25/10/2007

Gerald Hustache-Mathieu’s new project, Comme Marilyn (“Like Marilyn”) – following his feature debut April in Love, winner of Best Debut Film of the New Cinema Network – will once again star Sophie Quinton, the lead in both of his shorts (the César-winning Peau de vache and La chatte andalouse) and April.

In Rome to close the budget of the film, Hustache-Mathieu spoke of a Lynch-esque film: “I will shoot it in the Jura,” he said, “which is a bit like our version of the Midwest, so you can except a French Twin Peaks-like atmosphere”.

The noir film tells the story of “publisher who investigates the alleged suicide of small-town starlet Candice Lecoeur, discovering many similarities between the lives of Candice and Marilyn Monroe. To the point where the young girl was convinced she was the reincarnation of the Hollywood diva”.

The turbid atmospheres of the French provinces will provide the backdrop to a “a surreal story told in the most realistic way possible”, a seeming contrast that the director will try to resolve through the talent of Quinton (nominated for a César for her turn in Who Killed Bambi?). “She balances out my imagination with her authenticity, as if we were walking along a tightrope together, keeping in each other in balance. Without her, my films would not exist,” he said.

Shooting on Comme Marilyn is set to start in the winter of 2009, on a budget of approximately €3.5m, part of which has already been provided by Dharamsala, the company behind April (acclaimed by the international press), which was distributed in France by Haut et Court and sold by Films Distribution to Belgium, Canada, Spain and Switzerland.

(Translated from Italian)