Waited for four years in dark rooms, Asterix and Obelix: The Middle Kingdom finally hits theaters this Wednesday. With a massive budget of 67 million euros and an impressive international cast, the blockbuster has suffered many insults before reaching our screens.
First postponed due to the covid pandemic, Asterix and Obelix: The Middle Kingdom It could not be shot in China, where the action of the film takes place, but in the Massif Central. There, the team faced torrential rain. Guillaume Canet has also posted a video on Instagram, showing the difficulty of the shooting conditions.
Challenged by the elements, the film also had to face a lot of criticism about the cast. But the irreducible Guillaume Canet ignores the critics:
“I encourage people, before criticizing, to see the film first, to see the work that has been done first, and then to criticize whatever they want. It is always dangerous to speak too soon because you can be wrong. If you want to be able to continue doing this job, and to the best of your ability, you need a little indulgence and curiosity.”
A deconstructed Asterix
Why Asterix and Obelix: The Middle Kingdom full of finds. The first is the size. Asterix is a deconstructed Gaul who has stopped eating wild boar. He no longer wants to drink magic potions, to prove his true worth as a warrior for Obelix. An idea added by Guillaume Canet to the original script by Julien Hervé and Philippe Mechelen, the creators of box.
“He is a character that I like in my films and that we see in The tissues Y Rock And Roll: the kind of boring guy who questions everything and who must be a bit like me somewhere”, analyzes Guillaume Canet. “I found it interesting, in a film like this, to shake up the establishment and use, like Goscinny, Of reality.”
It’s also a way to bring depth to a character that is often described as simple. “I thought I could make it quite moving,” continues Guillaume Canet. “There was a real desire on my part, in this scenario, to put Asterix and Obelix at the center of the story, who have more to play than in the other movies, where they were a bit of supporting characters.”
Avoid going everywhere
The other challenge ofAsterix and Obelix: The Middle Kingdom was to find the duo of actors to embody the two Gauls. Canet originally wanted to play Caesar, before being convinced to take on the Asterix costume. The choice of Gilles Lellouche won easily: “It took a couple of friendly actors to play Asterix and Obelix and that’s where I thought of Gilles Lellouche.”
A rather crazy cast revolves around the two heroes, made up of Vincent Cassel, Marion Cotillard, the rapper OrelSan, the singer Angèle and the footballer Zlatan Ibrahimovic. We also meet the singer M, the comedian Jason Chicandier, the youtubers McFly and Carlito, the singer Philippe Katerine…
They evolve into sumptuous decorations. because for his asterix, Guillaume Canet wanted a “realistic art direction, with magnificent costumes, magnificent sets, that adhere to the reality of great adventure films.” the filming of To thein preparation forasterixWith a small team and in a few weeks, it also allowed him to prepare more effectively and refine his work as a director.
“On the other movies, I shot a lot of things, and then during editing, I made the movie. There, all of a sudden, I really thought about what I was saying. It saved me, in asterix, getting lost on a set with 500 extras and going everywhere. It was more structured. I think that in my staging I have matured and above all I have learned to have confidence in myself about what I say.
“An Asterix without pirates does not exist”
to stand out from Cleopatra Missionthe maximum reference for the cinematographic adaptations ofasterix, Guillaume Canet refused to make a gag film. “The problem is that joke movies can age badly,” he says. “It can also be risky because there have been joke movies where the jokes have gone a bit off.”
Above all, he wanted to reproduce on the screen the sensations he had when reading the records. “When I was a kid, I didn’t have fun reading them all the time. I paid attention to the theme of the story. I went in that direction for the movie.” The scenario thus adopts the same structure as albums such as asterix among the Bretons:
“I wanted to stick to certain mandatory meetings. The first scene takes place in the forest where they hunt, like on the discs. I added a scene with the pirates. I really fought a lot with production for us to keep this sequence because sometimes asterix Without the pirates, it doesn’t exist.”
the middle empire it is the first film not to be based on one of Uderzo and Goscinny’s albums. The two Gauls go here to China, unexplored territory in comics, to save Princess Fu Yi, only daughter of the empress imprisoned after a coup promoted by Deng Tsin Quin, a traitorous prince. Helped by Graindemaïs, the Phoenician merchant, and by his faithful warrior Tat Han, the two brave warriors will come to the aid of the princess.
But like the albums, the movie is full of references to classic movies: once upon a time in america, Rambo, The goat either The Bronzes go skiing. “He wrote things that made me laugh,” says Canet. “These were nods to the cinema that interested me as a child.” He also slipped anachronistic details, essential for any good Asterix, like an Italian cover of the blue words of Christopher.
“Never Made Maliciously”
Guillaume Canet is not afraid of the reception of the film’s many jokes about the Chinese (one of the characters is called Tofu): “There aren’t many and they are on the lips of César. It’s in his character. He is someone he despises. I don’t have that concern because he’s part of the comics. asterix. Every time they travel in the albums, there are puns with customs and it is never done with malice.”
The director says he posed the question to the Chinese actors and actresses in the film. “He was worried,” says Canet. “I asked Julie Chen [qui incarne la princesse, NDLR] if he found out there were scenes that could be too much and reassured me about it. She said, ‘not at all, it’s very funny.’ I honestly don’t think any of the jokes should be taken as derogatory or disrespectful jokes.”
“I really like this movie”
A few days after the premiere, Guillaume Canet is increasingly anxious. “Until now he wasn’t afraid to go out, because he had spent 4 years with his head on the handlebars. He was a bit carefree. Now that he has stopped, that I meet with the press, he comes to fruition ”. Whatever happens, he is proud: “I really like this movie.”
In recent months, he has multiplied the test projections to verify that the film worked. This is the first time that the United States has used this process and that the “Bande à Fifi” has been practicing for years. “It was very interesting, because we saw what worked, what worked less, why it worked less. I was able to rework the script, the editing.” Two scenes skipped during this process.
“I really did everything possible to make the film as successful as possible,” Guillaume Canet insists. “I would like it to work. I would like it to work now for the 1,000 people who worked on it and who put all their passion, all their talent into the film. I would like these four years of work to be useless. .”
the pressure on Asterix and Obelix: The Middle Kingdom it’s huge. The blockbuster aims to bring moviegoers back to theaters in droves after three years of pandemic. “I am well aware that this film is also highly anticipated by the profession. It is very important that the cinema recovers, that films like this can generate enthusiasm and that people want to return to the cinema ”.
Source: BFM TV
