A new Asterix with vegan concerns, Caesar and Cleopatra in a marital crisis and an Obelix in love arrive in China in “Asterix and Obelix: The Middle Kingdom”, the new film in the saga of the irreducible Gauls.
The film narrates the crazy oriental adventure of Asterix (Guillaume Canet) and Obelix (Gilles Lellouche) -accompanied, of course, by the faithful dog Idefix- to help a princess in distress who wants to flee her kingdom, reports the Efe agency.
The “bandits” of the story turn to Caesar (Vincent Cassel) for support, and he sees in the conquest of the legendary Chinese lands the perfect way to show his beloved Cleopatra (Marion Cotillard) who rules at home, even though she He pretends to want to change it for his personal trainer.
“It was very difficult with the pandemic, because we were supposed to go to China, we did a lot of research, we started to build some sets… But then we had to destroy everything,” said Guillaume Canet, who, in addition to playing Asterix, directs his first major production – during the film’s presentation to the press in Paris.
With doses of absurd humor and shamelessly exploring cultural clichés, Canet’s Astérix brings the classic elements of the comic strip by René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo, seasoned with doses of feminism, veganism and even new masculinities.
There is “humour” and there are “emotions”, something that this well-known face of French cinema wanted to highlight a lot, who is not very concerned about the debates that his film may arouse -even in the midst of discussions about limits-. humorous – as well as funny.
“No matter what we do, people talk. That is why there are two paths in life: either we speak or we do”, stressed Canet.
Guillaume Canet did not plan to play Asterix, as he was slated to take on the role of Caesar. However, the film’s producers convinced him to star in the film and leave the role of Roman leader to Cassel, who together with Cotillard form a controversial and ambitious duo.
View this post on InstagramA post shared by Guillaume Canet (@guillaumecanetofficiel)
“It’s a couple in crisis, they both have superpowers, but at the time of the crisis they are normal human beings,” Cotillard explained, noting that part of his role as the most interesting to play.
Creating a comic version of Cleopatra and doing “comedy” while playing a powerful woman of her time was the other great advantage of this opportunity for the Oscar winner for “Life in Rose”, who despite being a star of stature world misses power to make people laugh more on the big screen.
“I swallowed sand,” he said later, laughing, about a shoot in which one of his sons with Canet, Marcel, even participated, playing the young Asterix.
It is because of this comic aspect of the production that Cotillard assures that he ignored the controversy that his choice, as a white actress, aroused in France to play the iconic Egyptian queen.
“I don’t care that people think I’m not the right person, because this is not the kind of movie to have these kinds of discussions,” he analyzed.
Cotillard also guaranteed that he is a figure committed to current problems, from responsible consumption to the protests in Iran, even knowing that each one has to deal with their own “contradictions.”
Source: TSF
