14/11/2003 - A slimmer and trimmer Gérard Depardieu, is visiting Rome with Jean Reno to present Tais-toi, which tells about the exhilirating cinematographic adventure coproduced by France and Italy

“I prefer to laugh, even if after appearing in so many comedies I’d like to act in a good love film like The Woman Next door, but they don’t make films like that nowadays”. Gérard Depardieu speaking at a press conference in Rome held for the Italian release of the latest film by Francis Veber, Ruby and Quentin. The director and the other main actor in the film, Jean Reno, also attended the launch. An extremely slimmed down Depardieu described the film as an exhilarating cinematographic romp. It is co-produced by Aurelio De Laurentis’ Filmauro and the French companies UGC Images, DD Productions, EFVE Films and TF1 Productions.

The French release of Ruby and Quentin has been remarkably successful, with an audience of 1.6 million in less than two weeks, mainly thank to the unusual pairing of the two actors. “Its seems to me that Italian and French cinema have finally re-discovered their identity” added Depardieu “Now it’s important that we don’t lose our way again. Our strengths are our stories, well written screenplays. The Americans are better at using special effects than we are. Let them get on with it”.
Ruby and Quentin is a classic French comedy, and is the story of ups and downs suffered by two convicts on the run: Quentin/Depardieu, is a nice guy but extremely stupid, who dreams of opening a restaurant with a friend he doesn’t yet have, and Ruby/Reno is a sly and aggressive man, who only wants to get revenge on the man who murdered the woman he loved. This pair make a really “odd couple” who get into a series of weird and wonderful scrapes while running form the police. Jean Reno said “every character I play has to make me dream”. And it does seems to be true because the two actors obviously had a whale of a time “I wouldn’t change a word” stressed Depardieu “Just like with Ettore Scola, when working with Veber everything is perfectly weighed up. He worked for at least three years on the screenplay”. After directing classics like The Goat and the more recent The Dinner Game, once again Veber highlights his passion for ‘idiots’: “That type of stupidity is a never ending source” said the director “because stupid people are often surprising, whereas intellectuals are always predictable”.
The film is distributed by Filmauro, and will be out in Italian cinemas from today.

(Translated from Italian)