Delpy's movie homage to my mother

Julie Delpy has revealed she made her new comedy 2 Days In New York as a homage to her late mother.

The Before Sunset star cast her actor parents Albert Delpy and Marie Pillet as her artist character Marion's on-screen parents when she wrote and directed 2007 comedy 2 Days In Paris. She had planned for them both to star in her sequel. When her mother passed away in 2009 she felt unable to go ahead with the project.

But Julie said: "She wanted me to do that film, so I did it because she wanted me to do it. In a way it was an homage.

"So I went back to zero and threw away the original script. I went back to writing something where I talk about the loss, without making it melodramatic. I know people love melodrama but I didn't want to do that out of respect."

The 42-year-old actress said she found it therapeutic, "as much as possible", adding: "But the thing is, you never recover from losing a parent. I went through hell myself, but I would never expose that in the film."

In 2 Days In New York, Julie plays Marion, who lives in New York with her young son and boyfriend Mingus, played by Chris Rock, who doesn't speak a word of French.

Julie revealed: "It wasn't easy because of the language. I mean, it was funny sometimes.

"Sometimes it was overwhelming because we would stop the take and I would talk to my dad in French but forget to translate to Chris, so he had no idea what we were doing.

"My dad was exactly the same with the English."

:: 2 Days In New York is released in cinemas on Friday, May 18.