Singer Norah Jones strikes it lucky in her acting debut, starring alongside Jude Law in a film from acclaimed director Wong Kar Wai (In The Mood For Love). She's Elizabeth, a passionate young American woman who's distraught to discover her boyfriend has been having an affair. Leaving his spare keys at his local New York cafe for him to pick up, she keeps returning to check on them - and befriends the owner, British Jeremy (Law). The two become closer as they talk into the night over slices of blueberry pie - but they're separated when Elizabeth decides to travel to Memphis. There, she learns about life and love while working two jobs and meeting an alcoholic cop (David Strathairn), his estranged wife (Rachel Weisz) and a compulsive gambler (Natalie Portman). Elizabeth sends postcards to Jeremy, but will they ever be reunited?
Norah Jones isn't the only artist turning her hand to acting in My Blueberry Nights - singer/songwriter Cat Power also puts in an appearance as Jeremy's former girlfriend. Both women contribute to the film's haunting soundtrack, and fell for Wong Kar Wai's method of direction. "He comes at filmmaking in a way that's so loose and spontaneous, which is kind of the music background I come from," says Jones. "There's no script, and he allows improvisation. The film grew as I grew - he saw what I was good at, and what I wasn't, and he adjusted it as we went on." Jude Law, meanwhile, recalls how Wong Kar Wai ordered over 150 takes of a scene in which he kisses Jones. "I've never worked with someone who's put so much emphasis on a single moment," he says. "It's extraordinary how he'll take a moment and replay it and slice it up." One hundred and fifty kisses from Jude Law? We're not jealous at all.
My Blueberry Nights opens in cinemas across the country on 22 February.
Watch the trailer for My Blueberry Nights
Which other celebrity musicians have tried their hand at acting (and vice versa)?
