Read the Feb. 22, 2008 interview in The Desert Sun.
There is a good chance that Marion Cotillard will walk away with an Academy Award on Sunday night for her portrayal of Edith Piaf in La Vie en Rose. If she has need for an acceptance speech, she should be sure to thank Jil Aigrot, who provided the voice of the French singer.
Aigrot will make her American debut to promote her upcoming album, Words of Love, a tribute to Piaf due for release on March 11, with a concert tonight with Upright Cabaret at the Viceroy Hotel in Palm Springs.
"It is natural for me to sing (Piaf's songs)," Aigrot told The Desert Sun. "I think it's the way she sang that I love."
In order to better understand the music, Aigrot felt it important to educate herself about Piaf's life. At a book signing for Edith Piaf, My Friend, she met the author, Piaf's secretary and constant companion for 15 years, Ginou Richer. Unknown to Aigrot, Richer was also the script consultant for La Vie en Rose.
"I bought the book and talked with her and told her that I sing Edith Piaf, and she said, 'Sing for me in the library,' " Aigrot recalled.
That impromptu performance led to Richer attending her next concert, after which she told Aigrot, "That is the first time I heard a voice that sounds like Edith so much in 40 years."
Soon afterward Aigrot was auditioning for director Olivier Dahan in Paris. "He asked me to sing 'Milord,' a famous but difficult song of Piaf's," Aigrot said. This was followed by a request to sing lesser-known music. "I didn't know the songs of the movie because they were old songs, but I learned them in a week."
The quick study paid off when Dahan announced, "I'm happy to tell you that you will be the voice of Edith Piaf," Aigrot recalled. "It was a great joy -- I realized my childhood dream which was to be a singer, to sing Edith Piaf."
Aigrot's greatest value to the film was to sing for scenes that had no representative recordings, such as during Piaf's earliest days as a singer.
"In the streets, she sings very loud; she sings because she has to eat," Aigrot explained. "It was difficult for me because I had to forget all that I had learned about singing," said the classically trained artist.
To make the performances seamless, Aigrot prerecorded the vocals, Cotillard lip-synched the songs and then Aigrot overdubbed as needed for the perfect fit. The two worked together to ensure a believable portrayal and evolution of Piaf's character and voice over three decades.
"It was long work for reaction and interpretation of the songs," Aigrot recalled. "Marion asked me to do it as if we were one person, her and me.
"I was an actress and a singer before, and in this movie I am a singer who does the job of an actress," Aigrot said. "This is something difficult; I couldn't let my own vision of Edith Piaf grow in me -- I must only be Marion Cotillard as Edith Piaf."