19/06/2003

A European safehouse for artists? While Hollywood is attracting the cream of European filmmaking talent, names like Jeunet, Besson and Kassovitz, the inverse is also taking place with Continental producers giving US indie directors the opportunity to work in Europe. The most recent "asylum seeker" is Larry Clark.
Financed by Lambart Productions, Clark is to direct Un beau jour pour mourir (A Good Day for Dying).
The notorious "bad boy" of American cinema, the man behind such controversial titles like Kids, Another Day in Paradise and Bully met with the courageous French producer, Thierry de Ganay, and the result is that Clark's new film will be made with a $8m budget and is scheduled to go into production at the end of this year. A Good Day for Dying is bound to generate plenty of talk since it is based on a popular novel by Jim Harrison about three misfits (two men and a woman) who crossed the US in 1975 in order to blow up a dam.
Acting on advice from Bertrand Blier, Thierry de Ganay (Patrice Leconte’s producer of choice) bought the rights to Morrison’s book several years ago. De Ganay justified his choice of Larry Clark: "aside from his immense talent, Clark knows exactly what the 1970s were like in the US because he experienced them firsthand."

(The article continues below - Commercial information)

Lambart Productions also bought the rights to another cult novel, Maurice G. Dantec’s The Roots of Evil. Dantec has long been the object of desire of Gallic filmmakers: Olivier Mégaton directed The Red Siren and Mathieu Kassovitz is preparing Babylon Babies.

(Translated from French)