Producer-agent fight fuels 'Mesrine' fire

PARIS -- The future of Gallic producer Thomas Langmann's two-part pic about France's public enemy No. 1, Jacques Mesrine, is in doubt after the loss of its lead actor and an altercation in which Langmann headbutted tenpercenter Francois Samuelson.

The agent suffered a broken nose after the streetside showdown, close to Samuelson's office near Paris' Avenue Montaigne. Incident is the latest setback for the $60 million "Mesrine," which has already swallowed up $2 million in development coin.

Helmed by Barbet Schroeder, the ambitious project was announced by distributor UGC at Cannes this year. But after burning its fingers with Langmann's costly flop "Blueberry," UGC got cold feet and told him to trim the project down to a single movie.

French star Vincent Cassel, who had been attached to play Mesrine, also said he wouldn't have time to make two movies.

Langmann and Schroeder stuck with plan A, and when hot French thesp Benoit Magimel, Samuelson's client, took an interest in the lead, the project seemed to be on again.

But in a Nov. 25 communique that was also faxed to Langmann, Samuelson told journalists that Magimel thought he was too young for the role. Furious about the communique, Langmann and Schroeder confronted Samuelson, who also reps Juliette Binoche.

"I regret what I did, of course," Langmann was quoted as saying Monday, "but (Samuelson) should have called the director, as Benoit Magimel had asked him to, and not sent out a press release. He wanted to humiliate us."

Langmann, son of vet Claude Berri, added, "The project is in difficulty, but I'm not giving up on it."

HOLIDAY MOVIES

The Traditional End-Of-The-Year Prestige Pictures Are Loaded With Oscar-Level Potential

Los Angeles -- For the first time in several years, there is no major franchise picture -- think "Harry Potter," "The Lord of the Rings" or "The Matrix" -- to anchor the holiday movie season or take it out with a bang.

What the 2004 holiday season does have is sequels -- including "Ocean's Twelve," "Meet the Fockers" and "Blade Trinity."

And it has Jim Carrey, star of "Lemony Snicket's 'A Series of Unfortunate Events.' " The live-action fairy tale is shaping up as the holidays' most- likely-to-succeed family-friendly picture. Four winters ago, Carrey carried "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" to a boffo box- office haul to become 2000's most popular film.

The traditional end-of-the-year prestige pictures are loaded with Oscar- level potential. Will Kevin Bacon finally attract Academy Award attention with his buzzed-about "Woodsman" role, or is pedophilia simply too far outside the comfort zone of Oscar voters' sensibilities? Can veteran directors James L. Brooks and Mike Nichols repeat their Oscar successes and rustle up kudos for Adam Sandler and Julia Roberts, who star, respectively, in their films "Spanglish" and "Closer"? Will Javier Bardem earn a second Oscar nod playing a bed-bound paraplegic in "The Sea Inside"? We'll see.

In the meantime, here's a look at the big pictures lining up for holiday consumption between now and the new year. (...)

DEC. 10

Ocean's Twelve (Warner Bros.) The setting shifts from Vegas to Europe, but the key players keep the con going in this sequel to the 2001 Rat Pack remake. The No. 12 in the title refers to Julia Roberts, who now embraces a life of crime: In this case, Danny Ocean (George Clooney) organizes a Rembrandt heist in Amsterdam. Dogging the thieves through Holland, Rome and Paris is the casino owner (Andy Garcia) who's still steamed about being ripped off in the first movie. Clooney, Garcia, Roberts, Carl Reiner, Bernie Mac, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Casey Affleck, Scott Caan, Don Cheadle and Elliott Gould all regroup, along with new cast member Catherine Zeta-Jones, under the direction of Steven Soderbergh.

BUZZ: Bruce Willis makes a cameo appearance, but the one to watch for is new cast member Vincent Cassel, the formidable French actor familiar to art-house aficionados as the revenge-obsessed lover in "Irreversible."

Jennifer Aniston has signed on to co-star with Clive Owen in the Miramax thriller DERAILED. The film follows a mysterious woman who meets an ad exec on a commuter train. They hit a hotel for a steamy rendezvous only to be attacked on their way out. The attacker tries to blackmail the man with the information he's learned about the affair and things take a downward turn from there.

Swedish director Mikael Hafstrom will make his English-language debut with the film, which was written by Stuart Beattie (COLLATERAL).

In an interesting sidenote, DERAILED is the only Miramax film set to go into production for the rest of the year as head Harvey Weinstein still hasn't decided what will come of his company and its deal with Disney.

28.10.04 --
The trailer for Mr Cassel's new movie, Ocean's Twelve, is now up at Yahoo! Movies.

30.09.04 --
From Variety.Com :

French thesp Vincent Cassel will star opposite Jennifer Aniston and Clive Owen in "Derailed," the Miramax adaptation of the James Siegel novel to be directed by Mikael Hafstrom ("Evil").

Scripted by Stuart Beattie and produced by Lorenzo di Bonaventura, "Derailed" will shoot in October in London and Chicago.

Cassel, who co-stars in "Ocean's Twelve," has starred in "The Reckon-ing," "Brotherhood of the Wolf" and "Irreversible."

20.09.04 --
From The AFP :

Actress Monica Bellucci gives birth to daughter Deva

PARIS (AFP) - Italian star Monica Bellucci (news) and her husband, French actor Vincent Cassel, became parents over the weekend to their first child, a baby girl named Deva, Bellucci's agent told AFP.

"Everybody's doing well," the agent, Laurent Gregoire, said. He said the baby was born in Rome on Sunday but gave no further details.

Bellucci, a 35-year-old former model, has carved out a healthy film career in her native Italy, in her adopted homeland of France and in Hollywood.

She recently starred in the last two "Matrix" films and as Mary Magdalene in Mel Gibson (news)'s "The Passion of the Christ", and is currently shooting a US action movie titled "The Lord of War".

She met Cassel, 37, on the set of the 1996 French film "The Apartment". The two have since played opposite each other in other productions, notably a R-rated exploration of violence called "Irreversible", the fantasy action picture "The Brotherhood of the Wolf" and a French espionage drama titled "Secret Agents".

The name Deva is of Sanskrit origin and means divine.

02.02.04 --
There is a special feature on Vincent Cassel in the March issue of the Australian movie magazine, FILMINK. Thanks go to David, who was kind enough to let us know and send us these two great scans :

You can find the magazine website here. The magazine is on sale now for $5.95 in Australia, but copies of the magazine can also be purchased through our website or by emailing David.



12.01.03 --
From ScreenDaily.Com :

Comic books inspire French production frenzy
Francoise Meaux Saint Marc in Paris, Jan 09

It's not just in Hollywood - French producers are also working on a string of mega-budget, high-profile comic book adaptations.

Back in 1999, the French language comic book adaptation Asterix And Obelix Take On Caesar stormed the local box office, and was swiftly followed up by chart-topping sequel Mission Cleopatra last year.

Between them, the two films appear to have sparked off a new French love affair with big budget, special effects comic book adaptations - with an array of such projects currently in production or set to shoot in 2003. What is different about the new films, however, is that they are resolutely aimed at the core film going crowd - the late teenage/young adult age group - instead of the comic adaptation's traditional children/family audience.

One of the most ambitious of comic book adaptations is The Adventures of Mike S. Blueberry (Muraya : l'Experience Secrete de Mike Blueberry), which is being made by Thomas Langmann's company La Petite Reine.

Currently in post-production, the western carries a hefty Euros 27m-30m price tag and is the translation to the big screen of the adventures of US Marshall Mike Blueberry. Based on the cult comic book character created by Jean Giraud (aka Moebius) and Jean-Michel Charlier, it is set during the American War of Independence.

Blueberry, which is set for a third quarter release in 2003, is the second film by French film-maker Jan Kounen. It stars Vincent Cassel as Blueberry and US actor Michael Madsen as the man who has killed Blueberry's love interest and is seeking a cache of gold in Indian territory. Eddie Izzard, Colm Meaney and Juliette Lewis also star.

You can find the full article here

01.01.03 --

-:-:-:- HAPPY NEW YEAR 2003 -:-:-:-