05/09/2003

Production on the blockbuster about Alexander the Great by Oliver Stone will also be involving the French company Pathé Films, which will making an investment of more than €36m to the total budget of €181m. Alexander is soon set to be given the green light from the French National Film Centre, the CNC. This is yet another blockbuster for Pathé, which has recently invested €60m in the new film by Jean-Jacques Annaud, Deux frères.

The involvement of Pathé in the production of Stone’s film is thanks to the initiative taken by Paul Rassam. He is the brother-in-law and also a business partner of the director, Claude Berri in the Pathé Renn company. At the end of April, the producer of Valmont by Milos Forman and Kafka by Steven Soderbergh negotiated an alliance with the British company Gordian Productions (70% of the budget). The rest of the funding will be provided by Dutch capital.

Shooting on Alexander, starring Colin Farrell, Anthony Hopkins and Angelina Jolie, will be starting on September 22 in Morocco. It’s the biggest budget film ever put forward to the CNC, and there will be a lot of French involvement in the movie: many Gallic technicians (sound and editing) will be working during the shooting and post production phases of the film (from the Eclair workshop and the Buf Compagnie for the 3D images).
It’s quite a coup for Pathé, which also has the distribution rights to the film in France, Belgium and Holland. Alexander will be ready in 2005.

(Translated from French)