Jacqueline Bisset on new movie 'Loren & Rose,' career before Sarasota Film Festival visit

This year's closing night selection at Sarasota Film Festival documents the bond between a young director and an iconic actress, played by a real-life screen legend who will attend the festival and receive its Lifetime Achievement Award.

Jacqueline Bisset, who's appeared in both box office hits such as "Bullitt" and "The Deep" and acclaimed arthouse films such as "Day for Night" and "Under the Volcano," will attend the closing night screening of "Loren & Rose" on Saturday at Sarasota Municipal Auditorium. Bisset stars in the drama as Rose Martin, an actress who takes a meeting with a filmmaker (Kelly Blatz) for a potential part in his debut feature, which develops into a years-long friendship.

Ticket Newsletter: Sign up to receive restaurant news and reviews plus info on things to do every Friday

And: Top 10 movies to see at this year's Sarasota Film Festival

"It was an absolutely dynamic, wonderful character; very rarely to be found, in my experience," Bisset told the Herald-Tribune in a Zoom interview. "So well-written, so diverse, so many qualities – heart with humor and irony and deep feelings and disgust at some of the things that had happened in her life."

Writer-director Russell Brown, who will also attend the screening along with Blatz, knew Bisset before working together. He first got the idea to cast her in "Loren & Rose" while they were having dinner with their mutual friend Christopher Munch, who directed the 2001 Sundance Film Festival indie "The Sleepy Time Gal" that Bisset also starred in.

"Jacqueline just started doing the part – it was so funny, she was telling stories from her own life about acting and about her personal life," Brown said. "She was doing so much of the character just naturally.”

The 77-year-old Bisset will also participate in the festival's In Conversation With series, discussing her career of more than five decades. Growing up in England, Bisset said she first became interested in film when she was about 15 or 16, as she didn't have a television or go to the movies. Then she started watching international cinema, admiring actors such as Jeanne Moreau, the French actress who starred in films such as François Truffaut's 1962 classic "Jules and Jim."

Bisset later had the chance to work with Truffaut on his 1973 Oscar-winning movie "Day for Night," playing a British actress during a French film shoot. She said she was very flattered to be asked to do the movie, but was nervous at first, both because she adored Truffaut's work and because it was a French-language film.

"I couldn’t join in socially as much as I would’ve liked to have," Bisset said. "They’d all be chatting at once, and he’d worked with quite a few of them before, and so there was that sort of that French family feeling of everyone talking at once. But he was just humble, and he wasn’t puffed up at all. He had people who were very dedicated to him, and it felt pretty light, in a way.”

Other directors Bisset worked with include John Huston and George Cukor, whose film careers began in the 1930s and who she worked with on some of their final movies. Bisset starred in Cukor's 1981 drama "Rich and Famous," the last feature of the Oscar-winning "My Fair Lady" director, and in Huston's 1984 film "Under the Volcano," playing the estranged wife of an alcoholic former British consul in Mexico portrayed by Albert Finney.

Bisset's role in "Under the Volcano" earned her acclaim including a Best Supporting Actress Golden Globe nomination. Along with being one of the last films of the Oscar-winning "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre" director Huston, it was among the final features of renowned Mexican cinematographer Gabriel Figueroa.

"It was one of the first films where I actually saw the work I was doing," Bisset said. "Seeing it on the rushes, I burst into tears. I said, ‘He sees my soul.’"

And to many, Bisset remains best known for the 1968 action thriller "Bullitt," where she played the girlfriend of the title character, portrayed by Steve McQueen. Bisset said she very much liked director Peter Yates, who later directed her in the 1977 adventure film "The Deep" and was "a well-educated man, treated me very well," and McQueen, who was "very charming."

Yet even if they may not be as commercially viable as other films of hers, Bisset said "The Sleepy Time Gal" and "Loren & Rose" have a special place in her heart.

"They’re two highlights from my life," Bisset said. "I’ve worked with lots of famous directors and haven’t always had a great time – often felt less than seen, on some level. But both roles gave me a chance for my character to be fully seen, and as a woman and as an actor, to get to do a lot.”

Interested? In Conversation With Jacqueline Bisset will take place 1 p.m. Saturday at Sage, 1216 First St., Sarasota. Tickets are $30. Bisset will also attend the closing night screening of "Loren & Rose" on 6 p.m. Saturday at Sarasota Municipal Auditorium, 801 N. Tamiami Trail, Sarasota. Tickets are $50 and $80 VIP. "Loren & Rose" is also available to watch virtually for $10. To buy tickets or for more information, visit sarasotafilmfestival.com.

Email entertainment reporter Jimmy Geurts at jimmy.geurts@heraldtribune.com. Support local journalism by subscribing.

This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Jacqueline Bisset reflects on 'Loren & Rose' before Sarasota Film Festival