Exclusive: Paris-based Upside Distribution is screening a teaser trailer at Efm.
French action director Olivier Megaton is hitting the European Film Market (Efm) this weekend with a teaser screening of his upcoming documentary Roc, The World’s Greatest Con Artist, about infamous French con artist Christophe Rocancourt, which is currently in post-production.
The Taken 2 and Taken 3 and Transporter 3 director reveals that between big budget action pictures he likes to make documentaries.
“I started out as a painter, not a director. Documentary helps me return to something more human and artisanal that I had when I was painting,” says Megaton.
“As time goes by the films I make are more and more heavy, complicated and pressured. When I am not making films, I need to do something different as I am addicted to work and find it impossible to stop. Documentary is something perfect for me. There’s not so much pressure and I love...
French action director Olivier Megaton is hitting the European Film Market (Efm) this weekend with a teaser screening of his upcoming documentary Roc, The World’s Greatest Con Artist, about infamous French con artist Christophe Rocancourt, which is currently in post-production.
The Taken 2 and Taken 3 and Transporter 3 director reveals that between big budget action pictures he likes to make documentaries.
“I started out as a painter, not a director. Documentary helps me return to something more human and artisanal that I had when I was painting,” says Megaton.
“As time goes by the films I make are more and more heavy, complicated and pressured. When I am not making films, I need to do something different as I am addicted to work and find it impossible to stop. Documentary is something perfect for me. There’s not so much pressure and I love...
- 2/12/2017
- ScreenDaily
Exclusive: Paris-based Upside Distribution is screening a teaser trailer at Efm.
French action director Olivier Megaton is hitting the European Film Market (Efm) this weekend with a teaser screening of his upcoming documentary Roc, The World’s Greatest Con Artist, about infamous French con artist Christophe Rocancourt, which is currently in post-production.
The Taken 2 and Taken 3 and Transporter 3 director reveals that between big budget action pictures he likes to make documentaries.
“I’m started out as a painter, not a director. Documentary helps me return to something more human and artisanal that I had when I was painting,” says Megaton.
“As time goes by the films I make are more and more heavy, complicated and pressured. When I am not making films, I need to do something different as I am addicted to work and find it impossible to stop. Documentary is something perfect for me. There’s not so much pressure and I love...
French action director Olivier Megaton is hitting the European Film Market (Efm) this weekend with a teaser screening of his upcoming documentary Roc, The World’s Greatest Con Artist, about infamous French con artist Christophe Rocancourt, which is currently in post-production.
The Taken 2 and Taken 3 and Transporter 3 director reveals that between big budget action pictures he likes to make documentaries.
“I’m started out as a painter, not a director. Documentary helps me return to something more human and artisanal that I had when I was painting,” says Megaton.
“As time goes by the films I make are more and more heavy, complicated and pressured. When I am not making films, I need to do something different as I am addicted to work and find it impossible to stop. Documentary is something perfect for me. There’s not so much pressure and I love...
- 2/12/2017
- ScreenDaily
Netflix enters Versailles; BBC One drama Capitol inks deals; Roots world premiere; Walter Presents buys Spanish drama for UK; Hulu reads The Book Of Negroes; Olivier Megaton doc gets sales deal.
Fremantle inks deals for BBC One drama Capital
FremantleMedia has struck three deals for three-part drama Capital, which is produced by Kudos, part of Endemol Shine Group, for BBC One. Participant Media’s Pivot has taken Us rights, Shaw has taken Canada rights, and BBC Worldwide will air the programme in Australia and New Zealand.
Toby Jones, Rachael Stirling and Gemma Jones star in the series, which Peter Bowker adapted from John Lanchester’s novel. Matt Strevens produced, executive producers were Derek Wax and Lucy Richer.
Walter Presents takes Spanish drama Locked Up for UK
Foreign-language drama Svod brand Walter Presents, which is available in the UK exclusively on Channel 4’s All Four streaming platform, has taken rights to Globomedia’s Spanish-language women prison series...
Fremantle inks deals for BBC One drama Capital
FremantleMedia has struck three deals for three-part drama Capital, which is produced by Kudos, part of Endemol Shine Group, for BBC One. Participant Media’s Pivot has taken Us rights, Shaw has taken Canada rights, and BBC Worldwide will air the programme in Australia and New Zealand.
Toby Jones, Rachael Stirling and Gemma Jones star in the series, which Peter Bowker adapted from John Lanchester’s novel. Matt Strevens produced, executive producers were Derek Wax and Lucy Richer.
Walter Presents takes Spanish drama Locked Up for UK
Foreign-language drama Svod brand Walter Presents, which is available in the UK exclusively on Channel 4’s All Four streaming platform, has taken rights to Globomedia’s Spanish-language women prison series...
- 4/6/2016
- ScreenDaily
On Mubi / Off is a bi-weekly column exploring two films: one currently available on Mubi in the United States, and the other screening offsite (in theaters, on VOD, Blu-ray/DVD, etc).On Mubi Abuse of Weakness (Catherine Breillat, 2013)Two films, this week, about trauma to body and soul. One is clear-eyed and cutting, the other ostentatiously grim, lugubrious. Catherine Breillat's Abuse of Weakness (Abus de faiblesse, 2013) is the work of clarity—analytic autobiography of the best sort in which the French writer-director dissects her own swindling at the wily hands of career con artist Christophe Rocancourt, who took her for a high-six-figures sum after she suffered a debilitating stroke. The names have been changed, but innocence has not been protected. Breillat's onscreen surrogate, Maud Shainberg (Isabelle Huppert, at the height of her icy powers), is an especially harsh self-portrait—a victim, yes, but one whose so-called weakness (the title...
- 12/13/2015
- by Keith Uhlich
- MUBI
On Mubi / Off is a bi-weekly column exploring two films: one currently available on Mubi in the United States, and the other screening offsite (in theaters, on VOD, Blu-ray/DVD, etc).On Mubi Abuse of Weakness (Catherine Breillat, 2013)Two films, this week, about trauma to body and soul. One is clear-eyed and cutting, the other ostentatiously grim, lugubrious. Catherine Breillat's Abuse of Weakness (Abus de faiblesse, 2013) is the work of clarity—analytic autobiography of the best sort in which the French writer-director dissects her own swindling at the wily hands of career con artist Christophe Rocancourt, who took her for a high-six-figures sum after she suffered a debilitating stroke. The names have been changed, but innocence has not been protected. Breillat's onscreen surrogate, Maud Shainberg (Isabelle Huppert, at the height of her icy powers), is an especially harsh self-portrait—a victim, yes, but one whose so-called weakness (the title...
- 12/9/2015
- by Keith Uhlich
- MUBI
My Afternoon With Maud’s Money: Breillat’s Most Personal Film Showcases Huppert
Catherine Breillat leaves behind the series of Grimm’s fairy tales she was adapting and returns to autobiographical resources to tell one of her own with Abuse of Weakness, which recounts a scandal from the not too distant past in which a con-man Breillat had cast in her next film swindled her out of all her money. Rigid, frigid, and icy to the core, the re-enactment is less scandalous and perhaps more perversely self-castigating, but what supersedes all aspects of both the film’s origination and directorial intent is another fascinating performance from Isabelle Huppert, the stand-in for Breillat’s on-camera persona and perhaps the warmest rendition of an adult female to appear in her filmography yet.
Prolific film director and author Maud Schoenberg (Huppert) awakens suddenly to find half her body paralyzed after suffering a brain hemorrhage.
Catherine Breillat leaves behind the series of Grimm’s fairy tales she was adapting and returns to autobiographical resources to tell one of her own with Abuse of Weakness, which recounts a scandal from the not too distant past in which a con-man Breillat had cast in her next film swindled her out of all her money. Rigid, frigid, and icy to the core, the re-enactment is less scandalous and perhaps more perversely self-castigating, but what supersedes all aspects of both the film’s origination and directorial intent is another fascinating performance from Isabelle Huppert, the stand-in for Breillat’s on-camera persona and perhaps the warmest rendition of an adult female to appear in her filmography yet.
Prolific film director and author Maud Schoenberg (Huppert) awakens suddenly to find half her body paralyzed after suffering a brain hemorrhage.
- 8/13/2014
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
With Sundance kicking off in 24 hours, and the Berlin Film Festival just a few weeks away, we're starting to get that arthouse itch, and here to offer a bit of relief is a new international trailer for Catherine Breillat's latest, "Abuse Of Weakness." And it's based on a rather remarkable true story of an incident that happened to Breillat herself. In 2004, Breillat had a stroke that left one side of body paralyzed. Three years later, she met French conman Christophe Rocancourt and offered him a lead role in one of her movies, as well as money to write a script. Over the next year and a half, Breillat continued to give Rocancourt money, totaling a pretty staggering 678,000 euros (guess being an arty filmmaker does pay). Eventually, Rocancourt was sentenced to jail for what French legal system calls an "abuse of weakness," with Breillat turning her experience first into a book,...
- 1/15/2014
- by Kevin Jagernauth
- The Playlist
For decades French writer-director Catherine Breillat has been creating challenging cinema, but her latest film is shocking in that it is a thinly veiled retelling of her own story. For those unfamiliar, Breillat suffered a severe stroke in 2004 that physically crippled her, leaving the left side of her body paralyzed. After this, she met infamous international conman Christophe Rocancourt, known also as the phony Rockefeller, and the two became unlikely friends. She planned to create a couple of films around him, but ultimately got fleeced for roughly $920,000. In 2009, Breillat shared her side of this incredible incident in her book Abus de faiblesse, or Abuse of Weakness. And now she.s translated that into a fascinating film. Abuse of Weakness follows the known details of Breillat.s tragedy closely. It stars Isabelle Huppert as an esteemed and affluent filmmaker who is laid low by a stroke that paralyzes her left side,...
- 10/8/2013
- cinemablend.com
In 2004, French director Catherine Breillat, famous for making very personal and sexually provocative films such as 36 Fillette (1988), Romance (1999), and Fat Girl (2001), suffered a debilitating stroke caused by a cerebral hemorrhage. This stroke partially paralyzed her and caused epileptic seizures, requiring a long hospital stay and a lengthy period of physical therapy. When Breillat had recovered enough to return to work - although she was still very dependent on others to get around and for other basic tasks - she began with a project called Bad Love, based on her own novel. Supermodel Naomi Campbell had been cast as the female lead, and for the male lead, Breillat decided to cast Christophe Rocancourt, a notorious conman she saw giving an interview...
[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...
[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...
- 10/6/2013
- Screen Anarchy
In late-2004, Catherine Breillat suffered a debilitating stroke that paralyzed the left side of her body and precipitated a five-month hospital stay. After learning to walk again, she soon returned to work, finalizing pre-production on The Last Mistress (2007). Her next project was to have been an adaption of her novel, Bad Love, starring Naomi Campbell and Christophe Rocancourt, a notorious criminal who, by the time Breillat met him, had already served five years in an American prison for defrauding his victims out of millions of dollars.
In a 2008 interview, Breillat said of Rocancourt: "He is so intelligent, so sincere, so arrogant. You have to be arrogant to achieve anything in this life. When I first saw him, I knew he would be perfect for my film." Breillat was, in fact, under the spell of Rocancourt at the time of that interview. Borrowing small sums at first, he would eventually swindle her out of nearly 700,000 euros,...
In a 2008 interview, Breillat said of Rocancourt: "He is so intelligent, so sincere, so arrogant. You have to be arrogant to achieve anything in this life. When I first saw him, I knew he would be perfect for my film." Breillat was, in fact, under the spell of Rocancourt at the time of that interview. Borrowing small sums at first, he would eventually swindle her out of nearly 700,000 euros,...
- 9/25/2013
- by Darren Hughes
- MUBI
It’s unlikely a filmmaker brought a more personal narrative project to the Toronto International Film Festival than Catherine Breillat. The “Fat Girl” and “Romance” director’s 14th film, “Abuse of Weakness,” is a strange, unsettling and difficult-to-penetrate creation based on the most trying period of the acclaimed French filmmaker’s life. In 2004, Breillat suffered a sudden stroke, leading to a long recovery. A few years later, while still recovering, Breillat met a noted con artist named Christophe Rocancourt, an individual who would have a shockingly destructive effect on her life. She was interested in Rocancourt to play the lead in an upcoming film, but what occurred for close to two years did not involve the making of a movie. (In fact, that film never went before cameras.) Instead, she gave Rocancourt loans for almost 700,000 euros, wiping out her savings. Rocancourt was eventually convicted of taking Breillat’s money and sent to prison,...
- 9/10/2013
- by Christopher Schobert
- The Playlist
The 51st New York Film Festival has rounded out its main slate of pictures, and they’ve put together an impressive program. We’ve told you that the opening-night Gala Selection is the Paul Greengrass-helmed Tom Hanks-starrer Captain Phillips, that the Centerpiece Gala Selection is the Ben Stiller-directed The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty, and the closing-night Gala Section is the Spike Jonze-directed Her. So here is everything else: About Time, Director: Richard Curtis, UK Richard Curtis adds a touch of time-travel to this hilarious romantic comedy, a perfect vehicle for the comic talents of Bill Nighy, Rachel McAdams, Lindsay Duncan, and emerging star Domhnall Gleeson. A Universal Pictures release. Abuse Of Weakness (Abus de Faiblesse), Director: Catherine Breillat, France Catherine Breillat’s haunting film about her 2004 stroke and subsequent self-destructive relationship with star swindler Christophe Rocancourt, starring Isabelle Huppert. Alan Patridge, Director: Declan Lowney, UK...
- 8/19/2013
- by MIKE FLEMING JR
- Deadline
Abus De Faiblesse
Director/Writer: Catherine Breillat
Producer(s): Flach Film’s Jean-Francois Le Petit & Iris Groups’ Nicolas Steil
U.S. Distributor: Rights Available
Cast: Isabelle Huppert and Cool Shen
Catherine Breillat’s 14th film project might be her most personal yet, simply because it is lifted from a true-life ordeal that she experienced first-hand with professional conman Christophe Rocancourt. Lucky for us, Breillat isn’t afraid of provocation or digging deep in her personal life for the sake of art – and along for the ride comes the bumpy combo of Isabelle Huppert and non-actor popular rapper Cool Shen. Check out Boyd van Hoeij’s just released set-visit article.
Gist: Huppert plays the Breillat-based character Maud, with rapper Kool Shen (formerly of Ntm) playing the Rocancourt-esque character Vilko.
Release Date: With production having begun in October,it appears that the Venice Film Festival is a more sound bet over Cannes.
Director/Writer: Catherine Breillat
Producer(s): Flach Film’s Jean-Francois Le Petit & Iris Groups’ Nicolas Steil
U.S. Distributor: Rights Available
Cast: Isabelle Huppert and Cool Shen
Catherine Breillat’s 14th film project might be her most personal yet, simply because it is lifted from a true-life ordeal that she experienced first-hand with professional conman Christophe Rocancourt. Lucky for us, Breillat isn’t afraid of provocation or digging deep in her personal life for the sake of art – and along for the ride comes the bumpy combo of Isabelle Huppert and non-actor popular rapper Cool Shen. Check out Boyd van Hoeij’s just released set-visit article.
Gist: Huppert plays the Breillat-based character Maud, with rapper Kool Shen (formerly of Ntm) playing the Rocancourt-esque character Vilko.
Release Date: With production having begun in October,it appears that the Venice Film Festival is a more sound bet over Cannes.
- 1/16/2013
- by Eric Lavallee
- IONCINEMA.com
Even at age 64, Catherine Breillat remains one of French cinema’s true enfants terribles. Her latest project, “Abus de faiblesse,” is an autobiographical film about her complex relationship with French conman Christophe Rocancourt. Isabelle Huppert stars as Maude, Breillat’s fictional alter ego in the film, and Indiewire was invited onto the set in Brussels before Christmas. Breillat’s last two works, “Bluebeard” and “Sleeping Beauty,” were jocular takes on well-know fairy tales by Charles Perrault. But “Abus de faiblesse,” her new project, is based on an autobiographical novel of the same name (which literally translates as “Abuse of Weakness”) and hits much closer to home. Though when looking for the villa where a large part of the upcoming film was shot, in a sleepy if leafy suburb south of Brussels, it doesn’t immediately feel like stepping into Breillat’s world: She’s...
- 1/15/2013
- by Boyd van Hoeij
- Indiewire
Alexander Kluge speaks at the Oberhausen Manifesto press conference 1962
For all the news tumbling out of Rotterdam and Berlin over the past couple of weeks, we don't want to overlook a couple of pretty major announcements coming from other festivals regarding their upcoming editions. Starting with this one: "The 58th International Short Film Festival Oberhausen will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Oberhausen Manifesto (February 28, 2012) with a large-scale thematic program entitled Provoking Reality: Mavericks, Mouvements, Manifesto. To honor the anniversary of the Manifesto, perhaps the single most important group document in German film history, the festival has compiled a selection of films of the signatories, many of which have not been shown for decades and had to be restored expressly for the program."
In addition to the inevitable panel discussion, there'll also be a double DVD from Edition Filmmuseum and, in German, a collection of essays. Before moving on, this...
For all the news tumbling out of Rotterdam and Berlin over the past couple of weeks, we don't want to overlook a couple of pretty major announcements coming from other festivals regarding their upcoming editions. Starting with this one: "The 58th International Short Film Festival Oberhausen will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Oberhausen Manifesto (February 28, 2012) with a large-scale thematic program entitled Provoking Reality: Mavericks, Mouvements, Manifesto. To honor the anniversary of the Manifesto, perhaps the single most important group document in German film history, the festival has compiled a selection of films of the signatories, many of which have not been shown for decades and had to be restored expressly for the program."
In addition to the inevitable panel discussion, there'll also be a double DVD from Edition Filmmuseum and, in German, a collection of essays. Before moving on, this...
- 1/15/2012
- MUBI
Vigilandia
Ethan Hawke has joined the futuristic thriller "Vigilandia" at Universal Pictures, Blumhouse Productions, Platinum Dunes Productions and Why Not Productions.
James DeMonaco ("The Negotiator") penned and directs the story with details being kept under wraps. Jason Blum, Michael Bay, Brad Fuller and Andrew Form will produce and shooting kicks off February 13th. [Source: Reuters]
Abus de faiblesse
French acting legend Isabelle Huppert has joined the cast of Catherine Breillat’s autobiographical feature "Abus de faiblesse" for Arte France Cinema.
The story is based on Breillat’s real-life experiences with celebrity hustler Christophe Rocancourt whom she befriended. He took advantage of her fragile state (she had a stroke in 2004) and embezzled her of €650,000.
Huppert plays self-destructive, hemiplegic film director Maud who enters into a dangerous friendship with flamboyant crook Vilko (Kool Shen). Shooting kicks off later this year. [Source: Screen Daily]
The Black Marks
Chris Diamantopoulos ("The Three Stooges," "The Kennedys") has joined the cast...
Ethan Hawke has joined the futuristic thriller "Vigilandia" at Universal Pictures, Blumhouse Productions, Platinum Dunes Productions and Why Not Productions.
James DeMonaco ("The Negotiator") penned and directs the story with details being kept under wraps. Jason Blum, Michael Bay, Brad Fuller and Andrew Form will produce and shooting kicks off February 13th. [Source: Reuters]
Abus de faiblesse
French acting legend Isabelle Huppert has joined the cast of Catherine Breillat’s autobiographical feature "Abus de faiblesse" for Arte France Cinema.
The story is based on Breillat’s real-life experiences with celebrity hustler Christophe Rocancourt whom she befriended. He took advantage of her fragile state (she had a stroke in 2004) and embezzled her of €650,000.
Huppert plays self-destructive, hemiplegic film director Maud who enters into a dangerous friendship with flamboyant crook Vilko (Kool Shen). Shooting kicks off later this year. [Source: Screen Daily]
The Black Marks
Chris Diamantopoulos ("The Three Stooges," "The Kennedys") has joined the cast...
- 1/13/2012
- by Garth Franklin
- Dark Horizons
Not a bad pairing, is it? ScreenDaily (via ThePlaylist) tells us that the controversial auteur and acclaimed actress will be joining forces on an adaptation of Breillat‘s own book, Abuse of Weakness — or Abus De Faiblesse — which centered on her experiences with a con man, Christophe Rocancourt. The two met in the middle of this past decade (she wanted to cast him in a film based on his own life, Bad Love), but their relationship ended when the filmmaker accused Rocancourt of stealing approximately €850,000 from her, following a stroke.
It’s clearly some deep, personal territory for Breillat — so, when you think about it, one could do a lot worse than cast Isabelle Huppert as themselves. This version of the story doesn’t veer too wildly from the past, as it concerns “self-destructive, hemiplegic film director Maud who enters into a dangerous friendship with flamboyant crook Vilko”; he’ll...
It’s clearly some deep, personal territory for Breillat — so, when you think about it, one could do a lot worse than cast Isabelle Huppert as themselves. This version of the story doesn’t veer too wildly from the past, as it concerns “self-destructive, hemiplegic film director Maud who enters into a dangerous friendship with flamboyant crook Vilko”; he’ll...
- 1/12/2012
- by jpraup@gmail.com (thefilmstage.com)
- The Film Stage
She has a love-hate relationship with her home country and specialises in sex and scandal. What made the French director opt for a fairytale?
Catherine Breillat used to be the pariah of French cinema; she even wrote an essay called The Importance of Being Hated. Controversy seems to shadow every step of her film-making career: in 1999 Romance was the first mainstream film to show an erect penis; she gave Italian porn star Rocco Siffredi his 15 minutes of arthouse fame when she cast him in the lead role of Anatomy of Hell in 2004 (its 18-certificate activities included drinking menstrual blood and penetration with a rusty garden rake). These films left her with the nickname "the auteur of porn".
In truth, although these films were sexually explicit – exploring women's relationships with desire – they were meticulously unerotic. And in the last couple of years, outrage, ridicule, exasperation – all standard responses to a new...
Catherine Breillat used to be the pariah of French cinema; she even wrote an essay called The Importance of Being Hated. Controversy seems to shadow every step of her film-making career: in 1999 Romance was the first mainstream film to show an erect penis; she gave Italian porn star Rocco Siffredi his 15 minutes of arthouse fame when she cast him in the lead role of Anatomy of Hell in 2004 (its 18-certificate activities included drinking menstrual blood and penetration with a rusty garden rake). These films left her with the nickname "the auteur of porn".
In truth, although these films were sexually explicit – exploring women's relationships with desire – they were meticulously unerotic. And in the last couple of years, outrage, ridicule, exasperation – all standard responses to a new...
- 7/15/2010
- by Cath Clarke
- The Guardian - Film News
If the debilitating after-effects of a stroke weren't bad enough (she miraculously gave birth to not one (The Last Mistress) but two films when you add the Nyff selection Bluebeard) now comes word that the Bad Love (a project which she mentioned to us the last time she came to Nyff for a film), a remake of Breillat's own film, is Doa. - Thanks to Fin De Cinema's Joe Bowman for piecing together an update on provocatrice filmmaker Catherine Breillat. If the debilitating after-effects of a stroke weren't bad enough (she miraculously gave birth to not one (The Last Mistress) but two films when you add the Nyff selection Bluebeard) now comes word that the Bad Love (a project which she mentioned to us the last time she came to Nyff for a film), a remake of Breillat's own film, is Doa. It would have starred model Naomi Campbell,...
- 12/13/2009
- by Ioncinema.com Staff
- IONCINEMA.com
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