L'Ecume des jours

[MacGuffin]

Romain Duris Joins Michel Gondry's French Language Film With Audrey Tautou
Film Is An Adaptation Of 'L'Ecume des jours'; Filming Starts In March 2012
Source: Playlist

While he may not yet be known on this side of the ocean, French actor Romain Duris has been earning praise and breaking hearts in his native France. You might best know the three-time César award nominee from Jacques Audiard's "The Beat That My Heart Skipped" or last year's arthouse comedy hit "Heartbreaker," but the actor is set to reteam with a very familiar face for a film that could serve as his biggest exposure to a worldwide audience yet.

Allocine reveals that Duris will pair up with Audrey Tautou—his co-star in "L'Auberge Espagnole" and its followup "Russian Dolls"—for Michel Gondry's forthcoming French language film. First revealed this spring, there weren't many details at the time, but more info has now surfaced. The project will be an adaptation of Boris Vian's "L' Ecume des jours." First published in 1947, the story fits squarely into Gondry's fantastical wheelhouse, following Colin, the wealthy inventor of olfactory-musical-instrument the pianocktail. He marries Chloe, but unfortunately, she falls ill during their honeymoon thanks to a water lily that enters her lung, and the only way to treat the ailment is to surround her with flowers—and the expense soon drains his funds. We're not going to get into where the story goes from there or the philosophical subplot, but it's a pretty colorful piece of source material and it gives plenty of room for Gondry to weave his usual visual magic.

The plan is for the film to start rolling in March 2012, but the trio of talent have busy calendars in front of them until then. Gondry is still pushing forward with "The We and the I," the community filmmaking project borne out of meetings with the publishers of "You'll Like This Film Because You're In It: The Be Kind Rewind Protocol," while Duris and Tautou will reprise their roles from 'Auberge' and 'Dolls' in Cédric Klapisch's third installment in the series, "Chinese Puzzle."

There are are two more co-starring roles—one male and one female—to be filled and it will be interesting see what talent comes aboard, but Gondry is off to a great start with Duris and Tautou. And with those names in place, he should have no problem getting some equally strong thesps interested.