Filmmaker hopes humour of The Intouchables will translate into overseas box- office appeal
TORONTO — French filmmaker Eric Toledano is secure in the knowledge that he’s accomplished what he set out to do with the film The Intouchables.
Since its release last November, the movie has set box- office records, and won acclaim in France and the rest of Europe. And Omar Sy, who plays the assistant in the movie, received the Cesar Award for Best Actor last February, beating out Oscar winner Jean Dujardin from The Artist.
Still, Toledano’s anxiously anticipating the reaction to his movie in Canada and the U. S.
Opening in select U. S. cities May 25 and Toronto June 1, The Intouchables is a comedy ( in French with English subtitles) about a wealthy, Paris- based paraplegic and his streetwise, irreverent assistant.
“American audiences are the most difficult to convince, because they have so many movies to select from,” says Toledano at a Toronto hotel recently. “It is a new challenge for us, but we were inspired by American buddy movies from the 1980s, like Trading Places, so we will see.”
To confirm The Intouchables’ commercial appeal, there’s this; an Englishlanguage version is already in development at an American studio with Colin Firth signed to play the wheelchair- bound billionaire.
Directed and co- written by Toledano and Olivier Nakache, The Intouchables chronicles the unlikely friendship between Philippe ( Francois Cluzet), a rich quadriplegic, and Driss ( Sy), a Senegalese ex- convict from the projects hired as his caregiver. Eventually, the energetic and frank Driss charms Philippe’s staff, and brings Philippe out of his sullen depression.
Mixing humour with some serious asides, there’s no doubt the film has feel- good intentions, and for good reason — Toledano points out that the optimistic story is based on an awardwinning 2003 documentary, À la vie, à la mort.
That didn’t mean the process to transform it into a movie was any easier.
After securing the funds for a 12- week shoot, they focused on the critical casting of the leads.
Sy, born in Trappes, France, to Senegalese parents, was the key for Toledano and Nakache, because they were confident he could handle the demanding role.
Not only had Sy starred in their previous hits, 2006’ s Those Happy Days and 2008’ s So Close, he had grown up in the Paris projects just like his character, Driss. ( The real- life assistant, Abdel, is Algerian).
“We showed Omar the documentary,” recalls Toledano. “And we told him very honestly, ‘ If you don’t want to do it, we don’t want to do it.’” He quickly said, ‘ Yes.’
Cluzet, they decided, would be more difficult to convince. He’s a renowned French actor ( nominated for 10 Cesar film awards), and more inclined to star in independent movies rather than more mainstream pictures associated with Nakache and Toledano.
However, Cluzet ended up reading The Intouchables screenplay one day, and agreed to play the wheelchairbound Philippe the next.
“Francois is normally difficult to reach,” Toledano says. “One day, he told us he wanted to meet for coffee, and he is very famous so we didn’t say, ‘ No, we are too busy.’ He surprised us when he said, ‘ I am the guy, stop looking.’”
So far, the only negative associated with The Intouchables was a critical review in Variety last year. It called the movie racist for its depiction of a lower class African in the service of an upper class European.
“We were insulted by this,” Toledano says. “How can an American journalist think he has the truth, and we are wrong? We are observing the culture of a country, and it is not America.”