Seberg is the tragic thriller everybody is talking about right now and is predicted to be actress Kristen Stewart’s best cinematic performance to date.
Earlier this week, a chilling film teaser exploring the rise - and devastating fall - of French New Wave actress Jean Seberg (played by Stewart) was released and we have become gripped by the story of Breathless star, whose life and career were destroyed in the late 1960s when she became a target of J Edgar Hoover's FBI because of her support of the civil rights movement.
From which actors star in the film to what the plot entails, here's everything you need to know about Seberg:
Who was Jean Seberg?
Born in 1938, Jean Seberg was just a teenager from Iowa when she was chosen from 18,000 people in a Hollywood X Factor-style search by director Otto Preminger to play the lead in the 1957 film Saint Joan. The project detailed the story of a French peasant girl who follows the advice of angels to lead her country against British invaders.
While the film wasn’t a huge success, Seberg's performance lead her to being cast in Jean-Luc Godard’s film classics Bonjour Tristesse and Breathless, making her an icon of French New Wave cinema and a muse for a movement of cropped hair cuts and Bretton tops.
Film critic and director François Truffaut is believed to have described Seberg as 'the best actress in Europe'.
What was Jean Seberg's involvement with the Black Panthers?
In the 1960s, Seberg became a high profile activist, speaking on civil rights movements and namely supporting The Black Panthers as well making donations of $10,500 (£8,163) to expand their popular inner-city children’s breakfast programme into other cities.
It is also thought that the actress had a relationship with a cousin of Malcolm X, activist Hakim Jamal, who is played by actor Anthony Mackie in the film.
At a recent press conference, Stewart spoke about Seberg's involvement with the Black Panthers.
'She was really impulsive, idealistic, naive at times but always really well-intentioned,' she said. 'I felt like vindicating her and sort of validating her.'
Did the FBI target Jean Seberg?
Seberg became a target for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) as a result of her activism.
They initiated a secret campaign into her life by stalking her, tapping her phone and even opening her mail.
A 1979 New York Times article detailed that the FBI admitted that its agents plotted in 1970 to besmirch the reputation of Seberg by planting a rumour with news organisations that she was pregnant by high‐ranking member of the Black Panther Party, rather than her then husband French novelist Romain Gary.
This was later disproved when, two days after the baby’s birth, the child died, and Seberg insisted on an open casket to show the child’s white skin.
According to a document dated 27 April 1970, the Los Angeles office of the organisaiong requested permission from Hoover, then Director of the bureau, to publicise Seberg's pregnancy, saying it was 'felt the possible publication of Seberg's plight could cause her embarrassment and serve to cheapen her image with the general public'.
Gary said at a news conference in Paris in 1979 that the baby was his and that the FBI had destroyed the actress's life.
What happened to Jean Seberg?
After this persecution, Seberg’s mental health is believed to have suffered gravely in the 1970s.
Tragically, aged just 40, her body was found wrapped in a blanket in the back seat of her white Renault in Paris in 1979. The cause of death is believed to be suicide.
Following her death, the Los Angeles Times reported that the actress died from a drug overdose of barbiturates and left a suicide note.
Is there a trailer for Seberg?
Yes, and you can watch it above or here:
Who stars in Seberg?
Seberg stars Charlie's Angels' lead Kristen Stewart as Seberg, with support from Skins alumni Jack O’Connell who plays the new FBI recruit tasked with surveilling her.
Joker star Zazie Beetz and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood’s Margaret Qualley and Vince Vaughn also star in significant roles.
When is Seberg out in the cinema?
The film had its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival in September, with the Evening Standard describing Stewart as 'terrific' in her leading role, and at this years's BFI London Film Festival.
The film will be released in cinemas nationwide on 10 January 2020.
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