Famke Janssen is currently starring as Betty Jonkers in the Netflix crime drama Amsterdam Empire. She is best known for her breakthrough role as the iconic James Bond villain Xenia in GoldenEye, portraying Jean Gray in the X-Men film franchise and playing the female lead opposite Liam Neeson in the Taken trilogy. Janssen’s other notable feature credits include Made, Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters, Hide and Seek, Rounders, The Faculty and Redeeming Love. On the small screen, Janssen has played key roles in Ava DuVernay’s When They See Us, The Blacklist: Redemption and Hemlock Grove, and recurred Nip/Tuck and How to Get Away With Murder. She made her directorial debut with the dramedy Bringing Up Bobby, starring Milla Jovovich, and in 2008. the United Nations appointed her as a Goodwill Ambassador for Integrity. (Photo by Olivia Witmond, courtesy Netflix.)
Three Great Things is Talkhouse’s series in which artists tell us about three things they absolutely love. To mark the release of the new Dutch-language crime drama series Amsterdam Empire, starring Famke Janssen, Jacob Derwig and Elise Schaap, the fan-favorite actress shared some of the things she loves most in life. — N.D.
Coffee
I’ve never drunk alcohol and or been drunk in my life, so drinking coffee is my equivalent of going to bars. It’s my social outing of the day. Since I was born in Amsterdam, where coffee is part of our culture, I’ve basically had a caffeine drip in my arm for my whole life!
Over the years, I’ve discovered that coffee brings so much joy to my life, because not only do I absolutely love the taste, I also love the social aspect of it. So whenever I travel, I do research to find the best local coffee place with its own roastery. Through that, I immediately get into the culture of a place, because now I’m talking to the barista and the locals, who’ll suggest restaurants to me. Everything about coffee just brings me joy and has enriched my life so much. Culturally and socially, it’s become one of the pleasures of starting my day.
I should clarify that I am a huge snob when it comes to coffee! I savor coffee the way that some people drink wine. So over the years, because it’s become my passion, I’ve found that my taste buds don’t love a blend unless it’s really great.
On set, we work odd hours, so sometimes it’s tough to find good coffee, as I want it to be from a third-wave place run by one person – no chains. So shooting on set is the hardest time for me, as it’s a constant negotiation with the A.D.s, asking them, “Hey, what time do you need? The coffee place doesn’t open until 8 a.m. What can we do?” The days when I can’t get the real coffee are challenging, and I’ll sometimes end up having to use a Nespresso machine, just drink a shot of espresso and say to myself, “All right, let’s get through this. Maybe by the end of the week, I can sit in my little coffee place and get something good going again.” But when I was in Shanghai and Cape Town, I found the most incredible places, and through them, connected with the locals.
Fashion
I became a model when I was 18, traveling the world, so I’ve been exposed to fashion my entire life. What’s so fun now is that I’m actually starting to create my own costumes for the characters that I play, so I’m the co-costume designer on my new Netflix series Amsterdam Empire and also the movie I’m shooting now in Bulgaria, One Second After. I designed my entire wardrobe and so I’m spending my free time altering my own clothes or embellishing them. It’s very much about creating my own style and expressing myself creatively through clothes.
Fashion is a hobby that’s now starting to take another shape in my life. The most beautiful part about being human is that we’re all so different, but we live in a world where everyone strives to be the same – to be liked on social media, to have the same pair of jeans. The more the world is heading in that direction, the harder I fight for my authenticity, and I find that clothing is a very big part of my existence, at least in the way that I present myself to the outside world. And the way that my characters present themselves to the outside world, where I can really find a creative way of putting that out there. And so that’s a true joy.
As humans, we all judge. The moment we lay eyes on someone, we make a judgement based on how they dress, their expression, their hair, so I’ve never understood actors who don’t involve themself in how they’re going to be dressed, because it’s such a huge part. For Amsterdam Empire, I had such a strong vision of my character, Betty, because of who she was and how she presented herself. She comes from a music background, so that’s going to come out, and she is so childlike, and has a reluctance to grow up that I wanted to be reflected in her costumes and her wardrobe. She’s celebrating life, even when life is not celebrating her anymore. In her case, the way she dresses is also a scream for attention. Personally, I don’t want the attention; for me, it’s all about authenticity. In a world where it’s a battle to remain authentic, that’s my biggest driving force.
Dance
I love to dance, but trust me, I’m nowhere near a professional dancer. I started going out very young in Amsterdam – it was my way of blowing off steam and feeling free and joyful – and I’ve done it all over the world ever since. On Amsterdam Empire, I worked with Vincent Vianen, our choreographer, and it was the first time I’d had dance training. For me, dance always had this freeing, liberating quality to it, but, of course, when you’re being trained, it becomes a very different process, because it’s about perfection, and what Vincent and I share is that we’re both perfectionists. What he taught me is that while we were training for Betty’s music video, literally every single move had to be a picture, so that if somebody freeze framed, I’d be in exactly the perfect position.
It was the most incredible experience to have my own personal choreographer to work with. For me to have a goal, work really hard, and then have a final product that I could celebrate and see the labors of my hard work, it was just such a beautiful way of doing that. I’m incredibly excited for people to see that music video sequence, because it’s such a fun throwback to the late ’90s, where we play with the costumes and the music. It’s very, very fun and one of the best things I’ve ever done in my life.
There were moments where I thought, “Why didn’t I study dance from a young age?” Because I would have loved to have made a career out of something that brings me so much joy. Right before the pandemic, I found this little studio in New York called Dance with Me, which had ballroom classes where I learned Latin-inspired dances. That was my first introduction to the idea that dance wasn’t just bouncing around, being happy and free, but one where you learn a routine, so thankfully I had a little bit of that mindset already before I started working with Vincent.
I do believe that if everyone danced together, we wouldn’t be in the mess we’re in right now. Dance brings people together, it shares a common joy, puts everyone in a higher vibration, so I’m very much for it.
Featured image, showing Famke Janssen in Amsterdam Empire, by Mark de Blok / Netflix.
