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For the stars of Miramax's upcoming comic fable, Chocolat, life was literally like a box of the sweet dark stuff. But unlike Forrest Gump, Lena Olin knew exactly what she was going to get the day she showed up to work on the film's London set: A big bellyache. "We did a scene where Vianne (Juliette Binoche) comes to see Josephine (Olin) in her room and she hands her a rose truffle... and it's a big piece of chocolate," recalls the Swedish-born actress. "And [with all the different takes], I had to eat 40 or more of these big chocolates. By the end of the day, I was so nauseous." Still, Olin — who says she cured her upset stomach by filling up on "salty things, like potato chips" — admits that her co-workers had no trouble gorging themselves on Chocolat's scene-stealing props. "People were on that chocolate," laughs the 1990 Oscar nominee (Enemies: A Love Story). "Crew, cast... everybody was eating the chocola
For the stars of Miramax's upcoming comic fable, Chocolat, life was literally like a box of the sweet dark stuff. But unlike Forrest Gump, Lena Olin knew exactly what she was going to get the day she showed up to work on the film's London set: A big bellyache.
"We did a scene where Vianne (Juliette Binoche) comes to see Josephine (Olin) in her room and she hands her a rose truffle... and it's a big piece of chocolate," recalls the Swedish-born actress. "And [with all the different takes], I had to eat 40 or more of these big chocolates. By the end of the day, I was so nauseous."
Still, Olin — who says she cured her upset stomach by filling up on "salty things, like potato chips" — admits that her co-workers had no trouble gorging themselves on Chocolat's scene-stealing props. "People were on that chocolate," laughs the 1990 Oscar nominee (Enemies: A Love Story). "Crew, cast... everybody was eating the chocolate the whole time."
While moviegoers won't get their taste of Chocolat until Dec. 15, already the film is overdosing on Oscar buzz. Directed by Olin's real-life mate Lasse Hallström, who brought home some gold for last year's Cider House Rules, the low-budget pic revolves around a group of French villagers who find their narrow beliefs challenged by the arrival of a chocolate connoisseur (Oscar-winner Binoche).
Olin, whose long-suffering character is one of those forever changed by the new local, drastically switched gears for her next project: Anne Rice's The Queen of the Damned. "I play Maharet, the most human of the vampires," she explains of the follow-up to Interview with the Vampire. "It was an interesting experience. It was very unlike anything I've done."