While Arnaud Desplechin, the director behind celebrated films like “Kings & Queens” and “A Christmas Tale,” stumbled a bit with “Jimmy P.” in 2013, be bounced back in a big way with last year’s “My Golden Days.” It was a return to form for the director, and he’s already jumping into his next project, which has assembled a promisingly starry cast.
Mathieu Amalric, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Marion Cotillard, and Louis Garrel are all signed on for “Les Fantomes d’Ismaël.” The movie about the movies focuses on a director whose old lover returns, turning his life upside down just as he’s about a shoot a new film. The project will mark Amalric’s sixth outing with the director, Cotillard’s second following a small role in 1996’s “My Sex Life… or How I Got Into an Argument,” and a first for the others (through Garrel did appear in a short film, narrated by Desplechin). It sounds very promising, that cast is pretty top shelf, and pre-production is already underway. However, Desplechin does have some other matters to take care of first.
Namely, he’s sitting on the jury of his year’s Cannes Film Festival, so cameras won’t be rolling until at least he’s done his job on the Croisette. However, the director will be mixing business with pleasure, as ‘d’Ismaël’ will be in the Cannes marketplaces, and Desplechin will be available to meet with buyers. Now, that’s multitasking. And if you still haven’t seen “My Golden Days,” it arrives on DVD and Digital HD on July 12th. [Screen Daily]