Romain Duris Latest Celebrity News & Gossip

Peter Debruge Chief Film Critic For readers of Alexandre Dumas’ novel, extravagant French adaptation “The Three Musketeers – Part II: Milady” packs its share of surprises: killing off important characters, sparing others and reimagining allegiances that have stood for nearly two centuries. For viewers of “Part I: D’Artagnan,” however, this swashbuckling sequel feels totally in keeping with what has come before.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent The frontrunners for this year’s 49th Cesar Awards are Justine Triet’s Palme d’Or winner “Anatomy of a Fall” and Thomas Cailley’s supernatural drama “The Animal Kingdom” which are nominated for 11 and 12 prizes, respectively. The ceremony is unfolding at the Olympia Theater in Paris on Friday evening).

One of the 2023 Cannes Film Festival‘s buzziest films finally gets its US theatrical release next month. That’s right, Thomas Cailley‘s “The Animal Kingdom” hits theaters and video on demand in March and also serves as the opening night film of “Rendezvous With French Cinema” in NYC on February 29.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Thomas Cailley’s supernatural drama “The Animal Kingdom” and Justine Triet’s Palme d’Or winning “Anatomy of a Fall” are leading the race at the 49th Cesar Awards with 12 and 11 nominations, respectively. Triet’s movie, which just garnered an impressive five Oscar nominations, and “The Animal Kingdom,” which opened at Cannes’ Un Certain Regard and won a prize, will vie for for top Cesar awards, including best director and film.

Naman Ramachandran Warner Bros.’ “Wonka,” starring Timothee Chalamet, has debuted atop the U.K. and Ireland box office with £8.9 million ($11.2 million), according to numbers from Comscore. In its third weekend, Disney’s “Wish” climbed up to £1.9 million in second place for a total of £5.8 million.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Gaumont is launching “Night Call,” a high-concept thriller set over the course of a night, directed by rising filmmaker Michiel Blanchart. Blanchart, who is repped by WME and Itaka Media, previously directed the short film “You’re Dead Hélène,” which was a festival standout and played at Clermont-Ferrand and Sitges, among other festivals. It also made the live action Oscar shortlist last year.

The attitudes around remakes ebb and flow depending on what audiences see coming out of Hollywood. Some people love remakes, some people hate them, and some people see them as necessary to fund a more original project.

Brent Lang Executive Editor Samuel Goldwyn Films announced today that the company has acquired U.S. rights to the “The Three Musketeers,” a two-part adaptation of the swashbuckling French adventure story by Alexandre Dumas. The two films were shot back-to-back, with the first film “The Three Musketeers: D’Artagnan” released in France this past April, earning $35 million at the international box office. The sequel “The Three Musketeers: Milady” will open in the country on Dec. 13. The period epic boasts a top-shelf ensemble of European stars such as Francois Civil (“Call My Agent!”), Vincent Cassel (“Black Swan”), Romain Duris (“Eiffel”), Pio Marmaï ((“Happening”), Eva Green (“Casino Royale”), Vicky Krieps (“Phantom Thread”) and Louis Garrel (“The Dreamers”). Both films were directed by Martin Bourboulon, with screenplay by Matthieu Delaporte and Alexandre de La Patellière.

What’s there to say about French director Michel Hazanavicius? His two “OSS 117” films with Jean Dujardin are foreign cult comedies. And then the duo struck gold stateside with “The Artist,” which won Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actor at the 2012 Oscars.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent David Thion, the French producer of Justine Triet’s Palme d’Or winning “Anatomy of a Fall,” is reteaming with Guillaume Senez for “Une part manquante,” a Tokyo-set drama which Be For Films is representing in international markets. “Une part manquante” will also reunite Senez with popular French actor Romain Duris, who starred in his 2018 film “Our Struggles” and earned a Cesar nomination for it. Brussels-based Be For Films had sold “Our Struggles” in most major territories and presented at a flurry of international festivals. Duris will play Jay, who hasn’t seen his daughter for nine years since getting separated from his Japanese wife. As a foreigner residing in Japan, Jay was denied custody of his daughter. Hoping to find her somewhere in the city, he abandons his career as a renown chef and becomes a taxi driver. After all these years searching in vain, Jay is about to give up and move back to France when Lily hops in his cab. But she doesn’t recognize him.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Blue Fox Entertainment has acquired U.S. rights to Cédric Klapisch’s (“The Spanish Apartment”) hit dance film “Rise” (“En corps”) from Studiocanal. One of 2022’s highest grossing French films, “Rise” sold nearly 1.3 million tickets in local theaters and was sold around the world. The movie tells the story of a young ballet dancer whose life is upended when she suffers a career-threatening injury and catches her  boyfriend cheating on her. As she begins her physical and emotional rehabilitation, she finds solace in friends, a new love, and a new contemporary dance troupe. Marion Barbeau, a dancer-turned-actor, delivers a breakthrough performance in the lead role, and stars opposite French stars, including François Civil (“Three Musketeers”), Pio Marmaï (“How I Became a Super Hero”), Denis Podalydès (“Anaïs in Love”), as well as Hofesh Shechter (“Send Me an Angel”).

Marta Balaga French TV festival Series Mania started out playfully with a slew of humorous digs directed at its starry guests during the opening ceremony, including Brian Cox, back in town to hold a masterclass and introduce the latest episode of his smash hit “Succession.” “I didn’t have time to watch Season 3. I have to see my children grow up, Brian!,” exclaimed host Daphné Bürki, before introducing this year’s opening show “Greek Salad” by Cédric Klapisch: “A prequel to ‘Norwegian Omelette,’ always starring Romain Duris,” Bürki joked. Series Mania general director Laurence Herszberg joined in on the fun, giving a shoutout to “Emily in Paris’s” Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu, attending with co-star Arnaud Binard: “She became a symbol of a Parisian woman. I hope there isn’t too much weight on your shoulders, Philippine!”

Marta Balaga It has been over 20 years since Cédric Klapisch delighted audiences with his 2002 comedy “Pot Luck” about a group of twentysomethings sharing a flat in Barcelona.  Featuring the likes of Romain Duris, Audrey Tautou, Cécile de France and “Yellowstone” star Kelly Reilly, the film – also known as “The Spanish Apartment” – has spawned two sequels: “Russian Dolls” and “Chinese Puzzle.”  Now, French director is putting the old team back together in the Amazon Prime Video series “Greek Salad,” which opens Series Mania on March 17. But there is a twist. 

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Pathé, which operates France’s leading cinema circuit, is planning to enter the Paris stock exchange in 2024, Variety has confirmed. The company’s president, Jérôme Seydoux, revealed the group’s long-gestated listing project in an interview with the French publication Les Echos. Seydoux said the company suffered a loss of approximately €100 million during the financial years 2020 and 2021, mainly due to the fact that theaters in France were shut down for a total of 300 days during the pandemic. While it ruffled feathers by selling “Coda” to Apple at Sundance in 2021 in a splashy $25 million deal, the company was one of the rare French studios which maintained its release plans for major local productions during the health crisis, for instance Martin Bourboulon’s “Eiffel” with Romain Duris and Emma Mackey, and Jean-Jacques Annaud’s “Notre Dame on Fire.”

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Les Films Pelleas, the Paris-based banner behind Mia Hansen-Love’s “One Fine Morning” (pictured), is set to produce Guillaume Senez (“Our Struggles”)’s next project, as well as the feature debut of Anne-Sophie Bailly whose short “The Midwife” is currently playing at Telluride. The Paris-based banner’s roster of completed roster includes Karim Moussaoui’s “L’Effacement,” and Annie Ernaux’s documentary “Les annes Super-8.” “Mona” revolves around around a woman in her 60’s who raised alone her disabled son and is at a point in her life where she aspires to start caring for herself. But when her son is unexpectedly having a baby, Mona finds herself with another heavy responsibility to bear.

Naman Ramachandran Sony’s Brad Pitt vehicle “Bullet Train” debuted at the top of the U.K. and Ireland box office with a £2.8 million ($3.4 million) opening weekend, according to numbers released by Comscore.As the school holidays continue, in second place, Warner Bros.’ family friendly “DC League Of Super-Pets” took £1.2 million in its second weekend for a total of £6.2 million.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent“The Three Musketeers,” Pathé Films’s $75-million two-part adventure epic saga based on Alexandre Dumas’s masterpiece, has been bought in major international territories rolling off a busy Cannes market. Pathé unveiled a sprawling 15-minute promoreel for both “The Three Musketeers” – D’Artagnan” and “The Three Musketeers – Milady” at Cannes Marché du Film. Both movies are directed by Martin Bourboulon and boast a star-studded cast, including Vincent Cassel, Eva Green, Vicky Krieps, Romain Duris, Pio Marmaï, François Civil, Lyna Khoudri and Louis Garrel.

Ever since Michel Hazanavicius’ Oscar-winning tribute to silent cinema “The Artist,” the French filmmaker has continued to focus his work on the process of filmmaking itself, for better and, mostly, for worse. After “Redoutable,” centered on the relationship between Jean-Luc Godard and Anne Wiazemsky during the filming of “La Chinoise,” he again explored la magie du cinéma in “The Lost Prince,” where Omar Sy (the biggest star on French Netflix and, maybe, in French cinema tout court) saw the rich fantasy film-set world he had created for his daughter begin to crumble as she started to outgrow his fairytales.

Ramin Setoodeh Executive EditorA visit from the dead? How chic.The Cannes Film Festival sprung back into action on Tuesday night, as this year’s opening night movie, “Final Cut (Coupez!)” received a 5-minute standing ovation. The gory zombie line, which straddled a tone somewhere between “The Blair Witch Project” and “Call My Agent,” kicked off a festival where few patrons were wearing masks in these COVID times.To commemorate the 75th edition of Cannes, festival director Thierry Fremaux selected a French movie — not to mention a French jury president, “Titane” actor Vincent Lindon — to keep things local at the start of the celebration of movies in the French Riviera.

Final Cut,” directed by Michel Hazanavicius on opening night. This year’s Cannes is also the biggest film event to be hosted since the start of the pandemic, bringing together the festival and market crowds.

Ben Croll To the degree that a global sales division can shape its own image, Pathé’s international arm has built and bolstered its current brand around strong IP, recognizable faces and unbelievable but true stories.To see those elements in play, one need only look to last year, when projects including Paul Verhoeven’s “Benedetta” and Martin Bourboulon’s “Eiffel” lifted from world and film history as they showcased stars such as Virginie Efira, Romain Duris and Emma Mackey, while collectively finding homes in more than a hundred international territories. (In the U.S., for example, “Benedetta” sold to IFC Films, while “Eiffel” went to Blue Fox Entertainment.)To witness those same imperatives, but supercharged, one need only glimpse Pathé’s 2022 slate, which goes long on hometown IP and star power.

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentPathé and Dimitri Rassam’s Chapter 2, a Mediawan Company, have unveiled the first stills of their sprawling $75 million two-part European film based on Alexandre Dumas’s masterpiece “The Three Musketeers” – D’Artagnan” and “The Three Musketeers – Milady.”The companies will present a 15-minute promo reel at Cannes. Directed by Martin Bourboulon (“Eiffel”), the two ‘Musketeers’ films are currently completing principal photography after more than 140 days of shooting at prestigious French landmarks, including the Louvre Palace, the Hôtel des Invalides, the Castles of Fontainebleau and Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Fort la Latte and Chantilly, as well as the citadel of Saint-Malo and the historic city center of Troyes.

In the company of the Statue of Liberty in New York City and the Leaning Tower of Pisa in Italy, the Eiffel Tower in France stands tall as one of the world’s most renowned landmarks. Something sometimes lost in translation when marveling at these works of architecture is their inherent humanity.

The Cannes Film Festival said Monday that it backs the decision by French filmmaker Michel Hazanavicius to change the name of his film, which originally carried the title Z (Comme Z) and will open the 75th edition of the festival next month.

Michel Hazanavicius‘ horror-comedy, “Z (Comme Z)” (known as “Final Cut” in the U.S. thus far), was supposed to premiere at the Sundance Film Festival, but when things when virtual, sale agents Wild Bunch International pulled the film from the festival.

Michel Hazanavicius’ film “Final Cut” has dropped out of its planned premiere at the Sundance Film Festival after the festival chose to move to a fully virtual format amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Hazanivicius, an Oscar winner for Best Picture winner “The Artist,” said he and the filmmakers fully support the festival’s decision but prefers to premiere the film in a theater with a live audience.

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentBlue Fox Entertainment has acquired all U.S. rights to Martin Bourboulon’s “Eiffel,” a big-budget historical romance drama about celebrated engineer Gustave Eiffel starring Romain Duris (“Mood Indigo”) and Emma Mackey (“Sex Education”).Pathe co-produced the film and is handling international sales.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefFrench distributor Pathe has announced a delay in the release of its big budget historical drama “Eiffel.”The film is due to receive its French premiere on Aug. 24, 2021 at the Festival du Film Francophone d’Angouleme.

Keira Knightley has joined the voice cast of an upcoming animated drama film called “Charlotte” that will make its premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in September. She joins a voice cast that includes Brenda Blethyn, Jim Broadbent, Sam Claflin, Henry Czerny, Eddie Marsan, Sophie Okonedo, Mark Strong and the late Helen McCrory.

There always seems to be a general reaction of hesitation when impressive and successful international features get the “domestic reboot treatment.” (Recall the news of J.J.