EXCLUSIVE: French film industry veteran Nicolas Royer, who was line and executive producer on Coralie Fargeat’s Cannes buzz title The Substance, has boarded Catherine Hardwicke’s upcoming feature A French Pursuit, starring Toni Collette.
The production, which is remake of Caroline Vignal’s 2020 French hit My Donkey, My Lover & I (Antoinette Dans Les Cévennes), starring Laura Calamy, is due to shoot in the Cévennes region in south-central France this summer.
Royer will line and executive produce the movie, which is lead produced by Christopher Simon at New Sparta Productions and Collette under her Vocab Films banner.
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The new production will be first official gig for Royer’s company Voulez-Vous Production Services, which he created in 2023 to build on his work on The Substance.
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Royer was line and executive producer on the body horror, lead produced by the UK’s Working Title and starring Demi Moore, Margaret Qualley and Dennis Quaid.
The movie enjoyed a buzzy world premiere in Competition in Cannes over the weekend and provoked debate among film folk on the Croisette.
The film shot from June to November 2022 in Paris and the South of France as well as Studios in Épinay-sur-Seine, outside of the French capital, and then did extensive VFX work in the country.
Collaborating closely with Coralie, Royer devised a bespoke solution, optimizing shoot logistics and post-production in France while capitalizing on the 40% French tax credit, rendering the project feasible within budget constraints.
Under France’s Tax Rebate For International Production (TRIP), productions receive a 10% bonus on the baseline 30% rebate when they do VFX work in France.
“From conceptualization to the Cannes red carpet, The Substance has epitomized a labor of love and innovation,” said Royer,
“It’s a highly ambitious fantasy film combining ‘old-fashioned’ special effects with cutting-edge visual technologies, necessitating a non-standard shooting length, predominantly within studio confines.”
Royer has co-founded Voulez-Vous Production Services in the role of executive producer, with long-time collaborator Olivier Lagny.
The pair first began working together in 2006 when they recreated a storm for the crime drama Ill Wind. They followed this with Niki Caro’s period film The Vintner’s Luck, set in the early 19th century against the backdrop of the vineyards of Burgundy.
Their aim is to support local and international production in accessing facilities, locations and crew as well as navigate the TRIP, in the most beneficial way.
Entering the film industry in 1997, Royer has supported directors and producers on more than 30 films, shooting in France outside the country, including Guillaume Canet’s Jappeloup, Halle Berry and Daniel Craigpicture Kings and Netflix drama Madame Claude.
Lagny has has worked as a location manager and a line producer, with this credit including Omar Sy-series Lupin, Sofia Coppola’s Marie-Antoinette, Cédric Jimenez’s The Man with the Iron Heart (director Cédric Jimenez), Jacques Audiard’s Palme d’Or winner Dheepan and Pathé’s upcoming film Monsieur Aznavour, starring Tahar Rahim as the titular iconic singer.