1. - Laure Marsac, Le pirate, France, 1984.     “I went along to test although I had no interest... But I was jealous of the actress they chose.” There was enough incestuousness going on... what with her mother and uncle, (Jane and Andrew Birkin), playing a married couple divided by another woman (Marsac) and all this   frenetically directed by Jane's new lover, Jacques Doillon.

2. - Fairuza Balk, Valmont, France, 1989.    Czech director Milos Forman offered her Cécile in his version of Les liaisons dangereuses. “I don’t like to talk about it.”

3. - Romaine Bohringer, L’Accompagntrice, France, 1992.    “It was always going to be Charlotte, of course,” said realisateur Claude Miller, who had made her a star with L’Effrontée, 1985, and La Petite voleuse, 1988.   “But I fell ill and by the time we started again, she had matured so much. She was no longer the same youngster.”

4. - Catherine Henry, Germinal, France, 1992.    Producer-director Claude Berri always knew who he   wanted for the top three in “Germ,” but Catherine, daughter of Gérard Depardieu’s Maheu, was difficult to find in the North of France - or in Paris, where finally, La Discrete beat L’Effrontée.

5. - Christina Ricci, Buffalo 66, 1997.    Actor Vincent Gallo wrote his directing debut for Ricci but figuring the famous Wednesday Addams was still about 12, he looked elsewhere -   no further than “my favourite girl.”   Charlotte   read the   script and called him with good/bad news. She was pregnant.   Gallo gave Ricci a thorough make-over, turning Wednesday into Saturday night   - and she shone in her first adult role. “The movie’s OK," summed up Gallo, “But it’s really   Christina, it’s only about her.”

6. - Coltilde Courau, Embrassez qui vous voudrez (UK: Summer Things), France, 2002. Writer-director Michel Blanc’s comedy lost very few artistes from his dream selection. The following year, Clotilde became The Princess of Venice by marrying Prince Emanuele Filiberto of Italy.

7. - Audrey Tatou, Ensemble c’est tout (Hunting and Gathering), France, 2007. Realisateur-producer-scenarist Claude Berri’s first choice for Camille in his penultimate film.

8. - Bryce Dallas Howard, Terminator Salvation, 2008. When Claire Danes refused to reprise Kate, Gainsbourg was the annointedf successor - until schedules shut her door and opened Howard’s.