16/12/2008

Last weekend, Olivier Dahan finished shooting in Louisiana on My Own Love Song, his new film after the international hit La Vie en Rose [+see also:
trailer
film profile] and his first English-language feature.

This road movie – which flirts with comedy and melodrama – stars US actors Renée Zellweger (2004 Best Supporting Actress Oscar for Cold Mountain) and Forest Whitaker (2007 Best Actor Oscar for The Last King of Scotland [+see also:
trailer
film profile]). The cast also includes Nick Nolte, Madeline Zima and Elias Koteas.

Co-written by the director and Kristin Gore, the film traces the trip to Memphis made by a former singer confined to a wheelchair and one of her close friends, a fireman who has suffered an accident at work. These two characters – who have gone through many trials and tribulations – give each other moral support and cope with life together.

The film’s score will be composed by Bob Dylan and the title is lensed by Matthew Libatique (DoP on Darren Aronofsky’s first three features). Shooting has been taking place since October in Kansas and Louisiana.

My Own Love Song is the seventh feature by Dahan (41) after Brothers: Red Roulette (presented in a parallel section at Berlin in 1995), Already Dead (1997, starring Romain Duris and Benoît Magimel), Tom Thumb (2001), Ghost River (2002, starring Isabelle Huppert), Crimson Rivers 2 - Angels of the Apocalypse (2004) and the multiple award-winning La Vie en Rose (unveiled in competition at Berlin, winner of two Oscars in 2008, including Best Actress for Marion Cotillard).

Produced by Alain Goldman for Légende Films, My Own Love Song has co-production backing from Studio 37, who have also bought the rights to domestic distribution (to be handled by Mars Distribution) and international sales (managed by Kinology).

(Translated from French)