by JON FROSCH
A French producer’s editorial criticising the country’s movie stars for demanding exorbitant salaries has resulted in finger-pointing and soul-searching within France’s cherished film industry. France24.com takes a closer look.
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“The Artist” swept last year’s Oscars, “The Intouchables” was an international box office smash, movie ticket sales at home are healthy, and leading ladies Marion Cotillard and Emmanuelle Riva (of “Rust and Bone” and “Amour”, respectively) are racking up Best Actress honours abroad.
But instead of breaking out the champagne, France’s film world is in the throes of bitter internal strife.
Seemingly endless rounds of debate and finger-pointing have been set off by an editorial, published in daily newspaper Le Monde on December 28, in which a prominent French producer accuses the country’s movie stars of demanding unreasonably high salaries. The author, Vincent Maraval, co-founder of distribution company Wild Bunch, also calls into question France’s longstanding practice of subsidising filmmakers.
After beloved actor Gérard Depardieu’s announcement that he would turn in his French passport over a proposed 75% tax rate on millionaires, Maraval’s editorial is the latest bombshell to hit what is widely seen as one of France’s proudest and most thriving industries.
Blaming overpaid stars
“This year has been a disaster for French cinema,” Maraval’s editorial proclaims, noting that all the French films of 2012 “billed as important” (including “Astérix et Obélix: Au Service de Sa Majesté” and “La Vérité Si Je Mens 3”, the latest installments in popular franchises) “lost millions of euros”.
According to Maraval, much of the blame for the French film industry’s failure to turn a profit can be attributed to the ballooning salaries of French stars. He singles out Vincent Cassel, Jean Reno, Marion Cotillard, Gad Emaleh, Guillaume Canet, Audrey Tautou, and Léa Seydoux for pocketing up to €2 million ($2.6 million) to headline films that never cross French borders, while accepting as little as €50,000 ($65,000) to appear in American films released all over the world.
France 24 for more