EXCLUSIVE: French mini-major Pathé is on the Cannes Movie Competition this 12 months with opening movie Depart One Day, and nicely as Martin Bourboulon’s August 2021 Fall of Kabul-set motion function 13 Days, 13 Nights, which performs Out of Competitors.
It follows on from a high-profile 2024 on the competition, when the corporate attended,with The Rely of Monte-Cristo, which was a success at dwelling and when on to gross greater than $100 million, in addition to Emilia Pérez and Partenope amongst different movies.
Amélie Bonnin’s musical movie Depart One Day made historical past on Tuesday night as the primary debut movie to open the competition throughout its 78 editions.
The romantic musical film builds on Bonnin’s 2023 César-winning brief movie of the identical identify. French singer Juliette Armanet stars as a rising chef in Paris, who’s pressured to return to her small hometown to assist out in her household’s roadside diner, when father suffers a coronary heart assault. The unwelcome journey reconnects her with teenage crush Raphaël (Bastien Bouillon).
The movie, which intermeshes performances of in style French pop songs and classics of the la chanson française with drama, went down a storm with the competition’s opening evening crowd, and releases vast throughout France at this time.
Deadline sat down with Pathé President Ardavan Safaee forward of the competition for a chat in regards to the firm’s resolution to board the weird movie, plans for its launch and upcoming productions.
DEADLINE: What Introduced Pathé to Depart One Day?
SAFAEE: One of many magical issues about this occupation is these likelihood conferences. The movie got here to Pathé primarily because of its co-producer Sylvie Pialat. She didn’t produce Amelie’s brief movie however talked to me about it through the voting interval for the Césars. I additionally fell in love with the brief and voted for it too. Sylvie got here again to me with the function movie. It’s a comparatively small first movie and may not seem to be a very good match for Pathé, however on the identical time, we’ve got area for tasks we fall in love with, which might be out of the strange and deviate from pre-established patterns. Then, there was the assembly with the movie and Amélie Bonnin. The crew fell in love with the story and Amélie in addition to what she is making an attempt to recount. A part of our job, after we uncover issues that contact us on a private stage, can be being ready to take a chance on working with rising administrators, even when it’s on their first movie, to find new skills.
DEADLINE: Was the César for the brief movie additionally issue?
SAFAEE: There was the César, but additionally the solid with Juliette Armanet and Bastien Bouillon – with Juliette in her first lead position as an actress, even when she is a singing star in France – alongside incredible established actors François Rollin and Dominique Blanc. There was additionally one thing very pop and new within the tone of comedy and the emotion. What I additionally favored is that for a primary movie, we don’t have the impression that it’s a primary movie. There’s a maturity within the storytelling. There was a mixture of comedy, emotion and depth within the characters, with one thing very new, fashionable and really pop in its tone, which was incredible. It’s a distinct kind of danger from the monetary one among The Rely of Monte Cristo, however it’s nonetheless a danger, as a result of on a primary movie, you’re by no means fairly certain how the administrators are going to work out.
DEADLINE: Does Pathé work with many first movies?
SAFAEE: We’ve labored on a fairly a number of. Antonin Baudry’s The Wolf’s Name was a primary movie and we additionally just lately launched Maël Piriou’s Une Pointe d’Amour. We don’t have any guidelines, though after all we stay extra cautious on first movies than others. It’s all the time a query of the story, if it’s one thing we wish to inform, if it touches us. Then if we’re ready to take the inventive, narrative danger, we must be extra disciplined by way of the finances.
DEADLINE: What was the finances for Depart One Day?
SAFAEE: Simply over six million euros ($6.7 million).
DEADLINE: Was it one of many movies financed underneath your co-financing partnership with Logical Images?
SAFAEE: Sure, it’s got here underneath the deal we started in 2022, however which is able to come to an finish this 12 months.
Depart One Day
Pathé
DEADLINE: Apart from the very fact it’s a primary movie, there’s additionally the weird mixture of drama and performances of pop songs and chanson française classics.
SAFAEE: It’s not a traditional musical with individuals who dance and sing completely, that’s what us. The way in which the songs are launched into story may be very pure. For the audiences who know these songs, there will likely be nostalgia, and for many who don’t, I believe that the sense of nostalgia will resonate. Additionally, the story may be very a lot anchored in actuality…it’s not a fantasy world, which is the place some musicals can alienate audiences. We’re speaking about regular folks, with a kind of magic. Aside from Juliette Armanet, who sings extraordinarily nicely, the opposite solid members sing such as you, or I’d sing, it’s one thing that comes from the guts. It offers it a really intimate and genuine really feel.
DEADLINE: Are there any plans to launch a soundtrack?
SAFAEE: We will certainly exploit ‘Partir un Jour’, the monitor on the finish of the movie, which has been reorchestrated for the movie, however we’re ready to see how nicely the movie does. If the movie is a big success, which we hope, we may very simply re-release a number of tracks, or do one thing larger. It might be in collaboration with Common. It would rely upon the general public’s response. Whereas it’s a movie that can maintain a number of nostalgia for the French, it’s additionally a movie that… will contact everybody. I believe it’s a movie that might generate a number of remakes.
DEADLINE: Because the opening movie of Cannes, Depart One Day must be launched theatrically concurrently in France underneath the competition guidelines. Does that complicate issues by way of positioning the movie at dwelling and organising it up for worldwide gross sales?
SAFAEE: It is determined by your targets. For a movie like this, the opening was good. It allowed us to shine a highlight instantly, even when it gave us much less time to plan for the discharge, which was initially scheduled for a month later. The instant problem on this movie isn’t essentially the worldwide market instantly, even when it’s an necessary problem, however reasonably the French market. However sure, for English-language movies that haven’t been offered, it may be a extra difficult slot, as a result of folks will instantly see the ends in France, after which act accordingly. The worldwide stakes on this movie are clearly not the identical as our Musketeer movies or The Rely of Monte Cristo. However on this movie, I believe the opening slot will assist gross sales.
DEADLINE: What number of screens will Pathé launch the movie on?
SAFAEE: The evening of the opening, a lot of cinema theaters throughout France display screen the opening ceremony and round 700 theaters, will present the movie concurrently. The following day, we’ll return to a extra “regular” launch, with the movie programmed in round 350 theaters for its nationwide launch. We prefer to cowl the entire territory. Relying on the movie’s efficiency, we may improve the variety of theaters within the second and third week.
DEADLINE: With The Rely of Monte-Cristo, you labored so much with its star Pierre Niney on social media to advertise the movie. Will you run an identical marketing campaign with Juliette Armanet?
SAFAEE: She’s clearly a giant star and by way of advertising and marketing, that may serve us nicely, because of the group of followers who’re on the market. On the identical time, we gained’t do the identical in-depth work as with Pierre Niney on Monte Cristo, as a result of we had two, three months of doable promotion. Right here, we solely have two, three weeks. Every part may be very concentrated, very compact. It’s additionally not the identical public. Their fanbases are very totally different, and so they have alternative ways of activating their group.
DEADLINE: Which leads on to the query… what’s your target market for this movie?
SAFAEE: It’s not essentially a movie for youngsters or youthful kids, though the comedy component may draw a youthful viewers. The component of nostalgia will play nicely with the over-30s, particularly those that are followers of Juliette Armanet. Whereas the presence of actors like Dominique Blanc and François Rollin may attract an older viewers. The movie talks so much about inter-generational relationships, by way of the connection between the daddy and the daughter [who is in her early 40s], which is able to attraction to each these generations. Our efforts will likely be initially targeted on city audiences, however because the movie takes place in a roadside diner in a village, this additionally offers us scope to broaden the viewers. I believe it is going to be a city-based, cinephile viewers within the first occasion, which we’ll look to broaden, utilizing the highlight of the Cannes opening.
DEADLINE: Pathé’s different upcoming movies embrace Martin Bourboulon’s fall of Kabul drama 13 Days, 13 Nights, which comes out in June, after which there may be Antonin Baudry’s two-part bio-pic De Gaulle. When will that come out?
SAFAEE: They may come out in 2026. The 2 elements gained’t be as spaced out as The Three Musketeers movies [which were released with eight-month gap between them in 2023]. We’ll launch them extra tightly, six to eight weeks aside. I don’t know which date but. We’re in the course of post-production on each movies on the identical time.
DEADLINE: Up to now, you talked about making English-language movies out of France, and wider Europe. Has this concept superior?
SAFAEE: Completely. We’ve simply introduced Matthieu Delaporte and Alexandre de La Patellière’s adaptation of Les Rois Maudits, The Accursed Kings, which we’re growing in English. We additionally produce other tasks we’re working with the brand new firm of Dimitri Rassam (producer of The Rely Of Monte-Cristo, The Musketeers) specialised in English-language movies out of France. We’re going to associate with him on these movies to co-finance and distribute. I believe we’re going to start out up once more the in UK, with Pathé UK. At the moment, the crew there may be targeted primarily on collection. We’re going to remobilize, to get again on monitor with English-language movies there too.
DEADLINE: That’s an fascinating improvement. Pathé’s transfer away from movie within the UK in 2023, despatched shockwaves by way of the business…
SAFAEE: The market has modified so much post-Covid. There are alternatives opening up once more at this time, which might be extra vital as a result of, even creatively, I discover that movies have just lately taken over from collection by way of originality and creativity. And I see movies at this time which might be extra unique, which might be taking a number of extra dangers. And if there are producers who’re prepared to hold these these tasks, we may also assist them on our aspect at Pathé UK. I wish to us to choose up the place we left off. And from this 12 months, I hope, to reconnecting with all of the producers and expertise there to start out growing there once more. We’re discussing it, and the concept is to have a crew in place this 12 months to start out engaged on it.
DEADLINE: That is excellent news for the U.Ok movie business. Pathé’s transfer away from movie within the UK in 2023, despatched shockwaves by way of the business…
SAFAEE: We didn’t go away as a result of we didn’t prefer it. We left as a result of our enterprise mannequin not labored on the movies we have been making. And I believe we have been ready to see how the market was doing over time, to see if there was something new… Did it make sense to make movies in English once more? Was there a marketplace for it? And I believe we already miss it an excessive amount of, and on the one hand, we see that there’s new expertise. It’s goes past the UK. I believe it’s extra European than that, it’s extra international. I additionally see that there’s… There could also be a scarcity of unique movies in the US and the abilities, American actresses, actors, are additionally beginning to work on movies in Europe, as a result of we will provide new issues. So sure, I would like there to be a crew in England, however I would like it to be a crew that isn’t solely targeted on English movies, but additionally European movies within the English language.
DEADLINE: May U.S. President Donald Trump’s Speak Of Tariffs Affect This Technique?
SAFAEE: I don’t actually perceive what it means in concrete phrases. Now we have our ambitions and plans for cinema and to make them in French and English… and we’ll determine it out.
