[Editor’s note: The following contains spoilers for Étoile.]

Summary

‘Étoile’ follows ballet companies in New York City and Paris swapping stars to preserve their legacies.

Charlotte Gainsbourg, who plays Geneviève, discussed ballet, learning fast-paced dialogue, and the dynamics between characters.

Gainsbourg’s character must balance demanding people as a leader who doesn’t show any fragility, navigating relationships and her own vulnerabilities.

From Amy Sherman-Palladino and Daniel Palladino, the Amazon MGM Studios series Étoile is set in the world of professional ballet and follows the talented and temperamental dancers and artistic staff of two companies. Jack McMillan (Luke Kirby), the director of the New York City Metropolitan Ballet Theater, and Geneviève Lavigne (Charlotte Gainsbourg), is the director of Le Ballet National in Paris, agree to swap a handful of their best in an attempt to light a new spark with both funding and the audience that attends their performances. But past history and new drama create questions about whether they’ll really be able to pull all of this off.
During this one-on-one interview with Collider, Gainsbourg discussed her experience with ballet as a child, understanding the world of this series, the demanding pace of working with the dialogue of the Palladinos, hiding behind her high heels, the relationship between Geneviève and Jack, how exciting it was to get to see the dance numbers, and why she didn’t get a dance number herself.

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Collider: Speaking from personal experience, I can say that dancers are strange creatures and ballet dancers, especially ones that dance on pointe, are quite probably the strangest of them all. Had you been familiar with this world? What did you find most intriguing about it?
CHARLOTTE GAINSBOURG: No, I wasn’t familiar. Reading the scripts, I remembered having done one year of ballet when I was four years old. It was very little and I can’t remember a thing, except from the polaroid that my father had of me in blue and my sister, who was eight, in pink. Apart from that, I knew nothing. I got to go to the ballet and go to the opera in Paris before we shot and tried to learn as much as I could. I was always in awe, having a taste of the effort that dancers put in their work, with the constant effort and the constant torture for this art form. You’re either an étoile or in core de ballet, to which you dedicate your life to, and then it ends so soon. You can’t do it unless it’s a complete passion, which is very admirable. When you’re an actor, it’s an art form, but there’s not much physical effort. Hopefully, you can go on until your last breath, which is another dedication. So, I learned a lot thanks to the show, and then watching documentaries and trying to understand that world a little better.
’Étoile’s Charlotte Gainsbourg Was in Denial About the Fast Pace of Working With the Palladinos

“I didn’t really believe them when they said that they would be very demanding and very specific about the words.”

How did you find the experience of working with this kind of dialogue and the fast pace that is very particular to the Palladinos?
GAINSBOURG: I didn’t really believe them when they said that they would be very demanding and very specific about the words they had chosen and the way they write and that they would really aim for pace. I should have listened and believed that was going to be the most important thing. I’m also very slow. To learn lines, I needed to get them in advance to know the order. It took me some time to get into that dynamic. It was a whole process of constantly learning that happened over nine months. Once I understood that those words were important and that I couldn’t mess around or just be vague about the dialogue, it had to be precise. That’s the way it works. If not, the dialogue is not as funny and the situation is not as funny. I understood it not too late, which meant that I could have a lot of pleasure with that style. It was a surprise for me because, even though I had seen their work, I didn’t really realize how much it was on the page. Everything was there.

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Geneviève is a woman who constantly has to juggle the wants, needs and demands of a lot of people, all of whom seem to be very temperamental. What is it like for her to balance all those things? Is she someone that thrives off the chaos?
GAINSBOURG: No, I don’t think so. She is trying to cope with very demanding people, but also all the administration and the Minister of Culture is on her back. She knows that she can be fired at any time. Her position is very fragile and she knows it. She tries to be in her high heels and be the boss, but there’s another layer that she tries to hide without her high heels.
There’s an Ease to the Relationship Between ’Étoile’s Geneviève and Jack

“It was so obvious and easy.”

Image via Amazon MGM Studios

Geneviève and Jack have a comfortability with each other that only comes with having a history. We see them in bed together, and we see him get up and have a conversation while he’s brushing his teeth. Did you guys have conversations about what that relationship between them would be?
GAINSBOURG: It was so obvious and easy. There’s a game between us, from the very start. We pick at each other. We’re a little bit like brother and sister or best friends who know how to harm each other. When the romance comes back, there’s something very easy about us together, but then the ballet gets in the way. Maybe she’s more heartbroken than what you can actually see. It’s a tough moment for my character in the show.

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What was it like to find Geneviève at the moment when she’s sitting on the ground and Raphaël joins her?
GAINSBOURG: It’s the moment after. There’s sadness, and yet accomplishment, at the same time. She was right, and yet she’s on her own. It’s a very solitary character for me because she pretends so much, and she needs to pretend. There’s a lovely double side to who she is that I really enjoyed.
Charlotte Gainsbourg Wanted Her Own Moment in the ’Étoile’ Dance Spotlight

“They had enough dancers.”

Image via Amazon MGM Studios

Did you have a favorite dance performance?
GAINSBOURG: To be completely honest, it was very frustrating because I got to see none of the dances. A little bit of the last choreography with Tobias, but when it actually happens, I’m outside watching it on a blue screen, so I didn’t see anything. It was very exciting to finally see those performances. Because I was in those corridors seeing dancers walking around and working, you could sense that world and you could sense the physicality of the whole thing. I was frustrated because I wasn’t able to persuade Amy [Sherman-Palladino] and Dan [Palladino] that, as a character, I was an ex-dancer. I wanted to have that tragic thing of being too old to dance again. But they had enough dancers. They didn’t need me.

Étoile

Release Date

April 24, 2025

Network

Prime Video

Étoile is available to stream on Prime Video. Check out the trailer: