Empire: Why did Adele Hanel leave the Bruno Dumont movie? He answered us

It’s one of the curiosities at the cinema from Wednesday: Empire, Bruno Dumont’s new film, which is showing in competition at the Berlin Film Festival. Certainly divisive — we love it or hate it, as early viewer feedback attests — Empire is Aliens with Aliens…

For this story of aliens bent on conquering humans, director Bruno Dumont envisioned an unrecognizable film object at the crossroads of Star Wars, Cabbage Soup, and the life of Jesus, his first feature film. The result is a strange, unique film that has generated many press articles for its originality, its subject matter, but also for its casting…

An almost completely changed cast

The film’s casting, in fact, has almost completely changed in relation to its headliners. At first, Adele Hennel, Lily Rose Depp and Virgin Efira were famous. Adele Hennel spoke to a German newspaper to explain her departure from the casting. “It was a dark, sexist, racist world they were defending. The script was full of jokes about cancellation culture and sexual assault. I tried to discuss this with Bruno Dumont because I thought a dialogue was possible. For the second time, I wanted to believe that it wasn’t intentional. But this is intentional. I didn’t want to support it, so I opted out“, we remind our colleagues Telerama.

To promote the film, Télérama asked Bruno Dumont to return to the actor’s departure: ” In 2022, I see Adele Hennel, who is very angry with me, even though we were good friends before that. He wanted to change the script, which he had previously considered completely crazy and delightful, especially accusing me of being racist because I only did films with white people. He has every right to think so, but it took him more than a year to do so. In 2020, he said that he no longer wanted to do cinema, but politics, but he could not refuse my film. This completely unpredictable and incomprehensible face cut me deeply and was a shock to everyone.

Adele Hennel responds to Bruno Dumont

Adele Haenel, who contacted us, responded to Bruno Dumont today. We asked him his feelings about the director’s statements against him.

What does a sci-fi movie about humanity and its intergalactic cousins, in which the entire cast is white, mean?

“What’s the point of a science fiction film that represents humanity and its intergalactic cousins, where the entire cast is white?”

As for Bruno Dumont’s script for Empire, I actually addressed the issue of the film’s sexism and white casting from our first meeting, and pledged my commitment to the film immediately with the changes to be made in that regard. A year later, I got a new script where not a single line was changed, so I left the project. There are several people who can attest to this.

He seems to have forgotten the names of other famous actors participating in the project and hired them only out of regret.

As for our friendly exchanges, we had several conversations with Bruno Dumont in which he was systematically appreciative. He seems to have forgotten the names of other famous actors participating in the project and hired them only out of regret. I get the impression that he imagined that he was going to bond with me through this infatuated power play. He would say things like, “I’ll delete you,” “What can you do?” “Can’t you separate yourself from your social persona?” such a thing. However, he didn’t seem to know my work, so I imagine that if he had come looking for me, that was what he would call my social persona. Make fun, a little silly, of the #MeeToo movement through my body, and perhaps a more broadly sincere political commitment, while using my name and my work. Since his movie is basically: good = bad, it was practical for him. I explain this because he says we got along well, it never happened to me.

On the subject of the whiteness of the casting, which was a problem for me, we had a rather surreal conversation about the destruction of the indigenous peoples of North America, where Dumont told me that I was generally a bit naive because I didn’t do it. You don’t see the nuances and that there are also good guys among the cowboys and bad guys among the Indians. Indeed, it seems appropriate to talk about the nuances of this colonial massacre.

I also talked about the problematic casting with Lily Rose Depp, who was in the film at the time and who shared my criticism – we wanted to make a request together that would have more weight with the producer.

Claiming the opposite today is first of all false, but above all it distracts from the real issue, which is not so much mine as our shared point of view. What does a sci-fi movie about humanity and its intergalactic cousins ​​where the entire cast is white mean?

Isn’t producing movies without thinking about the significance of the presence or absence of non-white actors in the cast itself an act of racism? Knowing that cinema has a huge role in shaping our views and desires, isn’t it racist to preferentially and systematically give the best roles to white people?

Aisa Maiga’s powerful words at the 2020 César Awards gave me a leap in consciousness.

These questions are striking in the case of Empire, but not limited to this film. Much of French cinema is concerned, and I take this criticism primarily for myself. I owe a jump in my awareness to Aisa Maiga at the 2020 César Awards and to all the politicized Afro-descendant actors in the world of cinema. So when I was offered this script in 2021, it seemed like my role as a star actor to use my power to foster a creative space that intelligently asks these questions.

As for slow changes, I think it’s better to change slowly than not at all. I grew up in a world that is unfortunately still structurally racist, and I do my best to change myself and try to transform the space around me, it seems to me that this is a minimal demonstration of humanity. “

Adele Hennel, who has not been on the set since filming The Fire Girl, is now pursuing a career in the theater. He is currently in France and on an international tour extra life By Giselle Wien. The play was recently selected by one of the prestigious theater institutes. Theater Trefenwhich awards the most outstanding works of the year.