for cast and crew on set that you were impressed by?
Astrid: He was so welcoming with everybody. Pirates of the Caribbean is kind of a baby for him. Because he loves to be Jack Sparrow and has so much pleasure and fun being Jack Sparrow, he’s just so happy and in a positive mood for everybody. He’s so generous and takes care of everybody on set.

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