You might remember Sophie Marceau from “Braveheart,” as the frustrated French princess who married the Prince of Wales but was secretly in love with Mel Gibson. Well, the French actress is back in an another American-made period piece, this time as the lead in “Leo Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina,” which opens at the Fine Arts Theatre Friday.
Q. How did you like shooting in St. Petersburg?
A. St. Petersburg, of course, is a very beautiful place, but my first feelings there were of sadness because of the poverty on the streets, to see a grandma out asking for 10 cents and all the poor children. They don’t even have communism now.
Q. How did the role (in which you find adulterous love, lose it and throw yourself in front of a train) affect you personally?
A. After the film, I had the feeling that I lost someone and I finally realized that it was myself. So it was like I died already in my life. I wasn’t able to have contact with others right away.
Q. On a lighter note, who was a sexier leading man Mel Gibson or Sean Bean (as Vronsky)?
A. That is, wow (laughs). It’s difficult for me to see them this way, because they were both gentlemen, meaning they don’t try to be too familiar with you just because you are doing a love scene. For me, that’s one of the reasons I like a man or I don’t.