The story of “Asterix and Obelix” Guillaume Canet version takes place largely in China. Only, production did not turn a single image in the Empire in the middle. For what reasons?
Released in theaters in February 2023, Asterix and Obelix The Middle Empire brought together 4.6 million spectators. It is now available on Netflix. The project had great difficulty in emerging, especially because of the COVIR, which has shaken Guillaume Canet's projects.
Chinese possibility
Indeed, the director went to China several times with producer Alain Attal to meet possible co -producers. He also planned to shoot certain scenes there. However, the filmmaker quickly understood that he was going to face censorship: “There were a lot of things that did not please the authorities in the scenario, especially humor”said Guillaume Canet in the film's press kit.
“We could not talk about pandas for example! I felt that it was going to be difficult, especially since the diplomatic situation was complicated with the drama of the Uighurs and I did not see us participating in official projections, taking photos, taking the actors, etc., taken in hostage in a certain way in all this context …”
“At one point, it appeared to us all that we had to abandon the Chinese option and make the film in France, which in my opinion was extremely courageous from Pathé and producers. And indeed, we worked 100% here, whether for sets, costumes, special effects, studios or exteriors in Auvergne …”he recalls.
Reconstitute China in France
The film team therefore built sets in the heart of the famous Bry-sur-Marne studio (Val-de-Marne). A street in Shanghai was notably reconstructed by production. Guillaume Canet had a huge budget to stage the new adventures of the famous Gauls: 60 million euros.
After the Bry studios, Cap was put on the old air base in Brétigny-sur-Orge (Essonne), transformed into a large 20-hectare outdoor studio. A perfect place to recreate the camps along the silk road, but also the famous Gallic village and its banquet.
The production then continued the shots within the Guéry plateau, in Puy-de-Dôme, a vast altitude plain chosen to shoot a key scene of the film: the great battle in front of the Deng Palace, where the Empress is retained.
Another asset of the region: the proximity of Clermont-Ferrand, which houses an important Chinese community, has facilitated the recruitment of the 400 extras necessary for this major sequence.
“”Revelation Now was not shot in Vietnam. To make believe is the magic of cinema. We have the technical means, the digital special effects. We can reconstruct the sets of China. And then we collaborated with Chinese advisers for the artistic direction, the scenes of Kung-Fu, the smallest objects. Nothing was left to chance “supported Guillaume Canet at the microphone of L'Obs.
Apocalypse Now was not shot in Vietnam. To make believe is the magic of cinema. We have the technical means, the digital special effects.
As a reminder, the story takes us in 50 BC The Empress of China is imprisoned following a fomented coup by Deng Tsin Quin, a felon prince.
Helped by Graindemaïs, the Phoenician merchant, and by his faithful warrior Tat Han, Princess Fu Yi, an only daughter of the Empress, fled in Gaul to ask for help from the two valiant warriors Asterix and Obelix, endowed with superhuman force thanks to their magic potion.
Our two inseparable Gauls of course agree to help the princess to save her mother and release her country. And here they are all on the way for a great adventure towards China. But Caesar and his powerful army, still thirsty for conquests, also took the direction of the Middle Empire …
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