Shooting starts on Ma vie sans Meg Ryan
The eight-week shoot on Ma vie sans Meg Ryan (lit. "My Life Without Meg Ryan"), the directorial debut by Marc Gibaja, a romantic comedy starring Marie Gillain, Gilles Lellouche and Stéphanie Sokolinski, started in the Ile de France on Monday.
Co-scripted by the director and Laurent Sarfati – authors of the highly popular and funny Minute Blonde series on Canal + – the film is about a boy and a girl who fall madly in love with each other at the age of nine. However, the magic of childhood feelings are not easily reconciled with the adult world, where the characters move back in with their parents when dumped by their ex-es, where they are bored to death in the Parisian suburbs and where obese friends of the "hero" try their luck with a 16 year-old girl they like.
In this gloomy life full of anguish, bitterness, rigid psychological feelings – even depression and alcoholism – what are the chances of success for romantic love? And where does Meg Ryan fit into all that? Answers in the theatres in 2007.
Gibaja has already made several shorts, including Confessions dans un bain (lit. "Confessions in a Bath"), winner of the Special Jury Prize at the 2001 Clermont-Ferrand Festival.
Meanwhile, Gillain has just finished filming Have Mercy on Us All by Régis Wargnier, while co-star Lellouche is currently an important rising star in French cinema. Nominated Best Newcomer for Love Is In The Air at this year’s César awards, he was also acclaimed for his performance last year in Anthony Zimmer by Jérôme Salle.
Gillain’s next appearances on screen are in Tell No One by Guillaume Canet (release October 18), Héros de la famille [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (lit. "Family Hero") by Thierry Klifa (December 20) and next year in Ma place au soleil (lit. "My Place in the Sun") by Eric de Montalier.
Produced by Nicolas Blanc for Agat Films & Cie, the €4.3m budget Ma vie sans Meg Ryan was co-produced by France 3 Cinéma and StudioCanal with the participation of Canal +.
The 50-day shoot is expected to finish on September 18. The film’s French release is scheduled for next year (by Mars Distribution ).
(Translated from French)
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