Writer/director Russell Brown’s latest movie, Loren & Rose, stars English actress Jacqueline Bisset who portrays Rose Martin, a once-famous, now troubled actress who tries to get a role in a new filmmaker’s feature debut. On March 25, 2022, at the US premiere of the Sonoma International Film Festival, Bisset received a lifetime achievement award.
Jacqueline Bisset (Rose) and Kelly Blatz (Loren) star in Loren & Rose, a film whose screenplay took approximately three years to write. The entire movie is set inside a restaurant where Loren, a promising filmmaker, and Rose, an iconic actress searching to revive her career, form an intense bond, sharing philosophical conversations about life and the arts. What makes this movie unique is that the plot line plays itself out during the course of an appetizer, a main course, and a dessert.

At the premiere, the iconic actress revealed that she was drawn to play the lead character because the script was one of the best she had ever read. “It was an absolute phenomenal experience and definitely one of the best parts in my life,” said Bisset, who dominates the entire movie and is on screen every second of the film. “One that makes me believe in making intimate films about important subjects. It was truly a joy,” she shared on the festival’s Instagram page.
Bisset, one of the most beautiful actresses to appear on screen for decades, became the envy of every woman during the 60s as she co-starred with both Paul Newman and Steve McQueen who at that time were the sexiest men in the world. One of the first critical roles that put her on the map in Hollywood came when she replaced Mia Farrow in The Detective and starred opposite Frank Sinatra, who became very protective of her. “He called me ‘the kid,’ and told people I had good instincts and to leave me alone,” she shared to Sarasota magazine. In that same interview, Bisset also spoke about the importance of leaving the ego out of your work and life, and staying humble, admitting that during filming Under the Volcano with Albert Finney, directed by John Huston, she asked for a closeup. The famous director responded with, “My dear, would you like to direct the picture, too?”
During an HFPA press conference for the movie Welcome to New York, Bisset recalls that someone once said to her, “When you come to Hollywood you will turn into an orange and you’ll be squeezed dry and then left like an empty shell. I kept hearing this when I first moved here so I promised myself such was not going to happen.”
Her French-sounding name led many to mistake her for “La Française,” but Bisset was brought up in England by her French mother, who taught her early on to speak perfect French and gave Jacqueline an education at the Lycée Français in London.
“I was addicted to French films, that’s what made me want to become an actress,” she further shared at the HFPA press conference. “I discovered Jeanne Moreau, Visconti, Fellini and Pasolini and of course Bergman, who was an enormous figure for me. I was completely fascinated by the way he photographed women; he completely drew me in. To this day, I can’t think of anybody who brought the female skin to the forefront of the frame the way he did. Those translucent incredibly deep, brilliant actresses. That to me, in addition to Truffaut and Rohmer and many filmmakers absolutely changed my life. What a gift.”
Some of Bisset’s most noteworthy films include The Detective, Bullitt, Murder on the Orient Express and The Deep, where she starred alongside Nick Nolte. For The Sweet Ride, she received a Golden Globe nomination as Most Promising Newcomer.
After seeing Bisset shine in Loren & Rose, it is clear that the impossibly good-looking 77-year-old Bisset isn’t soon to retire and will continue to attract the gaze of every viewer worldwide.