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.

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

Disney disenchantment for Paris film-goers

It was supposed to have been a family treat as a group that included six adults and nine children made their way to a cinema in Paris to see a matinée performance of the latest Disney film "The Princess and the Frog".

But it ended up with the police being called in and all of them being escorted from their seats and eventually out of the cinema.

It all happened the weekend before last at the UGC Ciné Cité des Halles - let's not beat about the bush with this as it has been all over the media here - right in the heart of the French capital.

After having bought their tickets, the group happily made their way to the auditorium, not knowing what was in store, because before being allowed to take their places they were asked the age of the youngest child.

Now, little Gabrielle was just two years and 10 months, which according to the rules of UGC was below the age at which any child could be allowed into a cinema, no matter what the film.

There's a law that says as much...after all this is France, a country in which to many, there seems to be a regulation governing everything.

All right, so it dates back to 1927, but it's there in black and white; article 198 of the ordinance of the prefecture of Paris, "prohibits children under three years from entering all cinemas."

And that's the law the UGC followed - to the letter - shortly afterwards.

The group of course was told that they couldn't take Gabrielle in as she was too young, but they said there had been no problems buying the tickets (totalling more than €100) from the cashier and they hadn't been told about the age limit.

So they ignored the employee and took their places.

Moments later though, after the commercials had finished and before the film had begun, the employee returned with three police officers who then escorted the whole group from their seats and into the foyer.

Once there apparently as Eric Bordron, one of the parents explained on national radio, they were joined by several other officers, and while the children started crying the adults were reminded of the regulation and were threatened with being taken down to the police station.

The group had their papers checked and eventually left quietly.

UGC stuck to its guns in terms of having been right to enforce the regulations about the age limit in the first place.

"The noise level can be harmful for the ears of very young children," said Jean-Marie Dura, the CEO of the UGC group.

'The regulation is in place to ensure that comfort of the whole audience audience," he continued.

"And it can be very difficult for young children to concentrate for the duration of the film," he added.

While admitting that the regulations perhaps weren't clearly enough spelled out to cinema-goers ahead of a film, Dura said that signs would be put in place in all of the group's movie theatres so that a similar incident wouldn't occur again.

As to claims that the situation had been handled less than delicately, especially in the light of so many police being called in, the management of the UGC Ciné Cité des Halles, insisted that "usually such conflicts are resolved through dialogue, but here, unfortunately, that didn't seem to work."

And the lesson to be learnt from this tale - apart from the fact of course that in France "rules are rules"?

Wait for the DVD perhaps.