If you're a foreign actor who suddenly finds themselves thrust to Hollywood fame thanks to home-grown success and some awards attention, there are one of two routes you can take. You can keep plugging on much as you did before, making films at home, and hoping they catch on in the same way (see: Roberto Benigni). Or you can take the Hollywood dollar, often involving a bad guy or love interest role in some big blockbuster (see: Marion Cotillard, or original "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo" stars Noomi Rapace and Michael Nyqvist, recently seen playing the world's least intersting female lead and bad guy in, respectively, "Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows" and "Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol").
While we're sure the offers will soon be rolling in, so far, Jean Dujardin, who last night picked up the Best Actor in a Comedy/Musical award at the Golden Globes, has so far resisted the lure of the U.S. following the success of "The Artist." Instead, the French star will next be seen in portmanteau comedy "The Players," and, as announced over the weekend, will be reuniting with his 'Artist' producer Thomas Langmann for a comedy remake that will pair him with another breakout French star.
The producer told The Hollywood Reporter on Saturday that his next film will team Dujardin with Vincent Cassel ("Eastern Promises," "Black Swan"), in a remake of the 1977 Claude Berri comedy "One Wild Moment." It's not the first time that the film has been remade either, as an Americanized remake, "Blame It On Rio," starring Michael Caine and a young Demi Moore, was helmed by Stanley Donen in 1984, to poor reviews.
The plot involves two middle-aged best friends, one of whom falls in love with the other's daughter, with the two French stars taking the central roles. And as it turns out, Langmann (who's also working with "The Artist" director Michel Hazanavicius on his next film, "The Search") has a very close personal connection to the material, as his father was Claude Berri, the writer/director of the original. As far as we can tell, there's no director attached, although as Langmann made his co-directorial debut with 2008's "Asterix & Obelix At The Olympic Games," perhaps the producer is considering the job himself? Either way, we're glad to see Dujardin take on something closer to home than Eurovillain #356 in some spy movie, and there's lots of potential in a pairing of him and Cassel. We'd expect more news on this coming down the pipe soon.