Rebecca Zlotowski about to shoot Grand Central

by Fabien Lemercier

02/08/2012 - On August 15, Rebecca Zlotowski will kick off eight weeks of filming for her second feature, Grand Central. After Dear Prudence, her feature debut that was selected for the Cannes Critics’ Week in 2010 and awarded the Louis-Delluc Prize for best first film the same year, the director is once again to work with Léa Seydoux (nominated for a Cesar for most promising actress in 2011 for Dear Prudence [trailer]), an actress who is becoming increasingly well-known (Farewell, My Queen [trailer, film focus], Sister [trailer, film focus], and soon to appear in Le bleu est une couleur chaude by Abdellatif Kechiche).

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The film is also to star Tahar Rahim (Cesar for Best Actor in 2010 for A Prophet [trailer, film focus], good reviews for Love and Bruises [trailer], and to act in Iranian director Asghar Farhadi’s Dominos), Belgian actor Olivier Gourmet (nominated for a Cesar for best actor in 2012 for The Minister [trailer, film focus], and out in cinemas this September in The Lookout), Denis Ménochet (Inglorious Basterds [trailer], Skylab [trailer], and since July 11 out in cinemas in Je me suis fait tout petit [trailer, festival scope]), and Johan Libéreau (Cold Showers [trailer], The Witnesses [trailer], and in cinemas on August 8 in Voie rapide).

The film’s screenplay is written by the director with her usual accomplice Gaëlle Macé (who also recently co-wrote the screenplay for Alyah [trailer]), and is a complicated love story set in France’s nuclear power industry, an economic sector that is extremely sensitive to media coverage, which explains the secrecy surrounding the plot's details.

Produced by Frédéric Jouve for Les Films Velvet, Grand Central is co-produced by France 3 Cinéma, and has benefitted from pre-acquisitions by Canal+ and Ciné+, an advance on receipts from the National Film and Moving Image Centre (CNC), support from the Rhône-Alpes and Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur regions, as well as the support of Soficinéma. Ad Vitam will handle the film’s distribution in France, and Elle Driver will handle its international sales.

Les Films du Velvet also have L’air de rien by Grégory Magne and Stéphane Viard (starring Michel Delpech, Gregory Montel, and Christophe Miossec – to be released in France on November 7 by Rezo – sales: SND) in post-production, and are set to start shooting Stéphane Demoustier’s Terre battue in 2013 (read more).

(Translated from French)