Since 2019, he had disappeared from the radar. But it was to better prepare for her big comeback, and the most ambitious project of her career. At 33, Malik Bentalha leaves this Wednesday Jack Mimoun and the secrets of Val Verdean adventure comedy in the tradition ofIndiana Jonesof which he is the hero, but also the co-writer and co-director.
Malik Bentalha plays the title role, a TV star adventurer, contacted by the mysterious Aurélie Diaz (Joséphine Japy) to go to the island of Val Verde in search of pirate La Buse’s treasure. They are flanked in their search by Bruno Quézac (Jérôme Commandeur), Jack Mimoun’s manager, and mercenary Jean-Marc Bastos (François Damiens).
“The rebirth of cinema will go through honesty”
For Malik Bentalha, Jack Mimoun It is the film of maturity, “to show people that they have grown up”: “Confinement served me as a period of introspection. I was wondering what I wanted to do in the next few years. I tried to understand the evolution of cinema. And I said to myself, the renaissance of cinema will go through honesty.”
This is how this blockbuster was born with a budget of 12-13 million euros, its first production, inspired by the top films of his adolescence:
“It’s like those fight movies where the character gets gentrified and finds flame by going back to his first love and his first room, with his first trainer.”
This project is also for him a way to better control the films in which he acts: “I recognize certain weaknesses in my way of analyzing the profession when I was younger. When you get into this profession, you want to exist. And exist.” it is to turn quickly, to have projects in advance”.
“At the service of the actors who make me love”
Jack Mimoun it could have become an egocentric project, but it is the opposite that happens on the screen. Malik Bentalha, whose character disappears twenty minutes into the film, is overshadowed by Jérôme Commandeur and François Damiens, both irresistible: “And that suits me perfectly. We wrote the film like that.”
“I don’t want to pretend to be modest,” he adds, “but I discovered when I realized that I loved putting myself at the service of the actors who make me love them. Messi was at Barça, but what did I love Xavi and Iniesta, these workers in the shadow, this work in midfield”.
This sincerity is found on the screen. The mythology surrounding the treasure of the pirate La Buse, a historical character who inspired the manga One piece, is faithfully transcribed on the screen. What Raiders of the Lost Ark, Jack Mimoun is based on a true story, suggested by one of the screenwriters, Florent Bernard, who had already been inspired by La Buse for a video made with Golden Mustache.
“It’s not just Tom Cruise”
Malik Bentalha has invested heavily in this project. “I stopped everything in my life to do just that. I put my health to the test, because I finally wanted to do a project while being 1000% invested. The others, I was invested at the time, but my mind was occupied with projects that came later. I wasn’t focused.”
The comedian has also invented a grotesque character of an adventurer in a way. He gained ten kilos for the role and donned a ridiculous quiff on his head, inspired by Richard Gere’s brushing: “The wig allowed me to protect my scalp during action scenes.” He was not injured on the set: “It’s not just Tom Cruise, now Malik has to be reckoned with!”
Jack Mimoun mix comedy scenes and action sequences. And this from one of the first scenes, where the character fights a boa: “If we want the audience to believe in the character, the movie has to start with a strong image. We can’t have Malik in a wig walking around and say he’s an adventure star.
“An Advent Calendar”
Tribute to the adventure cinema of the 80s, Jack Mimoun is full of winks. The island of Val Verde is thus “a reference to the American screenwriter Steven E. de Souza, who created this fictional universe that we find in many films such as Command, predator Where 58 minutes to live“, explains Malik Bentalha.
“There are 150 references in Jack Mimoun!”, assures the actor-director, who has multiplied the allusions to Indiana Jones, Jurassic Park Y the man from river. “We wanted the film to be an advent calendar, for everything to be a reference. Rio no longer responds It was my go-to movie to get this done.”
The music is also parodic. the adventurer d’Indochine plays at the beginning of the film. In another scene, set in a helicopter, Malik Bentalha wanted to use I am not a hero by Daniel Balavoine, but was cut during editing: “It didn’t work too well in the narration”.
His character’s first name, Jack, is ultimately a nod to Jack Burton, a resourceless hero camped out by Kurt Russell in Jack Burton’s Adventures in the Clutches of the Mandarin (1986). Mimoun, on the other hand, is a total invention. “He just popped out of my head like that. I have no explanation. I thought he was fine.”
Soon the sequel to “Jack Mimoun”?
The shooting, which took place in Thailand, in the midst of a pandemic, was not easy. “I experienced it as a commando mission to make it perfect for the audience.” And despite the pressure, Bentalha was able to count on the support of his co-director Ludovic Colbeau-Justin. “They supported me a lot. Without Ludovic, I wouldn’t have made it.”
“I know that in the cinema it is difficult for people to put the name of the co-directors”, the humorist insists again. “They hide it [au générique] with the mention ‘technical advisor’. I never got around to it, especially since I saw him jump in a swamp in his clothes to get a wire!
It was especially during post-production, creating the final form of the film, that Malik Bentalha revealed himself. “I discovered a passion for sound editing, for post-synchronization. Right before the start of the tour, I went back to editing to add the sound of a footstep that wasn’t loud enough.”
As the exit approaches, he remains a philosopher. “Maintenant, advienne que pourra. Si je meurs, je meurs avec mes armes – artistiquement, en tout cas. Le jour de la sortie, j’essayerais d’aller un peu loin pour couper un peu de l’angoisse des chiffres du premier day.”
Malik Bentalha then plans to continue Jack Mimoun’s adventures in the cinema, while thinking of another film, which he hopes will be as unexpected as his first attempt. “I have the idea for both of us. I want to surprise the public. But for now, I don’t have concrete plans.”
Source: BFM TV
