Woody Allen’s French co-producer and line producer Raphaël Benoliel has confirmed more details about Allen’s Summer Project 2010, which started shooting on July 5.
The cast of the romantic comedy centered on an American family coming to France includes Owen Wilson, Rachel McAdams, Kathy Bates, Adrien Brody, and French actors Marion Cotillard, Gad Elmaleh and Manu Payet. Singer Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, the singer/former model and French President’s wife, is set to shoot her scenes in early August.
The crew includes French cinematographer Darius Khondji (Chéri), production designer Anne Seibel (Marie Antoinette), Spanish costume designer Sonia Grande (Vicky Cristina Barcelona) and French sound mixer Jean-Marie Blondel (The Ghost Writer).
The film will shoot for seven weeks.
Allen’s Gravier Productions started to work on the project in December 2008 and location scouting started in late 2009. Allen arrived in Paris three weeks before the shooting started, he spent most of that time to check the locations and to solve any remaining technical problems.
In 2006 Woody Allen was considering another film in Paris but he could not find the money he needed and went to London to shoot Cassandra’s Dream instead. As he always works on the same budget — around $19m (€15 m) — “Firstep decided to deal with his new project as with an average independent US film or a French production, Benoliel says. “Therefore we got the new French tax credit in February 2010, but no help at all from the Île-de-France Region.”
Benoliel points out that Paris Town Council has been very supportive but police haven’t been as helpful considering the set includes 40 different locations in 34 days (he says shooting permits have been received on a last-minute basis routinely).
The final cut should be ready in spring and could land an out-of-competition slot for Cannes 2011.
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