Fanfan la Tulipe's release date pushed back to May 14th -

PARIS (The Hollywood Reporter) - Gerard Krawczyk's 2003 version of the French classic Fanfan la Tulipe will open this year's Festival de Cannes... The film will screen Out of Competition at the 56th edition of Cannes, which runs May 14-25.

Big-budget French producer Luc Besson had a strong hand in the film, co-producing with Michel Feller, while his company, EuropaCorp, served as the production entity. Besson wrote Tulipe's screenplay with Jean Cosmos. They adapted it from the 1952 version, whose helmer, Christian-Jaque, won the prize for direction at that year's Cannes fest. Other film versions of the story were done in 1907 by director Alice Guy and in 1926 by Rene Leprince.

Pierre-Ange Le Pogam, co-founder and chief operating officer of EuropaCorp, said the first print of the film arrived at EuropaCorp's Paris office Wednesday morning. "We screened the film for the first time with the representatives of the film festival present. Over the course of a three-hour lunch, we came to the decision that Fanfan la Tulipe would open the festival," an emotional Le Pogam said. "We are nothing else but thrilled. We're so proud of the film. It's delightful."

As a result of the selection, the film's April 9 release in France has been pushed back to coincide with the opening of the festival. "This is the right thing to do," Le Pogam said. "The movie deserves it." The announcement is expected to help Tulipe's worldwide distribution efforts. The film has yet to be picked up for distribution in the United States.

The announcement may also appease critics who have been displeased when American films were selected to open the festival, like Woody Allen's "Hollywood Ending" last year.

"It also happens that some French producers are capable of making excellent movies," Le Pogam said.

These photos were taken by Laure Masseglia of France on October 19, 2002 when Vincent and his wife Karine made an appearance at the Virgin Megastore to promote their film, Peau d'ange.  Merci beaucoup, Laure! How wonderful that you now live in Paris.

News from Cannes today - A Swashbuckling Tale to Open!  Fanfan la Tulipe will open the Cannes Film Festival on May 14th, 2003. Gerard Krawczyk's adventure tells the story of the imaginary and popular 18th century hero, made famous by the director Christian-Jaque in 1952.  So, we can look forward to most likely seeing Vincent at Cannes this year. There are some conflicting reports that Fanfan la Tulipe will now be released theatrically on the same day as the opening Cannes ceremony (May 14th) instead of the original release date of April 9th. Check back for confirmation.

Many thanks to Laure Messaglia of France (who has often contributed to the Archives) for sending us this photo from the film, Je Reste, which may have wrapped up filming this week. I'm not sure if this is an actual scene from the movie or just a publicity shot. We can look forward to either a September 24 or October 1, 2003 release date.

Laure also attended the 23rd Salon du Livre de Paris, where Vincent gave an interview on Sunday. This year the book fair also presented a focus on cinema, so film enthusiasts had the opportunity to meet several French directors. We hope Laure has some photos to share with us.

There's a new interview that Vincent gave on his role in Le Pharmacien de Garde, which was featured at the film's official web site. It's taken me this long to finally getting around to translating it. In discussing famous evil roles, Vincent mentions Robert Mitchum in the classic thriller, The Night of the Hunter (1955). Anyone else count it among their favorites besides me and Vincent?

It won't be long before the video and DVD of Peau d'ange will be released in France. Rental stores will have it on April 23, and then on May 28, it will become available for purchase. Its format is for Zone 2, which means you'll need to convert it outside of France, Europe and the Orient. You can wait until it's released in Canada since it will be formated for Zone 1 (US and Canada). There are no English subtitles. The DVD has quite a few extras - cut scenes, the musical clip - J'ai une pensee, the trailer, a 12-min. feature on making the film, photo gallery, and two short films previously directed by Vincent - Rien dire and L'echange.

The big news at this time is the upcoming Fanfan la Tulipe slated for an April 9th opening in France. This 18th century swashbuckler, starring Vincent and Penelope Cruz, looks magnificent and appears to be complemented by an enthralling soundtrack as well. Be sure to visit Fanfan la Tulipe's web site and check out the trailer teaser or the full-length trailer.

When asked how he became involved in this film project, Vincent replied, "One evening during dinner, Luc Besson told me that he wanted to make a new version of Fanfan la Tulipe with me in the title role. I was very touched that Luc should present me with such a beautiful gift. I was enthusiastic, excited and infinitely grateful to Luc. The idea of playing Fanfan seemed immediately natural, as if I had always dreamed of it."

Below is a photo of an article in Cine Live magazine, No. 67, regarding the film. Hopefully there'll be a chance to purchase the magazine and have the article translated. In the meantime, you can click on the photo for an enlarged pic of Vincent.

The three photos below come from Lisa Scerina ("Pandora") of Windsor, CT and were captured from a television interview back in '96 when Vincent was promoting his film, The Crow: City of Angels.