- Roberto Benigni, Astérix et Obélisk contre César, France-Germany-Italy, 1998. Main casting decided itself:little Christian Clavier, enormous GérardDepardieu – but who for Tullius Destructivus? Top French producer Claude Berri loved the Belgian comic – who refused. OK then, Benigni. He kept yelling “Ah! Claude Berri,.. Ah! Claude Berri…” (and when the realisateur also showed up: “Ah! Claude Zidi,.. Ah! Claude Zidi..”) yet remained hesitant of a scriptthat was not his (or Fellini’s). Finally, he called “Ah! Claude Berri… Yesterday, I said No. Today, I say Yes.”(So did Poelvoorde for Brutusinthe third film, Astérix aux jeux olympiques, produced in 2007 by Berri’s 2011-Oscar-winning son, Thomas Langmann.
- Franck Dubosc, Cinéman, France-Belgium, 2008. The Belgian crew was not happy when their superstar quit – and replaced by a Frenchy! If that had been the only problem… The two French leading men wouldn’t talk to each other, Dubosc and his UK co-star, Lucy Gordon, has bad accidents, the cinematographer had a heart-attack, auteur Yann Moix took 18 months to edit the mess – and, worst of all, Lucy hung herself five months before the 2009 premiere. And yet it had all seemed so simple. A schoolteacher travels (a la Buster Keaton) into different movies to save the love of his life. When Poelvoorde left, Jean Dujardin was called but he was prepping his own movies movie, The Artist (it won all the 2012 awards). Enter: Dubosc, a handsome (tres Alain Delon) stand-up turned screen star. He looked great as Tarzan and Clint, etc. Indeed, the wig and make-up artists were the real stars – all 17 of them! As of 2020, Yann Moix has yet to make a third feature .
- Pierre Arditi, Coeurs, France, 2006. For the second Alain and Alan meeting – aged French nouvelle vague icon Resnais, and UK playwright Ayckbourn – Arditi played the drunken ex-army officer in some rehearsals opposite Benoit Poelvoorde’s bartender. The Belgian actor did not really mesh with Resnais. So, and Arditi (in his eighth of nine Resnais films) tended the bar, Poelvoorde went home and Lambert Wilson went, more or less, into uniform.
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