25/01/2013 - A transatlantic cast for Ismaël Saïdi’s new film, Moroccan Gigolo’s, hard times for three friends from Brussels who become escort boys to open a snack bar

Samir, Dédé and Nicolas, best friends for life, dream of transforming their friendship into a business enterprise by opening a small snack bar at the heart of Brussels. However dreams are all very fine, but without the money to fulfil them, it’s all in vain. Between minor jobs and lots of schemes, they go from one failure to the next, confronted by an impossible financial Everest. Thanks to a random encounter, the spark of a solution seems to appear: why not take advantage of their undeniable capital composed of charm and appeal? They launch a very profitable business: the Moroccan Gigolo’s. What starts as an innocent venture will obviously go wrong, and turn into a real race against time for the childhood friends.

Certainly no beginner, director Ismaël Saïdi (photo) has half a dozen short movies and a first feature film, Ahmed Gassiaux, to his credit. In 2006, he directed Rhimou in Morocco, the story of a young girl, poor and somewhat lost, who unexpectedly inherits a colossal fortune. Hugely successful, this TV film was produced by the 2M channel, for which Saïdi also directed Soins à Domicile last summer.

Reda Chebchoubi, whose outlandish universe we just discovered in Cinéma Inch’Allah, but also the young actor from Quebec François Arnaud discovered in J’ai tué ma mère, then in the series The Borgias, and French actor Eddy King, who emigrated to Montreal where he won his spurs as a stand-up comic, are all in the cast of this multi-cultural comedy whose context is somewhat reminiscent of that of Les Barons [+see also:
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trailer
Interview with director and actress of…
interview: Nabil Ben Yadir
film profile] (Dream Touch) by Nabil Ben Yadir, the surprise success of 2009 in Belgium. David Salles (Bref, Case Départ, HLM) is also part of the cast together with Elise Larnicol, discovered in the Robin Hood band. Quebec movie star Guylaine Tremblay is also in the movie, thus ensuring that it will be of particular interest to distributors in Quebec.

Moroccan Gigolo’s is produced by Jean-Yves Roubin (FraKas productions) in coproduction with Daniel Morin (Boreal Films), with backing from the CCA, Wallimage, the SODEC and Téléfilm Canada. Filming began on January 14^th between Liège and Brussels, and should end on February 21^st.

(Translated from French)