Guillaume Canet: Last News

Alfonso Cuarón was reflective but playful this afternoon as he headlined the latest session in the Locarno Film Festival’s popular masterclass series.

French-language action thriller Ad Vitam, starring Guillaume Canet, has entered Netflix’s all-time top ten for most popular non-English movies on its platform.

Dennis Harvey Film Critic Guillaume Canet makes like Bruce Willis and other past regular-guy-as-action-hero models in “Ad Vitam,” which he co-wrote. The entertaining Netflix concoction stars Canet as a Parisian ex-cop forcibly pulled into new perils connected to the shootout that got him sacked. Putting its hero through paces that embrace everything from parkour to parasailing, Rodolphe Lauga’s feature is not dull.

“Where do things truly start?” wonders the narrator of Emmanuel Mouret’s relentlessly middlebrow romantic comedy Trois Amies, a story of three women and their relationships that never feels like it’s ever going to end. Though it lasts just under two hours, it feels as bright and breezy as a flight from Newark to Singapore, spinning a complicated web of emotional intrigue that, finally, seems to go on and on just for the sake of it.

Guy Lodge Film Critic The court of Louis XVI is stripped to a faded, festering husk of itself in “The Flood,” a stark study of the king’s last days in which the luxurious trappings of French monarchy disappear before our eyes — until only its literal architecture remains. An impressively severe second feature by Italian director Gianluca Jodice, this is a brisk rejoinder to past cinematic portraits of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette that have rendered even their downfall in the most lavish way possible.

Marta Balaga Co-stars Mélanie Laurent and Guillaume Canet will receive the Excellence Award Davide Campari at Locarno, dedicated to actors with extraordinary careers. “I would be sad if Mélanie was getting it all by herself, and I would feel awkward if I was the only one. It’s wonderful that we are getting it together,” Canet tells Variety ahead of this year’s Locarno Film Festival.

Switzerland’s Locarno Film Festival returns this week with what is perhaps the strongest lineup festival director Giona A. Nazzaro has conjured up during his short but impactful four-year tenure. Across the festival’s official competitions, you can find new works by arthouse leaders like Hong Sang-soo, Wang Bing, Radu Jude, and Ben Rivers — all world premieres. Hollywood will also be present on the Piazza Grande with an expansive retrospective titled The Lady with the Torch set to be mounted at the fest to celebrate the centennial of Columbia Pictures. 

Marta Balaga Locarno has revealed this year’s official selection. Known auteurs Hong Sang-soo (“By the Stream”) and Wang Bing (“Youth (Hard Times)”) will now battle it out in the official selection, which will welcome 17 world premieres.

Switzerland’s Locarno Film Festival will debut 17 world premieres, including new works by Hong Sang-soo and Wang Bing, as part of its 2024 competition program. This year’s event runs from August 7 – 17. 

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent New films from well-known auteurs such as Hong Sang-soo, Wang Bing and Ben Rivers will compete for the Golden Leopard against potential discoveries by newcomers and lesser known helmers in a competition that Locarno Film Festival artistic director Giona A. Nazzaro has called “a mosaic that reflects the multiple forms of contemporary cinema.” Interestingly, all of the four first works in the 17-title competition are directed by women. Nazzaro spoke to Variety about his choices for what looks like his most ambitious edition.

Studiocanal and Editions Albert René have signed an exclusive development agreement for the fifth live action movie inspired by the adventures of French comic strip hero Asterix.

Netflix has announced the start of principal photography on action thriller Ad Vitam led by French star Guillaume Canet.

French cinema saw its fortunes rise at the international box office in 2023 after three difficult Covid-19 and post pandemic years, according to the annual report of export agency Unifrance released on Tuesday.

French exhibitors can start 2024 with renewed confidence as new figures released by the National Cinema Center (CNC) show that audiences are heading back to the big screen.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Shane Atkinson’s “LaRoy,” a crime thriller laced with dark comedy, swept three major prizes at the 49th edition of the Deauville American Film Festival. The movie, which marks Atkinson’s feature debut and showcases Coen brothers influences, won the Grand Prize, the Audience Award and the Critics Award. It stars John Magaro as Ray, who decides to kill himself after discovering his wife has been cheating on him.

Everyone assumes Mathieu’s life is marvelous. He is a popular film actor, as evidenced by the waiters and receptionists who take it upon themselves to give an appreciative commentary on his film career as they serve the soup or sign him into a hotel. He is married to a celebrity news anchor. When he checks into a spa retreat in a seaside town otherwise deserted for the winter, he finds a glossy magazine with his face on the cover next to one of the relaxation chairs. The story inside has him talking about his marvelous life, in particular his forthcoming stage debut, with accompanying quotes from his highflying wife. This is the woman who was too busy even to say goodbye before he came here. But the worst of it is that he is there: He has pulled out the play. When it came to it, he was afraid to do something new. Nobody knows it yet, but he is a failure.

France’s Deauville American Film Festival has unveiled the 14 U.S. indie titles selected for competition in its 49th edition running from September 1 to 10.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Aside from its Palme d’Or for Justine Triet’s “Anatomy of a Fall,” the French cinema world is also celebrating the near-complete recovery of French box office after the pandemic. Ticket sales are still 11.6 % down on the average levels of 2017 to 2019, but the good news is that the B.O. jumped by 33% with 82.38 million admissions during the first five months of 2023, according to the CNC (National Film Board). The upward trend is driven by the spike in anticipated U.S. movies being released — they skyrocketed from 29 in 2022 to 51 in 2023 during the first five months, according to Comscore France. There’s also been a tide of successful French movies, ranging from big-budget, franchise-based movies like Guillaume Canet’s “Asterix and Obelix: The Middle Kingdom,” Philippe Lacheau’s “Alibi.com 2” and Martin Bourboulon’s “The Three Musketeers: D’Artagnan,” to original fare like the Omar Sy starrer “Father and Soldier” and François Ozon’s 1950’s-set courtroom comedy “The Crime is Mine.” Maiwenn’s “Jeanne du Barry” starring Johnny Depp ranks as May’s fifth biggest hit with more than 550,000 admissions ($4.3 million) since its world premiere on opening night of the Cannes Film Festival.

EXCLUSIVE: France tv distribution has launched sales on French director Benoît Jacquot’s upcoming crime thriller Belle starring Charlotte Gainsbourg and Guillaume Canet.

Guillaume Canet’s ambitious 64M euros ($70M) production Asterix & Obelix: The Middle Kingdom was on track to be the top opener at the French box office on Wednesday, but it remains to be seen whether the film can match the success of its predecessors.

French actor and director Guillaume Canet has revealed he is feeling the pressure ahead of the release next week of his ambitious $70M production Asterix & Obelix: The Middle Kingdom.