Molly Shannon Induced Labor To Star In Sofia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette

Molly Shannon reveals that she induced labor in order to travel to Paris to film Marie Antoinette. The 2006 film was the third feature directed by Sofia Coppola, and her follow-up to the Oscar-winning hit Lost in Translation. It followed Kirsten Dunst’s Marie Antoinette through her life among the decadence of the French court before the fall of Versailles and ended up winning its own Oscar, this time for Costume Design. The massive ensemble cast also included Jason Schwartzman, Judy Davis, Steve Coogan, Rip Torn, Rose Byrne, Asia Argento, Shirley Henderson, Danny Huston, Jamie Dornan, and a brief early performance from Tom Hardy.

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Molly Shannon appears in the film as Madame Victoire, a real-life princess who was the fifth daughter of  King Louis XV and the aunt of Marie Antoinette. By 2006, Molly Shannon was already a long-established character actress in comedy, having ended her six-year stint on Saturday Night Live in 2001. Marie Antoinette, though still a film with comedic elements, was her first shot at a more prestigious role after appearing in films like Scary Movie 4, The Santa Clause 2, Wet Hot American Summer, and Superstar, which was a feature based on her SNL character Mary Katherine Gallagher.

Speaking with Vogue during an oral history honoring the 15th anniversary of Marie Antoinette, Molly Shannon revealed what it took to nab that role as Madame Vicroire. She found out that her agent turned down the role on her behalf because it required traveling to Paris, and when she spoke with her OB-GYN, they suggested inducing labor. Shannon admits that “now that Sofia has kids she always says, ‘I cannot believe you told your doctor to push the baby out so you could do my movie.’” Read the full quote here:

I was pregnant with my son and my agent called, saying, “Sofia Coppola wants you to be in some movie but it’s in Paris so we said you’re not available.” I was like, “Wait, you did what?” I told my ob-gyn, “Look, there’s this movie I’m dying to do but I’d have to be in Paris…” and she said, “When do you need to be there? I’ll induce you, we’ll make this happen.” Now that Sofia has kids she always says, “I cannot believe you told your doctor to push the baby out so you could do my movie.”

Although Molly Shannon consistently got work for comedy both before and after Marie Antoinette, she has expanded her repertoire in the years following her appearance in the film. In the years following 2006, she appeared in projects like Me and Earl and the Dying Girl and Hannibal. More recently, she appeared in the Oscar-nominated revenge drama Promising Young Woman and the HBO series White Lotus.

Molly Shannon has proved she has the range to play any kind of tone, even in her comedies like the extremely dark Other People, from The Other Two co-creator Chris Kelly. However, Marie Antoinette certainly gave her something to point to when casting agents doubted her skills to perform something more serious. Whether or not she and her kid would agree it was worth it in the long run, that decision certainly helped give her career more traction.

Source: Vogue

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