“Bardot” star Julia de Nunez didn’t intend to make such a splash this early. As a drama student, she was happy to hone her craft, and planned to someday try for France’s National Conservatory, if they would have her. But when she saw a casting notice for an upcoming series – and one that resonated with her in a personal way – she had to answer the call.
“Of course, I knew Brigitte Bardot as an actress and singer,” de Nunez tells Variety. “And funnily enough I was often told that I resembled her. In fact, I myself noticed the resemblance as a young girl. So it was all the more amusing to read for the role. It made sense somewhere in my life.”
Sufficient to say the Franco-Argentine actress got the role, and would embody the midcentury icon in Daniele and Christopher Thompson’s limited series “Bardot,” which follows the iconic B.B. from adolescence to international stardom, and which premiered in France last month.
“As an actress, it would have been very complicated if I’d stuck to the myth,” says de Nunez. “I had to go beyond that public image and to entirely let myself go. Because Bardot isn’t just a myth – she’s a regular person, a young woman who feels and lives like everyone else. And right away, I had to tap into that side of things.”
And perhaps in some small part due to that well-noted resemblance, she didn’t want to erase herself.
“You can’t just identically reproduce someone like Brigitte Bardot, who’s so authentic, so sincere,” the actress explains. “First, because that’s not possible, but also, I think that the actress who plays her has to have something that emanates from her as well. For all this talk of vertigo and resemblance, in the end, I’m still Julia.”
“That’s why I didn’t try to reproduce her voice,” de Nunez continues. “And though she had brown eyes, and I have blue eyes, I didn’t put in contacts. Because the filmmakers cast me for me, and in my body, my voice, and my skin, I could manage to capture something of Bardot, but without being a kind of copy and imitation.”
The series premiered to acclaim and attention last month, leading to an on-stage honor and a prize for most promising talent at this year’s Monte-Carlo Television Festival. But overall de Nunez doesn’t feel all that different.
“I’m still at my drama school, I’m still training, and I’m planning to stay there,” she says. “I’m still thinking about theater, and still plan to audition for a slot at the conservatory next year. So I’m really thinking about that, and those preparations. But I’m glad the show is finally out, because it’s always nice to show our work to the general public. And maybe a bit relieved that it’s out in the open and that the pressure’s easing a bit!”