Eight years after “Les Cowboys”, Thomas Bidegain signs his second feature film as director with “Soudain Seuls”. And he returns with us to this opus, at the crossroads of survival and adventure film, to be seen in cinemas from December 6.
“If you want to make an adventure film, the filming has to be an adventure”, Thomas Bidegain tells us when we meet him to talk about Suddenly Alone. And it’s an understatement to say that this faithful collaborator of Jacques Audiard, co-writer of A Prophet, Of Rust and Bones or Dheepan, was served with his second feature film as director.
Eight years after Les Cowboys, which saw a father (François Damiens) set off in search of his daughter, Suddenly Alone takes place on a wild island. The one on which a couple finds themselves stranded during their solo world tour, as winter approaches.
Jake Gyllenhaal and Vanessa Kirby were once considered for the main roles, ultimately played by Gilles Lellouche and Mélanie Thierry.
And Thomas Bidegain returns with us to different aspects of the feature film, adapted from the best-seller by Isabelle Autissier. Of its echoes with current society (“How better to talk about the world than by talking about survival?”) to the necessarily particular and unpredictable filming conditions in the face of sometimes raging elements, including bringing the island to life on screen, he discusses some of the challenges of this second film as a director.
Before briefly mentioning Emilia Perez, Jacques Audiard’s next feature film which he co-wrote with him. And which will indeed be a musical comedy in Spanish, with Selena Gomez and Zoe Saldana.
Comments collected by Maximilien Pierrette in Paris on November 23, 2023 – Podcast editing: Chanelle Morvan