Virginie Besson Silla has been named CEO of EuropaCorp USA, with Edouard Boccon-Gibod being named chief of staff.
The moves were announced Wednesday by Axel Duroux, who was named chief executive of EuropaCorp back in August. Besson Silla will be responsible for developing and producing television, film and streaming content while overseeing the company’s United States operations. She will report to Duroux while continuing to collaborate with EuropaCorp artistic director Luc Besson and producing partner Steve Rabineau.
“I am very pleased to accept these new responsibilities and to continue at EuropaCorp, which has been my creative home for over 20 years,” Besson Silla said. “I am also excited to continue working with Luc and Steve on the diverse projects we have in our pipeline. Our goal is to present different points of view globally across every platform based upon the Company’s DNA.”
She is best known for her work...
The moves were announced Wednesday by Axel Duroux, who was named chief executive of EuropaCorp back in August. Besson Silla will be responsible for developing and producing television, film and streaming content while overseeing the company’s United States operations. She will report to Duroux while continuing to collaborate with EuropaCorp artistic director Luc Besson and producing partner Steve Rabineau.
“I am very pleased to accept these new responsibilities and to continue at EuropaCorp, which has been my creative home for over 20 years,” Besson Silla said. “I am also excited to continue working with Luc and Steve on the diverse projects we have in our pipeline. Our goal is to present different points of view globally across every platform based upon the Company’s DNA.”
She is best known for her work...
- 11/4/2020
- by Joe Otterson
- Variety Film + TV
Following its recent return to theaters to celebrate its 20th anniversary, The Fifth Element will continue to be commemorated by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment with their 4K Ultra HD release of the film, and we have the official details on what fans can look forward to experiencing on the new home media release when it hits shelves on July 11th.
Press Release: Culver City, Calif. (May 18, 2016) – Sony Pictures Home Entertainment celebrates the 20th Anniversary of Luc Besson’s outrageous sci-fi epic, The Fifth Element, with a 4K Ultra HD release on July 11. The influential classic, starring Bruce Willis, Milla Jovovich and Gary Oldman, follows a cab driver who unwittingly becomes the central figure in the search for a legendary cosmic weapon. Also included, in addition to hours of archival special features, is the all-new bonus featurette, presented in 4K, “The Director’s Notes: Luc Besson Looks Back,” where the acclaimed...
Press Release: Culver City, Calif. (May 18, 2016) – Sony Pictures Home Entertainment celebrates the 20th Anniversary of Luc Besson’s outrageous sci-fi epic, The Fifth Element, with a 4K Ultra HD release on July 11. The influential classic, starring Bruce Willis, Milla Jovovich and Gary Oldman, follows a cab driver who unwittingly becomes the central figure in the search for a legendary cosmic weapon. Also included, in addition to hours of archival special features, is the all-new bonus featurette, presented in 4K, “The Director’s Notes: Luc Besson Looks Back,” where the acclaimed...
- 5/18/2017
- by Derek Anderson
- DailyDead
PARIS -- French director Francis Veber is back behind the camera with new comedy "A Pain in the Ass", starring Richard Berry and Patrick Timsit, producer TF1 International said Tuesday.
The film is based on the helmer's successful play, which ended its runs in France in 2007 and was first brought to the big screen in 1973 in the Edouard Molinaro film of the same name.
Veber's classic hero Francois Pignon is back in this story about an unlikely friendship that develops between a professional killer and a suicidal screw-up. TF1 is hoping for similar success both at home and abroad for Veber's follow-up to his crowd-pleasing films "The Closet", "The Dinner Game" and "The Valet".
"A Pain in the Ass" is co-produced by Patrice Ledoux's Pulsar Prods. and is set to begin shooting in March. TF1 International will handle worldwide sales and TFM Distribution will release the film in Gaul in December.
The film is based on the helmer's successful play, which ended its runs in France in 2007 and was first brought to the big screen in 1973 in the Edouard Molinaro film of the same name.
Veber's classic hero Francois Pignon is back in this story about an unlikely friendship that develops between a professional killer and a suicidal screw-up. TF1 is hoping for similar success both at home and abroad for Veber's follow-up to his crowd-pleasing films "The Closet", "The Dinner Game" and "The Valet".
"A Pain in the Ass" is co-produced by Patrice Ledoux's Pulsar Prods. and is set to begin shooting in March. TF1 International will handle worldwide sales and TFM Distribution will release the film in Gaul in December.
"Le Placard" (The Closet), the latest offering from Francis Veber, is a lightweight comedy lampooning political correctness. Veber brings back to the screen the character of Francois Pignon (Daniel Auteuil), last seen in his highly successful "Diner de Cons" (The Dinner Game). French filmgoers have flocked to see "Le Placard", and the film looks set to mimic the success of its predecessor. In its first week, there were 3 million admissions -- the strongest opening of any French film in nearly a year.
In previous Veber films, we have seen Pignon take several guises. Here, he is a gray, boring accountant in a large company who leads a gray, boring life. The day comes when he learns he's about to be sacked. To avoid losing his job, he starts a rumor that he is homosexual, guessing -- correctly -- that the boss would not dare to fire him for fear of accusations of discrimination.
The film plots Pignon's trials and tribulations, ending with that most loved of film cliches -- a victim who turns into a hero. Not only does Pignon keep his job, he's cured of his obsession with his ex-wife, reaches a new level of understanding with his teen-age son and, at the end of the film, gets the girl.
In the hands of a less subtle director, a film like this risks degenerating into a grotesque parody of how a straight man plays gay. Veber's talent is in leaving Pignon completely unchanged. As one character says to Pignon, it's not what you are that matters but what you are seen to be.
Auteuil excels as the self-effacing Pignon who gradually comes out -- of his shell, that is. But the rest of the cast members, particularly Gerard Depardieu, seem uncomfortable. Depardieu plays Santini, an unreconstructed homophobe forced to befriend Pignon to keep his job. Through his friendship with Pignon, the tough nut discovers that he has a soft center and more -- that perhaps he is himself a closet homosexual. As the macho bigot, Depardieu is good, but the big actor is less convincing when required to show a more sensitive side.
Interestingly, the only homosexual character in the film is Pignon's sympathetic neighbor (Michel Aumont) -- an old man whose sexuality cost him his livelihood many years ago. It's he who suggests that Pignon should pretend to be gay to keep his job.
Is Veber really trying to tell us attitudes have changed to such an extent that being homosexual is now an advantage? Any gay person watching this film must surely ask whether Veber is really in touch with how things are in France, where attitudes toward homosexuality lag considerably behind those in the United States and elsewhere in Europe. Perhaps Pignon's next incarnation will give us the answer.
LE PLACARD
Gaumont
Producers: Patrice Ledoux, Alain Poire
Screenwriter-director: Francis Veber
Director of photography: Luciano Tovoli
Music: Vladimir Cosma
Costume designer: Jacqueline Bouchard
Editor: Georges Klotz
Color/stereo
Cast:
Francois Pignon: Daniel Auteuil
Felix Santini: Gerard Depardieu
Guillaume: Thierry Lhermitte
Mlle Bertrand: Michele Laroque
Belone: Michel Aumont
Kopel: Jean Rochefort
Christine: Alexandra Vandernoot
Franck: Stanislas Crevillen
Running time -- 94 minutes
No MPAA rating...
In previous Veber films, we have seen Pignon take several guises. Here, he is a gray, boring accountant in a large company who leads a gray, boring life. The day comes when he learns he's about to be sacked. To avoid losing his job, he starts a rumor that he is homosexual, guessing -- correctly -- that the boss would not dare to fire him for fear of accusations of discrimination.
The film plots Pignon's trials and tribulations, ending with that most loved of film cliches -- a victim who turns into a hero. Not only does Pignon keep his job, he's cured of his obsession with his ex-wife, reaches a new level of understanding with his teen-age son and, at the end of the film, gets the girl.
In the hands of a less subtle director, a film like this risks degenerating into a grotesque parody of how a straight man plays gay. Veber's talent is in leaving Pignon completely unchanged. As one character says to Pignon, it's not what you are that matters but what you are seen to be.
Auteuil excels as the self-effacing Pignon who gradually comes out -- of his shell, that is. But the rest of the cast members, particularly Gerard Depardieu, seem uncomfortable. Depardieu plays Santini, an unreconstructed homophobe forced to befriend Pignon to keep his job. Through his friendship with Pignon, the tough nut discovers that he has a soft center and more -- that perhaps he is himself a closet homosexual. As the macho bigot, Depardieu is good, but the big actor is less convincing when required to show a more sensitive side.
Interestingly, the only homosexual character in the film is Pignon's sympathetic neighbor (Michel Aumont) -- an old man whose sexuality cost him his livelihood many years ago. It's he who suggests that Pignon should pretend to be gay to keep his job.
Is Veber really trying to tell us attitudes have changed to such an extent that being homosexual is now an advantage? Any gay person watching this film must surely ask whether Veber is really in touch with how things are in France, where attitudes toward homosexuality lag considerably behind those in the United States and elsewhere in Europe. Perhaps Pignon's next incarnation will give us the answer.
LE PLACARD
Gaumont
Producers: Patrice Ledoux, Alain Poire
Screenwriter-director: Francis Veber
Director of photography: Luciano Tovoli
Music: Vladimir Cosma
Costume designer: Jacqueline Bouchard
Editor: Georges Klotz
Color/stereo
Cast:
Francois Pignon: Daniel Auteuil
Felix Santini: Gerard Depardieu
Guillaume: Thierry Lhermitte
Mlle Bertrand: Michele Laroque
Belone: Michel Aumont
Kopel: Jean Rochefort
Christine: Alexandra Vandernoot
Franck: Stanislas Crevillen
Running time -- 94 minutes
No MPAA rating...
"Le Placard" (The Closet), the latest offering from Francis Veber, is a lightweight comedy lampooning political correctness. Veber brings back to the screen the character of Francois Pignon (Daniel Auteuil), last seen in his highly successful "Diner de Cons" (The Dinner Game). French filmgoers have flocked to see "Le Placard", and the film looks set to mimic the success of its predecessor. In its first week, there were 3 million admissions -- the strongest opening of any French film in nearly a year.
In previous Veber films, we have seen Pignon take several guises. Here, he is a gray, boring accountant in a large company who leads a gray, boring life. The day comes when he learns he's about to be sacked. To avoid losing his job, he starts a rumor that he is homosexual, guessing -- correctly -- that the boss would not dare to fire him for fear of accusations of discrimination.
The film plots Pignon's trials and tribulations, ending with that most loved of film cliches -- a victim who turns into a hero. Not only does Pignon keep his job, he's cured of his obsession with his ex-wife, reaches a new level of understanding with his teen-age son and, at the end of the film, gets the girl.
In the hands of a less subtle director, a film like this risks degenerating into a grotesque parody of how a straight man plays gay. Veber's talent is in leaving Pignon completely unchanged. As one character says to Pignon, it's not what you are that matters but what you are seen to be.
Auteuil excels as the self-effacing Pignon who gradually comes out -- of his shell, that is. But the rest of the cast members, particularly Gerard Depardieu, seem uncomfortable. Depardieu plays Santini, an unreconstructed homophobe forced to befriend Pignon to keep his job. Through his friendship with Pignon, the tough nut discovers that he has a soft center and more -- that perhaps he is himself a closet homosexual. As the macho bigot, Depardieu is good, but the big actor is less convincing when required to show a more sensitive side.
Interestingly, the only homosexual character in the film is Pignon's sympathetic neighbor (Michel Aumont) -- an old man whose sexuality cost him his livelihood many years ago. It's he who suggests that Pignon should pretend to be gay to keep his job.
Is Veber really trying to tell us attitudes have changed to such an extent that being homosexual is now an advantage? Any gay person watching this film must surely ask whether Veber is really in touch with how things are in France, where attitudes toward homosexuality lag considerably behind those in the United States and elsewhere in Europe. Perhaps Pignon's next incarnation will give us the answer.
LE PLACARD
Gaumont
Producers: Patrice Ledoux, Alain Poire
Screenwriter-director: Francis Veber
Director of photography: Luciano Tovoli
Music: Vladimir Cosma
Costume designer: Jacqueline Bouchard
Editor: Georges Klotz
Color/stereo
Cast:
Francois Pignon: Daniel Auteuil
Felix Santini: Gerard Depardieu
Guillaume: Thierry Lhermitte
Mlle Bertrand: Michele Laroque
Belone: Michel Aumont
Kopel: Jean Rochefort
Christine: Alexandra Vandernoot
Franck: Stanislas Crevillen
Running time -- 94 minutes
No MPAA rating...
In previous Veber films, we have seen Pignon take several guises. Here, he is a gray, boring accountant in a large company who leads a gray, boring life. The day comes when he learns he's about to be sacked. To avoid losing his job, he starts a rumor that he is homosexual, guessing -- correctly -- that the boss would not dare to fire him for fear of accusations of discrimination.
The film plots Pignon's trials and tribulations, ending with that most loved of film cliches -- a victim who turns into a hero. Not only does Pignon keep his job, he's cured of his obsession with his ex-wife, reaches a new level of understanding with his teen-age son and, at the end of the film, gets the girl.
In the hands of a less subtle director, a film like this risks degenerating into a grotesque parody of how a straight man plays gay. Veber's talent is in leaving Pignon completely unchanged. As one character says to Pignon, it's not what you are that matters but what you are seen to be.
Auteuil excels as the self-effacing Pignon who gradually comes out -- of his shell, that is. But the rest of the cast members, particularly Gerard Depardieu, seem uncomfortable. Depardieu plays Santini, an unreconstructed homophobe forced to befriend Pignon to keep his job. Through his friendship with Pignon, the tough nut discovers that he has a soft center and more -- that perhaps he is himself a closet homosexual. As the macho bigot, Depardieu is good, but the big actor is less convincing when required to show a more sensitive side.
Interestingly, the only homosexual character in the film is Pignon's sympathetic neighbor (Michel Aumont) -- an old man whose sexuality cost him his livelihood many years ago. It's he who suggests that Pignon should pretend to be gay to keep his job.
Is Veber really trying to tell us attitudes have changed to such an extent that being homosexual is now an advantage? Any gay person watching this film must surely ask whether Veber is really in touch with how things are in France, where attitudes toward homosexuality lag considerably behind those in the United States and elsewhere in Europe. Perhaps Pignon's next incarnation will give us the answer.
LE PLACARD
Gaumont
Producers: Patrice Ledoux, Alain Poire
Screenwriter-director: Francis Veber
Director of photography: Luciano Tovoli
Music: Vladimir Cosma
Costume designer: Jacqueline Bouchard
Editor: Georges Klotz
Color/stereo
Cast:
Francois Pignon: Daniel Auteuil
Felix Santini: Gerard Depardieu
Guillaume: Thierry Lhermitte
Mlle Bertrand: Michele Laroque
Belone: Michel Aumont
Kopel: Jean Rochefort
Christine: Alexandra Vandernoot
Franck: Stanislas Crevillen
Running time -- 94 minutes
No MPAA rating...
- 2/21/2001
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.