Jack Mimoun with Malik Bentalha: What’s the deal with Predator?

First steps in directing…

Jack Mimoun and The Mysteries of Val Verde mark actor Malik Bentalha’s first forays into writing and directing a feature film. For this occasion, he joined Ludovic Colbo-Justin on production and Tristan Schulman and Florent Bernard on the screenplay. He says :

“I got this desire from spending time on the set. When I finished filming, I stayed and watched. I was intrigued by all of this… and when I saw the final result, after editing, I realized how magical it was. The staging could be operated.”

“Over time, I wanted to make it a reality, and sometimes there was some frustration during filming. You didn’t go to the directors to talk to them. So after a while, I thought, ‘Why not me?’

Iconic reference!

If the name Val Verde reminds you of something, that’s normal. Beyond the obvious reference to the Indiana Jones saga in Jack Mimoon’s costume, the film also hides 58 minutes of life. In this cult film with Bruce Willis, the Latin American country of Val Verde is mentioned, which was supposedly under the dictatorial regime of General Esperanza.

However, this is a completely fictitious situation, a figment of producer Joel Silver’s imagination. This name appears in two other action films he directed in the 1980s: Commando (1985) and Predator (1987).

Shooting in the midst of a pandemic

Initially, Malik Bentalha wanted to shoot the film on Reunion Island, which turned out to be impossible due to technical reasons. It then set up its cameras in Thailand for scouting in February 2021, before filming in April-May-June. He recalls:

“We found extraordinary sets that became unavailable the day before the day after. We had to leave in the middle of the night to find others without actually seeing them.”

“All this with extremely strict sanitary conditions: 15 days of isolation each time we returned to the site before leaving the hotel room.”

“The whole cast agreed to play, away from their families and friends. During this period of confinement, we obviously set up rooms with treadmills, Playstations or terraces so we could get some fresh air.”

“I think in the end it wasn’t that difficult: settling down, refining our roles or the technical aspects of the film, and actually everything was bringing the group together before shooting…”

Jean-Marc Bastos!

François Damiens plays Jean-Marc Basteau, a completely insane helicopter pilot and ex-soldier. To write the role, Malik Bentalha and Tristan Shulman were inspired by Commando with Schwarzenegger and Thunder in the Tropics with Ben Stiller. The first develops:

“These guys who shoot first and talk later! Bastos loves guns, admires the Americans, and at the same time feels very emotional being alone, experiencing horrors at the front. I think the public will really get to him. Although he was quite disturbing …”

Who for Aurel Diaz?

For Aurel Diaz’s character, Malik Bentalha and Ludovic Colbo-Justin were looking for an actor who has charm but also finds his place among actors with strong comic potential. They had a reference to Kathleen Turner in Pursuit of the Green Diamond:

“I know that Josephine has worked hard on her role, in particular watching Philip de Broca’s films. You know, there are good students and bad students in this profession. There is nothing on my scripts, no annotations, no underlining.” Malik Bentalha says and continues:

“Josephine’s for Jack Mimoun, includes photos, handwritten sentences, drawings of each of her scenes!”