Léa Seydoux: ‘Art is a sexual energy. It’s the highest form of creation’

She has four films at Cannes film festival, but instead of strutting the Riviera red carpet the actor is isolating in Paris. She talks creativity, sex scenes and the joy of Bond stunts

Lea Seydoux is coming to Cannes. She's starring in four pictures at this year's film festival and our interview is booked for noon on Saturday, possibly on the beach. The beach is good for weird distractions and local colour. I once interviewed Juliette Binoche on the beach at Cannes while she was accosted by wandering vendors trying to sell her straw hats. Non, merci," she kept saying. She was very gracious about it.

Seydoux is coming to Cannes and then all of a sudden she's not. The 36-year-old actor has tested positive for Covid: the biggest casualty of an event marked by tight security, 48-hour spit tests and a constant background hum of tension. She was supposed to be on heavy red-carpet rotation. Instead, she has spent the festival isolating in Paris.