Eva Green revives the myth of Milady in ‘The Three Musketeers’: “She is a free, independent and modern heroine”

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‘The Three Musketeers’, by Alexandre Dumas, was first published in 1844, becoming a phenomenon that would later grow even more when it came to the cinema, where it has been a more than recurring story. In fact, this weekend the thirtieth adaptation to the big screen, ‘The Three Musketeers: D’Artagnan’, was released in Spain.

Directed by French filmmaker Martin Bourboulon, the film is a diptych, divided into two parts, which introduces a new character, Hannibal, the first black musketeer in the history of France. Hannibal’s character is based on the real life character Louis Anniaba, the Prince of Assinie. Dumas’ masterpiece follows the heroic d’Artagnan, who teams up with three loyal and formidable musketeer friends, Athos, Porthos and Aramis, and together they plot to overthrow an evil royal advisor, while also dealing with the seductive spy , Lady de Winter.

The first film in the series, released now, focuses on the hero and his activities to protect the Queen of France and save the country from waging war against England. The second film will be titled ‘The Three Musketeers: Milady’and focuses on Milady’s agenda to overthrow the crown and how she achieves her plan.

The first known film adaptation of the famous musketeer was a now-lost French production that was shot in 1903. There were at least seven other silent film adaptations, the most famous of which starred Douglas Fairbanks in 1921. Fairbanks’s film had a sequel in 1929, ‘The iron mask‘, based on ‘The man in the iron mask‘, which Fairbanks also starred in and was part voiced and part silent. In 1933 John Wayne starred in a series based on the character and the first Mexican version premiered in 1942 starring Cantinflas. Gene Kelly’s 1948 version was the most famous for several decades, appearing alongside Kelly; Angela Lansbury, June Allyson, Lana Turner, Van Heflin, Frank Morgan, and Vincent Price. Between 1973 and 1974 a diptych was released that is one of the best versions: ‘The three musketeers’ and ‘the 4 musketeers‘, starring Michael York, Oliver Reed, Frank Finlay, Richard Chamberlain, Faye Dunaway, Raquel Welch, Christopher Lee and Charlton Heston. Millennials had their Disney version, released in 1993, with actors Chris O’Donnell, Charlie Sheen, Oliver Platt, Kiefer Sutherland, Rebecca De Mornay, Tim Curry, and Julie Delpy.

Eva Green the best Milady

Leading the cast of the film that opens this week, we find ex-Bond girl Eva Green (42) in the role of Milady de Winter. The French actress emphasized the preservation of the spirit of the literary work. «The general opinion among the people is that Milady is bad, mysterious, fearless, evil and ready to do anything to get what she wants. They have turned her into an unscrupulous woman. However, we are going to discover the inner journey of the character in this new adaptation and that was what convinced me to participate in the project. Milady is also a fighter. She is just as good at handling weapons as the men. She is a free, independent and modern heroine who creates her own destiny. I like the playful side of her and her ability to make fun of the social pact, “explained the actress, in an interview with ABC.

Milady de Winter turns out to be in this version of d’Artagnan a skilled horseman and a cunning fighter. For the role, Eva Green had to train for two months for sword and dagger scenes and learn skills on horseback. In addition, she also practiced aikido exercises to get stronger. “All the physical training helped me find the inner strength of the character. I really liked working with the specialists. They were very patient with me because I am quite clumsy. The costumes designed by Thierry Delettre also helped me get into Milady’s shoes. Thierry wanted him to feel that Milady had traveled a great deal. He achieved it through the selection of certain materials and details, such as oriental jewelry. He thought that dressing Milady in pants under her suit would give the role a practical and modern dimension to be able to fight, “explained the protagonist.

It’s hard to imagine a more suitable actress to play Milady de Winter on film than Eva Green. In her twenty-year career, the only James Bond girl who broke agent 007’s heart in ‘Casino Royale’, has devoted herself to a great extent to giving us characters of strong, complex and tortured women. For Martin Bourboulon’s diptych The Three Musketeers, the Frenchwoman plays a warrior Milady, driven by a visceral desire for revenge against d’Artagnan and his associates, played by François Civil, Vincent Cassel, Romain Duris and Pio Marmaï. «Milady is a chameleon. She adapts according to the person that she has in front of her. She can be blonde, brunette, redhead, boy, femme fatale, damsel in distress. In the first part she transforms into Isabelle de Valcourt, she is blonde, her voice is velvety, she pretends to be fragile. In the second part of it I have to give it other personalities. It’s wonderful for an actor to play several characters within a single character.».

d’Artagnan was real

The Regiment of Musketeers was formed in France in 1622, as part of King Louis XIII’s personal guard. Originally a complement of 100 men, the regiment was made up of knights and members of the nobility who were also proven soldiers; a candidate had to have served in the regular army before being considered for enrollment in the Musketeers. The musketeers were a mounted regiment, armed with swords and muskets. Its captain was, in fact, the king. One thing that is certain in Dumas’s novels is the rivalry of the musketeers with the Cardinal’s Guard. Formed by Cardinal Richelieu for his own protection, the Guard and the Musketeers maintained an ‘unhealthy’ rivalry, and competition was fierce between France’s 2 elite regiments. A favorite book of many generations throughout the ages, Alexandre Dumas’s The Three Musketeers has it all; friendship, intrigue, betrayal, swashbuckling adventure, a doomed love story… The central character is D’Artagnan who doesn’t become a musketeer until the end, but is the hero because of his courage, skill and intelligence .

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Eva Green revives the myth of Milady in ‘The Three Musketeers’: “She is a free, independent and modern heroine”