“I made the greatest success in French cinema, I can make the greatest failure …”. Questioned of PureMedias at the La Rochelle Fiction Festival, Kad Merad returned for the first time to the failure of the film Papamóvil.
Threw on August 13, this comedy of Sylvain Estibal, which tells the story of a false pope kidnapped by a Mexican poster, was considered “failed” and “not fun” by its producer Jean Bréhat (Tesalit Productions). Sounds: The film was only broadcast in seven unhappy rooms in France (in Avignon, Bagnols-de-L’orne, Saverne, Douvaine, Évian-Le-Bains and Romans-Sur-Isrere).
“The film would be launched as discreetly as possible, this is called a technical excursion in jargon. It happens when it is not necessarily very happy with the result. It happens with many movies,” says Kad Merad.
“When we make movies, we take risks. Whatever the movie. I took this risk and I am happy to have taken it. From the beginning, the movie was very particular, very unusual, very curious, very atypical. It is true that it may have suffered (for foul) of the media, it must say it. It was very complicated. The movie is what it is, I like it, I find it, or I find it, or good, good, broke …
Minimum distributors on the service side
Replacement of the movie launch, The Jokers Films distributors had also trusted that the final assembly of Papamóvil It was “disappointing” and “not to the stage, the director, its actors and the associated promises.”
So much so that the company even wanted, for a while, to get rid of comedy by offering it in May to possible new buyers during the Cannes film market. Oh. Again, she did not convince anyone.
Anticipating a noticeable protest, the Jakers films, which had already spent about 80,000 euros to buy the script, therefore made the minimum service when publishing the film in a very low number of rooms (only enough to satisfy the obligations of the CNC) and save all the marketing, or almost, only a poster and a trail of around Thirty seconds. A strategy that strongly dislike Gaza Pork.
“[Certains spectateurs] He judged the extraordinary film, crazy, fun and does not understand that his launch is so scratched, “he said in a response right published Wednesday in X.
The filmmaker then defended PapamóvilHighlighting the “lack of means” of its second feature film, filmed in 24 days in Mexico in 2023 with only 1.2 million euros of budget, and its Nanar side “assumed” and “claimed.”
“Now we are talking about a cult movie”
In spite of everything, the controversy made it possible to offer attention to the film. If the number of entries from Papamóvil It has not yet been communicated, Kad Merad is delighted with this sudden madness for the film in which he played “with great pleasure.”
“What is curious is that the movie, we talked a lot about that and even seems to have been increasingly full rooms, and finally made people want to see it.”
“People need to make their own mind. We have to stop talking instead of others. And we are finally talking about a cult movie,” says Kad Merad.
And the actor concludes: “I made the greatest success of French cinema, I can make the greatest failure … I am a small classic dancer, I make the great gap. It’s called actor’s life and I hope to continue having surprises like that. That’s the job.”
Source: BFM TV
