29/07/2003 - A golden moment in the career of the Gallic actor; a starring role in Errance opposite Laetitia Casta, followed, in 2004, by Rivers of Purple 2 and Chabrol’s Démoiselles

He came to the forefront of international attention when he won the best actor award in Cannes for Michael Haneke’s The Pianist [+see also:
trailer
film profile] and since then Benoît Magimel has been on an unstoppable roll.
His latest film, Errance, directed by Damien Odoul, is scheduled for a domestic release on 8 October and Magimel will star in two major projects scheduled to go into production in 2004: Rivers of Purple 2 – Angels of the Apocalypse by Olivier Dahan (who first worked with Magimel on the cult title, Déja Mort) and Claude Chabrol’s Les démoiselles d’honneur.
The €3.7m Errancewas produced by Morgane Production and co-produced by Arte France Cinéma, Wild Bunch (who will also handle international sales) and Mars Distribution (also Errance’s French distributor) and co-stars Laetitia Casta.
Rivers of Purple 2 – Angels of the Apocalypse is currently in post-production. Magimel stepped into the shoes of Vincent Cassel and his co-star is Jean Reno. The €22m budgeted feature was written by Luc Besson and has been widely touted as the French film of 2004. Produced by Alain Goldman’s Légende Entreprises and distributed domestically by Besson’s Europa Corp who will also handle international sales in partnership with Studio Canal. Sales in Asia alone have already broken the €15m barrier.

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October 2004 will also see French veteran Claude Chabrol begin work on Les demoiselles d’honneur, his follow-up to The Flower of Evil. The new film will be produced by two German companie, FFF-Bayern and Integral Film, and is based on Ruth Rendell’s 1991 best-seller about an English family whose Spanish holiday is mysteriously ruined. Bac is handling the French distribution.

(Translated from French)