Incomplete film faction - the "Intouchable" Nicolas Sarkozy

It hasn't taken long has it?

Hollywood is reportedly casting for its own version of last year's runaway French cinema success, "Intouchables".

And the bookies' favourite to play the role of one of the lead characters is British actor Colin Firth.

He's also the choice apparently of the original film's directors Olivier Nakache and Éric Toledano.

François Cluzet as Philippe in "Intouchables" (screenshot from official trailer)

But it can now be revealed that Firth has competition.

Because, while the US brothers, Bob and Harvey Weinstein, who've bought the rights to produce the remake might also be in favour of the "touch of class" Firth could bring to the film, Hollywood insiders say there are other names circulating and among them apparently, is none other than the former French president, Nicolas Sarkozy.

"The feeling in Hollywood is that the French film industry is on a roll after this year's Oscars and casting a Frenchman in one of the lead roles is seen as something of a masterstroke," an unnamed studio executive says.

"And the name on everyone's lips is that of Nicolas Sarkozy who doesn't have much to do at the moment apart from making frequent trips to Morocco and the occasional session of the Constitutional Council."

Sarkozy is said to be mulling over the idea and will apparently talk it over with his wife, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, an accomplished and experienced actress in her own right.

"That could swing things in Sarkozy's favour even though he doesn't really have a grasp of English yet," the insider continues.

"Carla would make an excellent coach both in terms of acting and learning the language. And as far as the film is concerned, just think what sort of media coup it would be to have a former French president playing one of the leads.

"It would be a tremendous box office draw around the world."

Sarkozy's name was mentioned after reports that the current French president, François Hollande, had turned down the role because, "He was too busy and it would represent a conflict of interests."

Just a reminder for those of you who might have forgotten or haven't yet seen the film, the role for which Sarkozy is being considered and Hollande has turned down is the one played by François Cluzet.

In the film Cluzet is Philippe, a rich tetraplegic living in a luxury Paris apartment is in need of a 24/7 live-in carer.



In case you were wondering, there is a slight embellishment of the truth in this piece: Carla Bruni-Sarkozy is far from being an accomplished actress.

"The Artist" - a truly French success story?

It has been the talk of France over the past couple of days, the success of the film "The Artist" at this year's Oscars.

(screenshot from "The Artist" trailer)

The film, directed by the man by with an almost unpronouncable name (pity the poor Americans) Michel Hazanavicius, and starring Jean Dujardin picked up five statuettes, including Best Director, Film and Actor.



Without wanting to appear entirely churlish, how much is the gongification of the film and those involved down to the quality of what was up on the Big Screen and how much is due to a "master of movie industry promotion" Harvey Weinstein?

Is the film really a French success or just another example of how much power Weinstein wields in Hollywood?

Yes it's a film worth seeing. It's enjoyable and in a review when it first went on general release here in France, there was the recommendation here that, "If there's one film - just one single film - you should absolutely go to see this year it has to be 'The Artist'."

It's delightful, immensely entertaining and beautifully shot; "A pastiche…but lovingly made and extremely watchable," is how Screen International described it, and that was pretty much spot on.

When it premiered at Cannes, the long journey to international recognition was given one heck of a boost when Dujardin picked up Best Actor.

With a canny eye for what might appeal, Weinstein had already picked up the distribution rights before Cannes and by the time the film went on general release here in France in October, there were already rumours that it might be nominated in the main section of the Oscars and not consigned to the Foreign Picture category.

Its appeal was obvious.

Although not exactly original in being a silent film (after all how did the industry begin?) it was different enough to the 3D, special FX, kitchen sink sort of blockbuster diet the movie-going public is so often fed.

And what had originally been the very source of Hazanavicius' difficulties when he first came up with the idea in the 1990s but failed to get the funding, suddenly became one of its strengths as the promotional juggernaut switched up a gear.

Different equalled allure.

It paid dividends with the buzz from successive awards ceremonies including Golden Globes, British Baftas and French Césars (although in the case of the last, not Best Actor for Dujardin) combining with a formidable charm offensive to woo the Academy members who vote for the Oscars.

Throw in the theme of the film (Hollywood), where it was shot (Hollywood) and the homage it paid to several other (Hollywood) films and it surely had "winner" written all over it.

Plus there was no real language barrier to overcome.

Yes it is a French film directed by a Frenchman, starring French actors and produced by another Frenchman in the form of Thomas Langmann the son of the late (Oscar-winning) French director Claude Berri.

But equally its success is arguably very US driven.

Although it'll provide an international and financial boost to the careers of those involved especially Hazanavicius, his partner Bérénice Bejo and perhaps most notably Dujardin - provided they're willing to make as much of a commitment to living and working in Hollywood - it's undeniably also a tribute to the power and influence of one man - Harvey Weinstein.

"Hey honey, where's Junior?" Parents "forget" son at a roadside rest area

"Home alone" might only have been a 1990 film dreamt up by scriptwriters as a comedy in which Macaulay Culkin played the part of an eight-year-old boy mistakenly left behind when his parents fly off to Paris for their Christmas hols.

But let's face it, fact can be - and often is - stranger than fiction as the parents of an eight-year-old French boy can attest to after their weekend "lapse of memory".

They reportedly "forgot" their son on the side of the road, leaving him at a rest area and only realising he was missing half an hour later.

Lourdes Basilica (Wikipedia, author Milorad Pavlek)

The couple from the suburbs of Paris were on their way to the market town of Lourdes at the foot of the Pyrénées in southwestern France.

It is of course famous as a destination for Catholic pilgrimage and alleged miraculous healings.

They had set off on their holidays early on Saturday morning; mum, dad and three children in a camping car.

The roads were pretty busy with holidaymakers, just as they are every Saturday in August in France.

As Agence France Presse reports, at around nine o'clock in the evening, after having completed just over 700 of their 800 kilometre journey, the couple decided to take a break, and they stopped at a rest area on the nationale 21 in the département of Gers.

A few minutes later, refreshed and ready for the final stretch, they set off again, and it was only when they arrived in Lourdes that they realised one of their children was missing.

They immediately rang the emergency services, to be told that their son was with the police who had been alerted by other motorists who had seen the child alone at the rest area.

About turn - they were reunited with him a couple of hours later.

So, how could parents apparently "forget" one of their children?

It sounds even weirder than the recent case of the man who left his wife at the side of the road in the dead of night without realising she was missing.

That also happened in the southwest of France - is there something in the water perhaps?

Well there's a simple and innocent enough explanation according to the national daily France Soir.

When the family stopped, all three children were apparently asleep in the back of the camping car.

But while the parents stretched their legs, the eight-year-old slipped out without them noticing.

So they didn't really "forget" him. They just didn't realise he wasn't there.

In their infinite wisdom, the police have decided not to pursue the case, putting it all down to fatigue and a momentary lack of attention at the end of a long journey.

Maybe though, as the regional daily Midi Libre comments, the couple will light up a candle or two in thanks at their final destination.

One thing is for certain - it's a holiday neither the boy nor his parents will forget in a hurry.

French film festivals - the Americans are coming!

Less than a week after the announcement that US actor Robert De Niro would jury chairman at the 64th annual Cannes film festival in May comes the news that another American will be "topping the bill" so-to-speak at this year's César awards in February.

Jodie Foster, Berlin 2007 (image from Wikipedia, author Franz Richter)

Actress Jodie Foster will add her very own brand of American flair, in fluent French of course, to this country's equivalent of the Oscars next month as president of the 36th annual César awards ceremony to be held at Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris.

While De Niro's appointment continues a trend that will have seen three out of the last four jury presidents at Cannes coming from across the Pond (Sean Penn in 2008 and Tim Burton in 2010) Foster will become the first foreigner since the late Italian actor Marcello Mastroianni to preside over the César ceremony and only the fourth American ever after Kirk Douglas (1990), Gene Kelly (1984) and Orson Welles (1982)

The choice of the 48-year-old Foster perhaps comes as no surprise as the weekly national Le Journal du Dimanche pointed out on its website.

She is, as the paper reminds its readers, "an accomplished francophone" who studied at the Lycée Français in Los Angeles.

Apart from an acting career which includes the not-so trifling accolade of winning two Oscars for best actress (1988 in The Accused and 1991 in The Silence of the Lambs) and being nominated on two other occasions (for best supporting actress at just 14 years of age in the 1976 film Taxi Driver and again in the best actress category in the 1994 movie Nell) Foster has also directed and produced.

And, as US Daily reports, she is no stranger to French cinema having "appeared in Eric Le Hung's 1977 film Moi, Fleur Bleue (Stop Calling Me Baby (Moi, fleur bleue), Claude Chabrol's Le Sang des autres (The Blood of Others) in 1984 and Jean-Pierre Jeunet's Un long dimanche de fiançailles (A Very Long Engagement) in 2004.

The César award ceremony will take place on February 25 and be broadcast live on Canal + television.

The nominees in each of the categories will be announced on January 21 in Paris.

The double-American whammy should put paid (for a while at least) to those assertions that the French always look sniffily down their collective Gallic noses when it comes to US "culture", although perhaps both Foster and De Niro are noteworthy exceptions to the rule that "The world is turning Disney".



The making of the real The Silence of the lambs






The spoof starring Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders