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PRODUCTION France

Xavier Beauvois prepares La rançon de la gloire

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- The director who made Of Gods and Men is to start shooting an off-the-wall comedy in spring 2013. To star Roschdy Zem and Benoît Poelvoorde.

To steal Charlie Chaplin's coffin and demand a ransom from his family. Such is the plan at the heart of the plot for Xavier Beauvois's sixth feature, La rançon de la gloire (lit. "The ransom of glory", meaning "The price of fame"), a film set to start shooting next spring. 

For this - unique in his filmography - foray into the genre of off-the-wall comedy, the director (who was praised for his last opus Of Gods and Men [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Xavier Beauvois
film profile
]
) is to direct Roschdy Zem (Best Actor in Cannes in 2006 for Days of Glory [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Jean Bréhat
interview: Rachid Bouchareb
film profile
]
 and well-reviewed for The Girl from Monaco [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
 and Four Lovers) and Belgian actor Benoît Poelvoorde (nominated for the Cesar for best actor in 2005 and 2006 and the Cesar for best supporting actor in 2010 for Coco Before Chanel [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
, and recently noted for his performance in Le Grand soir). It will be Xavier Beauvois' third film to feature Roschdy Zem after Don't Forget You're Going to Die and Le petit lieutenant [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
 (which earned the actor a nomination for the 2006 Cesar for best supporting actor).

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According to our information, the screenplay is written by the director and is set in Vevey, a small town on the edge of Lake Geneva at the end of the 1970s. When he is released from prison, Eddy Ricaart goes to stay with his friend Osman Bricha. They make a deal. Osman will put up Eddy, but in exchange the latter has to look after his seven-year-old daughter Samira while his wife Noor is undergoing tests in hospital. But on Christmas Eve, there is hardly any money left. So when the very rich Charlie Chaplin's death is announced on television, Eddy has an idea: to steal the actor's coffin and ask for a ransom from the family!

Since his talent was revealed with North (nominated for the 1993 Cesar for best first film), Xavier Beauvois has regularly attended big film festivals. He received the Jury Prize in Cannes in 1995 for pour Don't Forget You're Going to Die before winning the Grand Prix in 2010 forOf Gods and Men (which also won the 2011 Cesar for Best Film). He also went to the Venice Film Festival with To Mathieu (in the competition in 2000) and Le petit lieutenant (at the Venice Days 2005, after which the film garnered five nominations at the 2006 Cesars - notably for best film, best director, and best screenplay - where it won Best Actress).

Produced by Pascal Caucheteux for Why Not Productions (who have produced all the filmmaker's features, except the first), La rançon de la gloire is to be co-produced by the Belgians from Films du Fleuve (the Dardenne brothers' company) and by Switzerland, and is notably to benefit from the support of Eurimages. All other partners are to be revealed in due time.

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(Translated from French)

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