ProducerClaudie Ossard from Victoires International has restructured the portmanteau Un Certain Regard opening title Paris Je t'Aime, with the contributionsfromDanish director Christoffer Boe and French-Israeli director RafaelNadjari left on the cutting-room floor.
The decision has gone down badly with Boe, who hasreleased an angry statement.
Thedecision has also sparked a disagreement with another of the film's producers,Emmanuel Benbihy.
Originally,the project's producers had invited 20 directors to create a five-minuteromantic film set in eachParis arrondissement to compile into Paris Je T'aime. Participating directors includeJoel & Ethan Coen, Tom Tykwer, Alexander Payne, Wes Craven and Gus van Santwith actors including Natalie Portman, Gena Rowlands, Bob Hoskins and JulietteBinoche.
Ossard decided not to include the 15th arrondissement segment from Boe, whowon the 2003 Camera d'Or for Reconstruction,as well as the 11th arrondissement segment from Nadjari, who previouslydirected Apartment#5C. The film is now themed not byarrondissements but by Parisian quarters and landmarks and comes in at exactlytwo hours.
Despitethe fact that Ossard says she reserved the right to edit out the directors'contributions in their contract, Boe reacted badly, sending out apressrelease saying: "I hope one way or another that my part of the film willbe shown. But who knows. When you're being French fucked it's not alwaysobvious what's going to happen. I feel part of a conflict where I'll end up asthe corpse on the finishing line."
Andproducer Benbihy says he is considering going to the court in France to get thenew version of Paris Je T'aimestopped before its Cannes debut.
The moreexperienced Ossard,meanwhile, says shefeels sorry for both Benbihyand Boe. "Benbihy's ideas did not work and my goal was to get the film a Cannesselection. Thierry Fremaux and the organisation liked it which shows I haveachieved our goal," Ossard says. "The reason for taking out Boe's five minuteswere pure narrative. He is an excellent filmmaker and his scenes worked nicelyout of context but stopped the flow of the film. Scenes wind up on the cuttingfloor in all films if the director is called Kusturica, Jeunet or Boe. I'msorry Boe and Benbihy choose to speak negatively about this. It serves nobody."
The filmis being sold by London-based sales company Celsius Entertainment.
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