By Variety | Created at 2024-09-25 18:20:39 | Updated at 2024-09-30 11:26:04
4 days ago
Prime Video France has unveiled its slate of new originals and co-production titles, ranging from series, movies and unscripted shows. These include some sexy, comedic and action-packed titles such as “Culte – 2be3,” Yael Langmann’s series about the famed 1990’s French boys band; “Glamsquad” by Rebecca Zlotowski; Gaumont’s thriller “Carjarkers;” and new comedy format “Liars Club.” The service has also boarded season 2 of “Escort Boys” and war thriller “Dark Hearts,” as well as picked up Nick Cassavetes’ “Marked Men.”
“Glamsquad” is being developed by French filmmaker Rebecca Zlotowski whose latest film “Other People’s Children” competed at the Venice Film Festival in 2022. Co-written by Olivier Nicklaus and produced by Zlotowski’s regular partners at Paris-based Les Films Velvet, “Glamsquad” follows the flamboyant adventures of four young beauty experts with strong personalities who work closely with stars. Zlotowski will direct the series which will take place in Paris and other iconic locations, chronicling the exhilarating lives of this glam squad.
Thomas Dubois, head of Amazon MGM Studios France, said the streamer’s collaboration with Zlotowski reflected the banner’s “ambition to work with talented female directors,” following its previous work with Melanie Laurent (“The Mad Women’s Ball”), among others. Although she’s worked mainly in films that have played at Cannes and Venice festivals, Zlotowski made her TV debut with “Les Sauvages,” a critically acclaimed political thriller limited series starring Roschdy Zem.
“We love Rebecca and she came to us with this idea which we found fantastic. Her series will give us a behind-the-scene on the world of luxury, cinema and all that glitters,” says Dubois.
“In a market that’s contracting, we want to consolidate our basis and are committed to continuing to invest in French creativity and talent across series, films and unscripted; so we’re not decreasing our volume of productions,” said the executive, who spoke about his lineup at a lavish presser hosted in Paris on Wednesday alongside Prime Video France’s head of acquisitions Sahar Baghery in Paris.
Prime Video France is also co-producing “2Be3,” a series created, written and directed by Yael Langmann (“Under Paris,””Chair Tendre”). The series is based on the story of Filip Nikolic, Frank Delay and Adel Kachermi, three childhood friends who grew up in a Parisian suburb and formed the first and most famous French boys band, 2Be3″ which shot to fame in the 1990’s. The show stars Antoine Simony, Marin Judas and Namory Bakayok, and is produced by P33 Studio.
Dubois pointed out “2be3” is the second Prime Video Original series exploring a French pop culture phenomenon. Prime Video France is also behind “Culte” which will be premiering on Oct. 18 on the service and charts the making of the first French reality TV show, “Loft Story.”
The idea behind the “Cult” anthology is to “shine a light on people who have shaped in one way or another today’s society and go back and zoom in on success stories of the last 25 years with a new angle every time.”
The slate includes a high-concept romantic comedy series, “Un mariage sans fin,” a written and directed by Patrick Cassir (“Premières Vacances”), starring Tarek Boudali (“3 Jours Max”) and Camille Rowe (“Sous Emprise). The American-style fantasy romantic romp starts off at a wedding hosted at a remote Moroccan hotel where Louna meets Paul, and soon discovers they’re both trapped in a time loop.
Aside from series, Prime Video will also deliver the original movie “Carjarkers,” an action thriller produced by Gaumont and starring Zoé Marchal and Franck Gastambide, the bankable actor-director of “Medellin” “Taxi 5.” The movie is written and directed by Kamel Guemra, the screenwriter of “Pax Massilia” and “Balle Perdue.”
“We’re done 10 films so far and we like them to have an edge, either with comedies like ‘Sentinelle’ starring Jonathan Cohen (who’s back with another comedy, ‘McWalter’), or action films like ‘Medellin’ with Franck Gastambide and Olivier Marchal’s ‘Overdose’ which have resonated outside of France,” said Dubois.
Prime Video France is also continuing to make a push in the unscripted space, rolling off the success of “LOL,” “Comedy Class” and its docu-series on French singer Orelsan and YouTuber Squeezie. The streamer is now getting ready to drop “Liars Club,” an original show created by Prime Video France and Endemol France. Along the lines of “LOL,” “Liars Club” is a celebrity-driven comedy game show.
“With our unscripted shows, we want to be like a laboratory of French creativity for the rest of the world and we did it with ‘Comedy Class’ with Eric Judor and Ramzy Bedia, as well as ‘LOL’ which is in its fifth season, and now with ‘Liars Club,’ a brand new French format,” said Dubois, who added that Prime Video France has so far launched 18 unscripted shows and programs in the last five-and-a-half years.
In “Liars Club,” several duos of comedians will face off in a game where they’ll have to tell the wildest stories and convince others that they’re telling the truth. The first season will bring together Kad Merad, Olivier Baroux, Freddy Gladieux, Anis Rhali, Melha Bedia, Oulaya Amara, Ahmed Sylla, Hakim Jemili, McFly and Carlito.
On the acquisition side, Baghery’s team at Prime Video France has come on board the second seasons of “Dark Hearts” and “Escort Boys.”
Produced by Mandarin Television, “Black Hearts” is a large-scale action series following a French Special Forces commando in the midst of the war against ISIS. Season 1, which was directed by Oscar-nominated French-Lebanese filmmaker Ziad Doueiri (“The Insult,” “The Attack”), was a hit when it launched on Prime Video. It then launched on France 2 and the france.tv platform where it drew 3 million viewers. The second saison is directed by Frédéric Jardin (“Braquo,” “Spiral”) with a returning cast of French stars such as Nicolas Duvauchelle (“Braquo,” “Polisse”), with up-and-coming actors including Marie Dompnier (“Les Gazelles”), Nina Meurisse (“La vie d’Anaïs”), and new cast members such as Patrick Mille (“The Count of Monte Cristo”). The new season, which wrapped filming in Morocco this summer, was written by Virginie Brac (“Sprial,” “Liaison”).
“This new season really starts in the wake of the previous one where Sab, a member of the Special Forces, has just been taken hostage,” says Baghery. “We will therefore follow this race against time led by the 45 commando to free her from the jails of Daesh with an even stronger personal and emotional dimension for our characters, and also new rivalries,” she said.
Prime Video’s raunchy soap “Escort Boys” will also be back for a second order. The French adaptation of the Israeli show “Johnny and the Knights of Galilee” (“Milk and Honey”), the half-hour comedy series portrays four young men who become escorts to make ends meet and save their family business in a picturesque town in Southern France.
“This season 2 promises to go deeper into human relationships and psychology of our characters, with new clients, each one more surprising than the last,” said Baghery, who added that season 1 “got a lot of attention last year and marked the first French scripted title acquired at an early stage by Prime Video for France and English-speaking territories.
The series is currently shooting and is being directed once again by Ruben Alves (“Miss,””The Gilded Cage”) with a cast led by Guillaume Labbé (“Machine”), Thibaut Evrard (“Balle Perdue”), Simon Ehrlacher (“Cat’s Eyes”), Corentin Fila (“La Maison”) and Marysole Fertard (“BigBug”), and cameos including “Call My Agent!” stars Stéfi Celma and Thibault De Montalembert, among others. “Escort Boys” is produced by Oberkampf Productions and Story Nation Productions.
Prime Video has also acquired “Marked Men,” Nick Cassavetes’s movie based on Jay Crownover’s bestselling book series “Marked Men: Rule + Shaw.” The movie stars Chase Stokes (“Stranger Things”), Sydney Taylor (“American Born Chinese”), among others.
Speaking of Prime Video’s creative collaboration with broadcasters, Baghery pointed out the streamer has formed partnerships with TF1 on “Cat’s Eyes,” as well as France Televisions on “Dark Hearts” and also on “Anaon,” an upcoming French fantasy thriller created by Bastien Dartois and directed by David Hourrègue.
The streamer has also picked the direct-to-platform movie “Le Jardinier” starring Jean Claude Van Damme and Michael Youn.
Baghery said the streamer is willing to board select projects as early as script stage, either for series, films and entertainment formats, as well as feature film projects intended primarily for theaters and international movies.
