Hello Natalie,

Thank you for taking a look at my project, Ψ (psi). My name is Olivier, I'm 31, from France. This is my first film, I have been self-producing it for 4 years. It's fully shot and edited and there's one piece of the puzzle left: I'd like you to consider being its main voice. Why you? I explain below. First, here's the trailer.

​Ψ tells the story of Natalie, a psychologist, who is trying to help her patient, Olivier, who was so torn about what to do in life that he chose nothing. Having failed in all her attempts, she journeys across dimensions to meet 5 alternate versions of him, each now leading a different life in a different city: Paris, London, Jerusalem, Helsinki and Los Angeles. In each case, Natalie tries to understand: how much did he control his destiny? what are his regrets? and is he happy? However, in doing so she has to face her own crisis: why did she pursue a career in psychology at the expense of her childhood dream of becoming an actress?

We never see Natalie in the film, but we hear her voice as she talks with the 5 characters and reflects on her own place in the universe. The film is a mesh of fiction and documentary, where real-world philosophers and scientists including Max Tegmark (MIT) and Barry Schwartz (U.C. Berkeley) provide insights on freedom, choice and regret as the film explores beautiful works of art and architecture across the 5 cities (from Alexander Calder, Eila Hiltunen, Anish Kapoor, and others - list here). 

For more details on how this project was made, here are some press notes, and below is the video from a Kickstarter Campaign I did earlier this years.

Why you?
​
The film is set in some alternate reality, in 2014. The opening lines of the film, in it's current form, are: ​"I'm not a singer. I'm not a ballerina. I'm not a movie star. I am... a psychologist. My name is Natalie Forester. I'm 34 years old."

Here's how I'd actually like them to go: "I'm not a singer. I'm not a ballerina. I'm not a movie star. I am... a psychologist. My name is Natalie Hershlag. I'm 33 years old."

The reason I'd like you to be the voice of the psychologist is because this psychologist would actually be… you. An alternate version of you, the Natalie you could be today if you hadn't pursued acting and had still gone on to study psychology at Harvard, had become a psychologist and were now wondering why you never became an actress.

​I've listened to you a lot, in your films and interviews and read about your background. And beyond my admiration for your work as an actress, the reason I'm reaching out to you is because of who you are, in real life, and what the audience may publicly know about you, because it all connects to and feeds the broader picture of the film:

• your life is also intertwined with three of the film's cities (you were born in Jerusalem, later lived and worked in Los Angeles for your career, then lived in Paris for your family);
• your early interest in acting and your trajectory taking a major turn when you got the audition for Luc Besson's "Leon";
• the fact you chose a stage name and in a way created a "public" identity to shield your personal one;
• your desire to explore other avenues and choice to go into academia to study at Harvard, with a focus in psychology;
• the diversity in roles you have played, highlighting this idea explored in "psi" that acting is in fact like spacetime-travel machine to live other lives;
• your diversity in projects, as a writer, director, producer, both in Hollywood and with indie films;... ​

All this extends the film's themes into our real world, and that's why, to my eyes, you would be their perfect embodiment in the film.

Why does it matter?

First your voice in this film would make it a unique narrative experiment: the character would be a realistic alternate to a real individual, one the audience can identify in our world and project in the other. 

The film in its current form (in which the character is called Natalie Forester) got a test screening at MIT last April and I was really honored by the reception it got, both by the audience and by the early critical reception. This gave me confidence the film could go to festivals and be distributed to a wider audience.

How would this go?
​

• The recording could be done in a short amount of time (half a day / full day max), whenever/wherever is convenient for you. 
• Your input and suggestions on the film and script would be welcome.
• The extent of your subsequent involvement would be entirely up to you.

​
​Below you will find the full film (with a stand-in voice) and here is a transcript of the character's lines.

Feel free to contact me. I would love the opportunity to hear your thoughts on this project and speak with you about it.

​Thank you for your time,

Olivier
[email protected]
+33.(0)6.51.53.53.62.

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