Valérie Lemercier Latest Celebrity News & Gossip

Katcy Stephan Controversial director Woody Allen’s 50th film “Coup de Chance” is coming to U.S. theaters. MPI Media Group will release the movie on April 5 for North American markets, with a digital/VOD release on April 12.

I remember reading years ago that whenever the time comes for Woody Allen to make a new film, he opens a drawer in his desk and picks at random from the piles of scripts he has written over the years.

Ellise Shafer Woody Allen got a warm ovation from journalists at the press conference for “Coup de Chance” at the Venice Film Festival, where he managed to avoid any controversial questions about his stalled career and the sexual abuse allegations made against him by his daughter, Dylan Farrow. That was in large part thanks to his longtime cinematographer, Italian superstar Vittorio Storaro, who spoke for nearly a third of the press conference, while answering a single question.

It’s been three years since Woody Allen‘s last film, “Rifkin’s Festival,” which came and went without much fanfare, even with the COVID-19 pandemic going on. And at age 87, many didn’t expect Allen to keep working post-pandemic.

Alison Herman TV Critic In the end, “The Idol” was neither as offensive as its detractors claimed nor as “revolutionary” as co-creator Sam Levinson believed. Like so many works of art that too openly aim for provocation, the five episodeHBO drama got in its own way, passing off reductive clichés as radical transgression. Much of the discourse around the show has centered on sex, the most attention-grabbing of its themes. But flashy as its approach may be, how “The Idol” depicts nudity, kink and power dynamics is less indicative of the series’ core problems than its take on pop music and stardom — ostensibly its primary subjects and the center of season finale “Jocelyn Forever.” Even with such an abbreviated buildup, the episode still managed to underwhelm, offering neither shocking twists nor effective catharsis. For a show in part about fandom, “The Idol” failed to inspire one of its own.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Woody Allen’s “Coup de Chance,” the controversial filmmaker’s 50th movie, has found a French distributor. Metropolitan FilmExport, one of country’s biggest independent distributors, has come on board to release the movie in France. The release date has not yet been set, but sources close to the film say it could world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival. Metropolitan FilmExport has never handled a movie directed by Allen before as it typically focuses on commercial U.S. movies such as the “Hunger Games” franchise and “Evil Dead Rises.” While Allen’s movies have also always been widely popular in France, his previous film “Rifkin’s Festival” sold under 100,000 tickets for Apollo Films after world premiering at the San Sebastian Festival. It was the director’s worst B.O. performance in France. Budgeted in the $20-million range, “Coup de Chance” was a pricey acquisition that not many French distributors could afford to gamble on.

EXCLUSIVE: Woody Allen’s latest film is heading to the EFM market in Berlin with WestEnd Films, we can reveal.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent After “Midnight in Paris,” Woody Allen will return to the French capital for his 50th movie which he’s described as a “poisonous romantic thriller” with a pair of French stars, Valerie Lemercier (“Aline”) and Niels Schneider (“Love Affair(s))”. The untitled film, the plot of which is being kept under wraps, will start filming next month and will be entirely in French with a budget in the $10-million range. Allen has described the film to be similar to “Match Point,” in that it would be “exciting, dramatic and also very sinister.”  Allen sparked headlines earlier this week after Spanish newspaper La Vanguardia ran a story reporting that the New York-based filmmaker had told them he was planning on retiring. Allen’s representative then issued a statement saying that the director had “no intention of retiring.”

The face of five-year-old Aline looks weirdly mature and toothy as she crawls from under a table at a family wedding to belt out a song early in the film of the same name. French comedian and actress Valérie Lemercier, 58, wrote, directed and stars in Aline and it’s her head on a body altered by special effects in that scene. Roadside Attractions and Samuel Goldwyn Films open the “fiction freely inspired by the life of Céline Dion” in the U.S. this weekend.

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentFrance’s equivalent to the Oscars, the Cesar Awards, are taking place this evening in Paris. Among the nominees, and in attendance, are “Annette” star Adam Driver and Cate Blanchett, who will receive the Honorary Cesar Award.The in-person ceremony is being hosted at the Olympia theater in Paris under tight COVID restrictions, as all guests have to wear a mask, be vaccinated and present a test dating from less than 24 hours.Driver is up for best actor for his performance as a tormented comedian opposite Marion Cotillard in Leos Carax’s drama musical “Annette.” Only two other American actors have been previously nominated at the Cesar Awards — Kristen Stewart for Olivier Assayas’ “Clouds of Sils Maria” and Adrien Brody for Roman Polanski’s Oscar-winning “The Pianist.” Both actors won, in 2015 and 2003, respectively.

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentEdouard Weil and Alice Girard, the producers of Audrey Diwan’s Venice Golden Lion-winning “Happening” and Valerie Lemercier’s Celine Dion movie “Aline,” won the Toscan du Plantier Award at a fancy Paris ceremony hosted by the Cesar Academie. Weil and Girard, who run the Paris-based production banner Rectangle Productions, were selected by 1,557 voters, including all the artists and crew members who have been nominated at the Cesar Awards since 2008, as well as the 164 members of the Association for the Promotion of Cinema.Besides “Happening” and “Aline,” Rectangle Productions delivered several other critically acclaimed films within the last year, including Jean-Christophe Meurisse’s “Bloody Oranges,” Gaspar Noé’s “Vortex” which played at Cannes.

Refresh for latest…: Xavier Giannoli’s Illusions Perdues (Lost Illusions) leads nominations for the 2022 César Awards, France’s equivalent to the Oscar. The Venice premiere scored 15 mentions, followed by Leos Carax’s Annette, which opened the Cannes Film Festival last year and has 11 nominations. They are followed by Valérie Lemercier’s Aline, the musical dramedy inspired by the life of Céline Dion which also debuted in Cannes and has 10 nods. (Scroll down for the full list of nominations which is being updated.)

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentXavier Giannoli’s sprawling period piece “Lost Illusions,” Valerie Lemercier’s Celine Dion biopic “Aline” and Leos Carax’s musical romance “Annette” with Marion Cotillard and Adam Driver are leading the race at France’s 47th Cesar Awards, France’s equivalent to the Oscars. Other top Cesar contenders include Cedric Jimenez’s action-packed cop drama “Bac Nord,” Catherine Corsini’s social drama “La fracture,” Yann Gozlan’s thriller Boite noire,” Jacques Audiard’s contemporary love drama “Paris, 13th District” and Arthur Harari’s WW2-set “Onoda: 10,000 Nights in the Jungle.” Audrey Diwan’s Venice Golden Lion-winning “Happening” and Julia Ducournau’s Cannes’ Palme d’Or-winning “Titane” earned four nods each.

“Bohemian Rhapsody” often gets criticized for how it fictionalizes quite a bit of Freddie Mercury’s life. This is a problem that is brought up quite a bit when you watch any sort of film biopic.

Celine Dion has received a five-minute standing ovation at Cannes film festival.The biopic stars its 57-year-old director Valerie Lemercier. The filmmaker plays the singer at each stage of her life, including her childhood.

“Aline” is shaping up to be a hit.

Ramin Setoodeh Executive EditorCeline Dion did not make the trip to 74thCannes Film Festival for the premiere of “Aline,” a French musical drama inspired by the life of the Quebecois superstar.But if she’d attended the premiere on Tuesday night in the South of France, it’s hard to know if she’d be flattered or horrified.

Manori Ravindran International EditorAs any Celine Dion fan will tell you, the Quebecois singer — also known as Canada’s National Treasure — is something of a comedian. Whether she’s remixing “My Heart Will Go On” with DJ Steve Aoki, using only her voice, or putting her own spin on “Baby Shark” in a “Carpool Karaoke” segment, Dion is hilarious.

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentGaumont’s “Aline, The Voice of Love,” a hotly anticipated film freely inspired by the life of Celine Dion, has already lured key distributors around the world ahead of its theatrical bow in November.“Aline, The Voice of Love” is directed by actor-turned-filmmaker Valerie Lemercier, a self-proclaimed fan of Dion who also headlines the movie and has described it as a tribute to the Quebec-born singer.Gaumont has pre-sold the movie to Italy (Lucky Red),

Céline Dion’s iconic life and career are about to come to life on the big screen.