Julie Delpy says she didn't turn down 4th 'Before' film; it was never in development

LOS ANGELES: Following reports that Julie Delpy said no to a fourth film in the popular 'Before' series with director Richard Linklater and co-star Ethan Hawke, the actor-film-maker said her remarks were misinterpreted because the follow-up was never in development. Earlier in the week, in an interview with a French news outlet, Delpy had also talked about mulling over retirement from the film industry.

In order to set the record straight, the actor told Variety that the trio - Linklater, Hawke and she - couldn't come up with a good enough idea to take the series forward.

"What happened was that we -- all three of us -- agreed that we couldn't come up with something good for a fourth one. It's that simple. We didn't fight. We're not on bad terms. Everyone's happy... It's so much drama for nothing. We just didn't come up with a good idea," she said.


Delpy played Celine to Hawke's Jesse in the 1995 movie 'Before Sunrise' about two strangers who meet on a train and strike up a conversation.

A sequel 'Before Sunset' was released in 2004 and a third film 'Before Midnight' was released in 2013. Delpy and Hawke served as producers and co-writers along with Linklater on the two films.

The 51-year-old French-American actor said they had promised each other that they wouldn't feel "forced" to make a fourth movie.

"If we didn't find something... why push it and make a bad fourth one instead of keeping it a good trilogy?" Delpy mused.

She said there was a short exchange between the trio about one idea, "but it was basically an idea that none of us liked. That was the end of it. It was half of a bad idea that went around and we were like, 'Let's not do it'."

Delpy is looking forward to the premiere of 'On the Verge', a Netflix series she created, co-directed and stars in about women in their mid-40s to mid-50s.