By Juliette Michaud - November 2001

Who is The "Meca Nanny" in A.I., who sings a lullaby to David? It's her. If you think you've seen her in Rohmer's Rendez-Vous in Paris, in Bitter Oranges or in The Hikers, you're right. And how does a Parisian actor find herself in a Spielberg movie? "My American agents had sent my demo reel to the casting director working on A.I. without my knowing of it. My parents got the phone call saying Spielberg was offering me a part, without even having met me!" Clara Bellar was pinching herself, but the filmmaker was seduced by her gentleness and pure beauty. Ten days later, she's doing tests with Stan Winston (her role will require 5 hours of make-up). "When I arrived, Steven was shooting a spectacular shot under water. He had me sit next to him and said he was very honored to work with me! Later, when he listened to a cd of Brazilian music I recorded, he got the idea to have me sing the lullabys in French, although my part was supposed to be silent. It was surrealistic: Jude Law in his cage and hundreds of technicians looking at me... If it wouldn't have been improvised, I would have been very nervous!" Clara Bellar could go on and on about "Steven's" kindness and humility. She doesn't have a big ego either. After two months of theater in Los Angeles, she's about to go back to France to shoot Jean Veber's film, The Pharmacist.