02/07/2007

Filming kicked off in Paris this week on Faubourg 36, the much-awaited second feature by Christophe Barratier, who directed the successful feature debut The Chorus [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (8.6m admissions in France, €12.4m in international box-office takings in 2004 and a nomination for Best Foreign Language Film Oscar in 2005).

Production is being handled by new outfit Galatée Films. The cast features two stars of The Chorus, Gérard Jugnot and Maxence Perrin, as well as Clovis Cornillac, Kad Merad, Pierre Richard, Bernard-Pierre Donnadieu and Nora Arnezeder.

Co-written by the director and Julien Rappeneau, the film is set in a suburb of north-east Paris between December 1935 and July 1936 during the "revolutionary" period of the Popular Front (who introduced the first paid holidays and a shorter working week). Three unemployed performers (Jugnot, Cornillac and Merad) decide to take over by force the music hall where they worked a few months earlier and stage a show there.

Cinematography on Faubourg 36 is being handled by US DoP Tom Stern, who has been working with Clint Eastwood since Mystic River. In an interview with the AFC (association of French DoPs) Stern said the film combines "a very optimistic musical comedy aspect and a much darker, dramatic background. The joy of paid holidays soon turns into tragedy with the onset of WWII."

Produced by Jacques Perrin and Nicolas Mauvernay for Galatée, Faubourg 36 was jointly produced by Pathé Renn and Germany’s Constantin. After two weeks in the Paris region, the crew will film in and around Prague from July 17 to October 12, with Blue Screen Productions handling production in the Czech city.

Pathé will release the film in France, as well as handling world sales.

(Translated from French)