Threats said to greet Strauss-kahn film
THE producer of a film that appears to chart the spectacular downfall of Dominique Strauss-Kahn claims he was warned that the estranged wife of the former International Monetary Fund chief would “destroy his life”.
The accusation will heighten controversy over the film, Welcome to New York, which premieres next weekend at Cannes.
The film’s producer, Vincent Maraval, repeated his claims that the French political and media “elite” had done their best to prevent it being made.
“No French television station wanted to finance the film,” he told the Journal du Dimanche. The £1.8million (R31-million) production was financed by his company, Wild Bunch, the City of New York and three private investors.
“Everyone, our friends and our enemies, advised us against making the film,” he said.
The movie is inspired by the story of Strauss-Kahn, the former head of the IMF whose career — and hopes of becoming French president — collapsed after he was charged with sexually assaulting a hotel maid in New York. The prosecutor later dropped the charges against him.
Maraval said that he was warned against making the film by Dan Franck, a friend of Strauss-Kahn, and his heiress wife, Anne Sinclair, at a private dinner.
He said Franck told him: “You should know one thing: Anne Sinclair will spend her entire fortune on destroying your life.” — © The Daily Telegraph, London