Desert Island Disks is a BBC radio 4 show where guests choose the eight songs they would take if they were to be stranded on a desert island. Between records, Sue Lawley asks questions about the guest childhood and career - records are in chronological order - to fit with the discussion. The edition on 3rd April featured Kristin Scott-Thomas - below is a transcript of the Prince related bit.

SL: You got in by the back door - why do you say that?
KST: Um well, because I was at drama school, there (France). I was at drama school for three years and I started to work - had very small parts in films and one or two very small parts in plays. Then suddenly I was doing a Margaret Durass (sp?) play in Burgundy and I got this call from the casting director saying PRINCE is coming to France and he's going to make a film and they're making it in English so they're looking for English speaking actresses. So I whizzed up to Paris and went to the audition - and was asked at the audition, which absolutely stunned me, 'would I be interested in auditioning for the leading role?' I thought it had all been cast, of course it had all been cast, but they decided to recast. So I did and I got it. It was extraordinary, absolutely extraordinary because this was at the time when Prince was really at the height of his career. I was really a straight out of drama school actress doing this really, very sort of quite high brow theatre.
SL: That's not backdoor, this is a really good break.
KST: No, it was a fantastic break, but it didn't come through steadily working my ass.. working my way up steadily through bigger and bigger parts in BBC dramas. It didn't happen like that, it happened overnight. I learned everything, well not everything. But really great teachers and they had the most fantastic crew. Yet the script was very odd. Half the things I had to say I was thinking 'my word, take a deep breath and say this' just get on with it. Of course the film didn't do very well, but it gave me tremendous exposure and it was my first paid job really.
SL: You were launched.
KST: Yeah. Thank-you. Thank-you Prince, because it was just such an exciting.. while I was in my field in Burgundy I had been listening to his records thinking 'this is really great and fantastic,' then suddenly, suddenly you're there. It was real fairy tale stuff. The sort of thing you think never happens to you, then opp - it has.
SL: No wonder he's here - he's number five.
KST: Yep, Girls and Boys, which is actually the soundtrack to the film, in which I dance - which is not to be missed.

[play song]

SL: That was Prince and Girls and Boys from the soundtrack of the film Under the Cherry Moon starring my castaway Kristin Scott-Thomas. A few years after that…

[All other songs were classical choices except John Martyn's 'Spencer the Rover'.]

interesting...thanks for posting this.

"Yet the script was very odd" is my favorite quote...lol...she's being diplomatic and basically is saying it was shit, which we all know very well.

Very cool. I remember her being interviewed by David Letterman at
the time of the release. She said she had gone in to read for
a 'bit part', and Dave made a joke about Prince having "bit
parts."

She was great in that movie, cracked me up.

Kristin Scott-Thomas is one of my favorite actresses. I loved her in Angels & Insects, Gosford Park and The English Patient. Her American films however, like Random Hearts and Life As A House, aren't so good.

It's nice to know her experience filming Under The Cherry Moon was very pleasant. Can't wait for the DVD!
[This message was edited Thu Jun 10 12:47:44 2004 by sextonseven]

cool

thanx

Funny how I was reading this while hearing her accent from the movie in my head.

xpsiter said:

Do you LIE????

I wish she'd let us in on why all her and Prince's screen kisses looked so clumsy and bad!

eyewishuheaven said:

It was her very first film. Maybe she was nervous. I'm sure if she were to do it now she would be better.

xpsiter said:

me too....!!!!!

She's not terribly articulate, is she?

sextonseven said:

She looked OK, it's Prince that looked like he was sucking the oxygen out of her lungs. Prince is absolutely the worst screen kisser i've ever seen (see PR too)

Folks, following on from what people are saying about hearing her voice...

I taped the show when it was originally broadcast and have extracted the pertinent question and saved it as an MP3.

If anyone wants a copy drop me an org-note and I can email you a copy. I can't remember which bitrates I used, but the three file sizes I have are 1.57mb, 917kb or 262kb.

Cheers


M2K

sextonseven said:

Yeah, but would he?

funny, i'll never quit on how much i love this movie -- but when she confronts her mother towards the end -- "MOTHER!!!! for 21 years now, daddy and you.....and you've framed it in a trust fund that i cannot get til i marry i man that i don't even love..." something like that, i'm tired....

the reason why i throw this out, is cuz this is when her really old-school British acting comes to a fore. it's one of my favorite parts, mind you (with the blocking involved with mary's mother and the maid in the mirror, ever notice it?, check it out -- 3 generations of unhappy ladies getting screwed!)...

ooh, christ -- mary sharon, i wonder what tune she dance 2?

andymacfunky said:

Since you asked for it, the correct spelling is "Marguerite Duras" - a great 20th century writer.

Cheers,

David.
--

I love her in the movies as well-- I love the part when she showed her birthday suit, played the drums and talked about coming back of an encore just as she sees Prince eye to eye!! A cinematic moment for me!!

is it true prince initially

wanted madonna 2 play mary sharon?

i think their chemistry would

have been smoldering

sumtymes said:

That would have been interesting but i think that there would have been scrutinized much worse. I liked UTCM bcuz it was pure comedy.I would have loved 2 see that bcuz i think both can b funny when they want 2b!

Direct link to the list!....Cool Miles and the Clash and Prince on one list.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radi...html#discs

Marrk said:

Maybe that's why Prince and Ingrid Chavez never kissed in Graffiti Bridge.

Nice, thanks. Few years back I had read an interview in which there was a quite negative comment made byy her about Prince which never really convinced me... I mean, it was way too mean... it was something like "I wish I hadn't done it, but I have" or so...

Does anyone know who was originally cast to play Mary Sharon?