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Netflix France has revealed a first look at Lupin and Untouchable star Omar Sy in romantic comedy French Lover.

The new role marks a fresh direction for the actor whose previous characters have rarely had success in romance.

The French arm of the global platform teased the image at its Next on Netflix event in Paris on Wednesday evening, running simultaneously with events in the U.S. and worldwide.

Sy stars as an A-list actor who unexpectedly falls for a girl-next-door, played by Sara Giraudeau, who crosses his path. They are joined in the cast by Pascale Arbillot, Alban Ivanov and Agnès Hurstel.

It is the debut feature of Lisa-Nina Rives who previously worked with Sy as a second unit director on Lupin.

Producers are Zazi Films, Federation Studio France and Korokoro Productions, with the participation of TF1. No date has been revealed for its launch.

Other big local productions...

Clementine Gayet and Jimmy Desmarais, a pair of senior executives in charge of Netflix’s French scripted originals, are set to step down from the streamer at the end of the year, Variety has learned.

They follow a string of high-profile exits at Netflix in France, including Damien Couvreur, VP of series and documentaries, who left the streamer over the summer. A junior executive, Ingha Mago, who is creative associate of French Original Series at Netflix, will also be stepping down at the same time as Desmarais and Gayet. Netflix declined to comment.

Netflix’s French team has been spearheaded by Pauline Dauvin, the former VP at The Walt Disney Company France, since the start of 2024 in the newly created position of VP of content in France.

Spearheaded by Dauvin, the French team is now comprised of head of unscripted series Dolores Emile, scripted series boss Pierre Saint-André and Gaelle Mareschi,...

The lead of Netflix's hit series Lupin has officially signed on for a steamy new project. A new report from Variety announced that Omar Sy, who portrays Assane Diop in the mystery heist series, will star in the upcoming romantic comedy French Lover. The film will be the directorial debut of Nina Rives, who worked recently as a script supervisor on Love at Second Sight, A Man in a Hurry, and (Girl)Friend. Sy will star alongside Sara Giraudeau, Pascale Arbillot, and Alban Ivanov.

During the closing credits of “The Last Mercenary,” we see a montage of Jean-Claude Van Damme in the various getups he wore during the movie (a fuzzy beard; a mustache and Yankees cap; a blond wig; a Bond tuxedo; drag). The film presents this cavalcade of mostly routine disguises with wide-eyed affection, as if it were showing us Peter Sellers in his “Pink Panther” prime. It’s all part of the delusion that the makers of “The Last Mercenary” (who are French) are apparently under: that Jean-Claude Van Damme is no mere action star — that he’s a stylish comedian, an icon of such ironic charisma that we’d follow him anywhere, even through the paces of a maladroit caper movie like this one.

Van Damme was always a good-looking bruiser, sleeker than those other martial-arts poster boys Chuck Norris and Steven Seagal. He’s 60 now, which in our world...

The Last Mercenary; In French with English Subtitles Netflix Reviewed for Shockya.com by Abe Friedtanzer Director: David Charhon Writer: David Charhon, Ismaël Sy Savané Cast: Jean-Claude Van Damme, Alban Ivanov, Assa Sylla, Samir Decazza, Patrick Timsit, Eric Judor, Miou-Miou Screened at: Critics’ link, LA, 7/26/21 Opens: July 30th, 2021 (Netflix) There’s an interesting contradiction in […]

The post The Last Mercenary Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.

Jean-Claude Van Damme is back in action in The Last Mercenary, now streaming on Netflix. A French action comedy movie from director David Charhon, The Last Mercenary stars Van Damme in the lead role as a former secret service agent on a mission to save his son. A trailer for the movie was released ahead of its streaming debut on Netflix, which you can check out below for a sneak peek at Van Damme throwing kicks once again.

In The Last Mercenary, Jean-Claude Van Damme is a former secret service agent who must urgently return to France when his estranged son is falsely accused of arms and drug trafficking by the government. Though there are comedic elements, the movie features plenty of Van Damme back in action with the 60-year-old kicking faces, busting heads, and dodging bullets. It seems to be a must-see movie for big fans of the actor...

Everybody’s favorite high-kicking, Belgian action hero, Jean-Claude Van Damme, is back in “The Last Mercenary.” The team behind the throwback action flick was on-hand (virtually) to debut an exclusive sneak peek from the Netflix movie at San Diego Comic-Con.

The new scene was introduced by Van Damme and the film’s writer-director David Charhon at Comic-Con at Home Saturday afternoon.

The clip begins with a hooded man bound to a chair in a dingy room. What the incoming soldiers don't see, however, is Richard (Van Damme), posed in his signature splits on the ceiling. He leaps down and disarms them with unsurprising ease and frees the prisoner. Richard ends up having to wheel the clumsy prisoner out of the building on a gurney before leaping out of a window to complete the rescue mission -- only after punching out some more soldiers for good measure though.

Richard, a former...

"The Last Mercenary" is the new action comedy feature, directed by David Charhon, starring Jean-Claude Van Damme, Alban Ivanov, Assa Sylla and Samir Decazza, streaming July 30, 2021 on Netflix:

"...a mysterious former secret service agent returns to France...

"...when his estranged son is falsely accused of arms and drug trafficking by the government, following a blunder by an overzealous bureaucrat..." 

Click the images to enlarge...

It seems these days that you really can't stop the action heroes of the '80s and '90s, even when they are almost at an age many would be more than ready to put their knife-strapped boots up and relax. One of the action genre's best known names is back in a new comedy thriller next month on Netflix. Jean-Claude Van Damme leads The Last Mercenary, which will premiere July 30th on the streaming platform. Today, Netflix put out the trailer, which seems to show that even at 60, the Muscles From Brussels is not ready for a nice quiet life of gardening just yet.

The official synopsis of Van Damme's first movie in two years, reads, "Richard Brumère, aka 'La Brume' ('The Mist'), a former French secret service special agent turned mercenary, is back in the saddle as the immunity he was granted 25 years earlier for his son Archibald is lifted.

"Life is one long op." Netflix has launched the first official trailer for a new French action film called The Last Mercenary, aka Le Dernier Mercenaire in French, from filmmaker David Charhon. This new Jcvd action comedy is dropping on Netflix right away at the end of July this summer. A mysterious former secret service known as "La Brume" (or "The Mist") agent must urgently return to France when his estranged son is falsely accused of arms and drug trafficking by the government, following a blunder by an overzealous bureaucrat and a mafia operation. Jean-Claude Van Damme stars as the father who must come back to France and save his son, along with Alban Ivanov, Assa Sylla, Samir Decazza, Patrick Timsit, Eric Judor, and Miou-Miou. Not sure why Jcvd is wearing so many goofy disguises in this, but it looks like some throwaway fun. The only thing that really makes...

Alban Ivanov and Sabrina Ouazani lead the cast of the filmmaker’s latest opus, an Escazal Films production set to be sold worldwide by TF1 Studio. The French department of Cantal has seen the first clapperboard slammed on Jean-Pierre Améris’ 13th fiction feature film: Les folies fermières. Starring in the cast are Alban Ivanov, Sabrina Ouazani, Michèle Bernier (of the series The Intern), Guy Marchand (recently seen in season 3 of Call My Agent!) and Bérangère Krief. Written by Jean-Pierre Améris, Marion Michau and Jean-Luc Gaget (the winner of 2017’s Best Original Screenplay César for The Together Project who was also...

Netflix has boarded new action-packed film projects in France, including the sequel of Guillaume Pierret’s thriller “Lost Bullet,” and Regis Blondeau’s “A Tombeau Ouvert,” a remake of the Korean film “A Hard Day.”

The service’s slate of Originals for 2021, meanwhile, comprises the action movie “The Last Mercenary” with Jean-Claude Van Damme, and the series “Braqueurs,” a spinoff of Julien Leclercq’s movie.

The service is expecting to roll out 27 French Originals by the end of 2021, according to Anne-Gabrielle Dauba-Pantanacce, head of communications at Netflix.

The titles were announced during a virtual presentation of Netflix’s French slate for 2021, hosted by Damien Couvreur, head of French series originals, Sara May, Netflix’s head of acquisitions and co-productions for France and Italy, and Dauba-Pantanacce.

“Lost Bullet” is high-concept thriller revolving around a man who gets arrested after a failed robbery and starts working for a cop unit to avoid going to jail.

Amazon Prime Video has boarded Melanie Laurent’s anticipated period mystery thriller “Le bal des folles” as its first Original movie in France.

“Le bal des folles” is produced by Alain Goldman and Axelle Boucaï at Legende Films. Amazon Prime Video will launch the film exclusively in France and around the world in 2021.

The movie will start shooting next week in Rochefort, in western France. Penned by Laurent and Christophe Deslandes, “Le bal des folles” is based on the award-wining novel of the same name by Victoria Mas.

The film takes place at the end of the 19th century in Paris, at a time when women deemed too rebellious or difficult were frequently labeled as insane and institutionalized. The action unfolds at the Salpêtrière hospital where such women, diagnosed with different kinds of nervous system disorders, were confined and put under the supervision of neurologists such as Jean-Martin Charcot. Each year,...

Thanks to the likes of Taken, the John Wick franchise, the presence of Jason Statham, and even Netflix's Extraction, there has been a real appetite over the last decade or so for no-nonsense, take no names, shoot first, then shoot again action movies. Well, an upcoming movie that is sure to appeal to this fanbase is Seized, starring action cinemas worst kept secret, Scott Adkins, for which a trailer has now been released.

The movie's official synopsis is as follows: "Hiding out with his son Taylor on the Mexican coast, Nero hopes to put his violent Special Forces career behind him. But after Nero's home is attacked and Taylor is abducted, the mysterious Mzamo orders Nero to slaughter the members of three rival crime syndicates. If he fails, Taylor will die. Now, with bullets flying and bodies dropping as Nero completes his mission, he races to find Mzamo's hideout and seek revenge.

Action movie legend and master of the high-risk splits, Jean-Claude Van Damme, is high-kicking his way onto Netflix with the upcoming action-comedy The Last Mercenary. The actor and martial artist is currently shooting the movie in France for the streaming giant, and going by the plot, The Last Mercenary sounds like the perfect vehicle for "The Muscles from Brussels".

In the French-language movie, Jean-Claude Van Damme plays a mysterious former secret service agent who must urgently return to France when his estranged son is falsely accused of arms and drug trafficking by the government, following a blunder by an overzealous bureaucrat and a mafia operation. It sounds like exactly the kind of movie that Van Damme would star in, and there ain't nothing wrong with that. The Last Mercenary has a plot that sounds like it was tailor made for the action icon, and should lead to a lot of kicking,...

Action star Jean-Claude Van Damme has begun shooting in France for a Netflix action-comedy called “The Last Mercenary,” Netflix announced Friday.

The film is directed by David Charhon and is a French-language film that stars Van Damme as a mysterious former secret service agent who must urgently return to France when his estranged son (Samir Decazza) is falsely accused of arms and drug trafficking by the government, following a blunder by an overzealous bureaucrat (Alban Ivanov) and a mafia operation.

Charhon and Ismaël Sy Savané wrote the film that co-stars Alban Ivanov, Assa Sylla, Samir Decazza, Patrick Timsit, Eric Judor and Miou-Miou, and the film will debut soon on Netflix. “The Last Mercenary” will shoot in France and Ukraine.

Also Read: Naya Rivera to Appear as Judge on Netflix's 'Sugar Rush' Episode Filmed Before Her Death

“The Last Mercenary” is produced by Jean-Charles Levy, Nicolas Manuel (Forecast Pictures), Olivier Albou,...

Action star Jean-Claude Van Damme is currently shooting action-comedy “The Last Mercenary” in France for Netflix, being directed by David Charhon (“On the Other Side of the Tracks”).

In the French-language film, written by Charhon and Ismael Sy Savane (“Lascars”), Van Damme plays a mysterious former secret service agent who must urgently return to France when his estranged son is falsely accused of arms and drug trafficking by the government, following a blunder by an overzealous bureaucrat and a mafia operation.

The cast also includes Alban Ivanov (“Lucky”), Assa Sylla (“Mortel”) and Samir Decazza (“Valide”).

The film is produced by Jean-Charles Levy and Nicolas Manuel (Forecast Pictures); Olivier Albou and Laurence Schonberg (Other Angle Pictures); David Charhon, Jakéma Charhon and Eponine Maillet (Mony Films); and Olias Barco, Vlad Riashyn (Apple Tree).

This is the first time that the Muscles from Brussels is attempting an action-comedy and it is also his...

Netflix is underway in France on Jean-Claude Van Damme action-comedy The Last Mercenary from director David Charhon (The Other Side Of The Tracks).

Also starring in the film are Alban Ivanov, Assa Sylla, Samir Decazza, Patrick Timsit, Eric Judor and Miou-Miou.

Van Damme will play a mysterious former secret service agent who must urgently return to France when his estranged son (Decazza) is falsely accused of arms and drug trafficking by the government, following a blunder by an overzealous bureaucrat (Ivanov) and a mafia operation.

The film is written by David Charhon and Ismaël Sy Savané and produced by Jean-Charles Levy, Nicolas Manuel (Forecast Pictures), Olivier Albou, Laurence Schonberg (Other Angle Pictures), David Charhon, Jakéma Charhon, Eponine Maillet (Mony Films), Olias Barco, Vlad Riashyn (Apple Tree).

Van Damme said: “The Last Mercenary is an incredibly exciting project and allows me to take on a new genre. I’ve always been...

The Muscles from Brussels has officially booked his first feature with Netflix.

Jean-Claude Van Damme has started shooting The Last Mercenary, David Charhon's action-comedy also starring Alban Ivanov, Assa Sylla, Samir Decazza, Patrick Timsit, Eric Judor and Miou-Miou.

Being shot in France, the film sees Van Damme plays a mysterious former secret service agent who must urgently return to the country when his estranged son (Decazza) is falsely accused of arms and drug trafficking by the government, following a blunder by an overzealous bureaucrat (Ivanov) and a mafia operation.

"The Last Mercenary is an incredibly exciting project and ...

The Muscles From Brussels has officially booked his first feature with Netflix. 

Jean-Claude Van Damme has started shooting The Last Mercenary, David Charhon's action-comedy also starring Alban Ivanov, Assa Sylla, Samir Decazza, Patrick Timsit, Eric Judor and Miou-Miou. 

Being shot in France, the film sees Van Damme plays a mysterious former secret service agent who must urgently return to the country when his estranged son (Decazza) is falsely accused of arms and drug trafficking by the government, following a blunder by an overzealous bureaucrat (Ivanov) and a mafia operation.

"The Last Mercenary is an incredibly exciting project and ...

If virtual education in the time of Covid-19 makes you nostalgic for the sight of students and teachers occupying actual classrooms, Netflix invites you to matriculate at School Life. Despite a tendency to go soft when the going gets tough, this French-Arabic comedy-drama, originally titled La Vie Scolaire, earns solid marks for a keep-it-real approach to the subject of classrooms on the fringes. The setting is a middle school in Saint-Denis, a Paris suburb populated largely by non-white migrants. The students are a wild bunch not given to study, obedience or self-control.

"His organization responds to acute needs." Madman Films out of Australia has debuted an official English-subtitled trailer for the acclaimed, beloved French drama (originally) called The Specials. Apparently for the Australian release they've retitled it to The Extraordinary, which sort of still works I guess, but okay whatever. No need for a new name. This is from the same two talented French filmmakers who made The Intouchables, and this time they tell the story of two based-on-real-people social support caregivers for autistic children and teens. Vincent Cassel and Reda Kateb star as two of the most caring, loving guys you'll ever meet - as Bruno and Malik. The full cast also includes Hélène Vincent, Bryan Mialoundama. Alban Ivanov, Benjamin Lesieur, Marco Locatelli, and Catherine Mouchet. It's a wonderful film. I saw it at the San Sebastian Film Festival and loved everything about it - read my glowing review. It truly is a "special", warm,...

Gaumont is reteaming with “The Intouchables” and “C’est La Vie” production banner Quad on Mohamed Hamidi (“One Man and His Cow”)’s concept company “Queens of The Field.”

The movie is set in a small rural town which is on the verge of losing its funding along with its field. The threat leads the town women to join forces and launch a football crew in order to defend their city. But in a community where football has always been considered a men’s sport, the women’s team turns the town upside down.

“Queens of The Field” is headlined by a strong French cast, including Kad Merad (“Little Nicholas”), Alban Ivanov (“Sink or Swim”), Sabrina Ouazani (“Taxi 5”) and Céline Sallette (“The Returned”).

Hamidi previously directed “One Man and His Cow,” which grossed over $10 million and was nominated for a European Film Award in 2016.

Gaumont described the film...

I went into Olivier Nakache and Eric Toledano’s latest film C’est la vie! knowing nothing about it. My assumption from their two previous works, Intouchables and Samba, was that it would prove a charmingly funny dramedy tinged with relevant politics and racial complexity. Well, I was wrong. Whereas the latter film honed in on the former’s politics, this one strips them away completely to focus solely on the comedy. The result is an uproariously contemporary riff on Robert Altman’s underrated classic A Wedding. While it doesn’t spread out quite so large a net—focusing almost exclusively on wedding planner Max (Jean-Pierre Bacri) and his eccentric crew—it still wonderfully distills the fiscal and logistical absurdity of such formally traditional celebrations with biting satire, broad pratfalls, and expertly rendered caricature to its essence.

They don’t ease us in either as the tone immediately reveals itself.