Asterix and Obelix, the Chinese galley
The French blockbuster Asterix and Obelix: The Middle Kingdom by Guillaume Canet was to be an important film for French cinema. The sequel to a great saga signed by a solid director, an internationally renowned French actor and character, a dizzying cast, a production budget of 66 million euros and a partnership with the Chinese film industry.
The new film project Asterix and Obelix it was made official in 2017, by the publishing house Les Éditions Albert René and Alain Attal’s production company Trésor Films, which produced all the films directed by Guillaume Canet. This announces in October 2019 ThatAsterix and Obelix: The Middle Kingdom it will be his new goal. A geostrategic sequence then opens, with Alain Attal and Guillaume Canet accompanying Emmanuel Macron to China in early November 2019 for the inauguration of the Center Pompidou in Shanghai with the aim of meeting actors and actresses, as well as production partners.
At the end of this journey, Guillaume Canet announced it on RTL the film will be “turned partly on the chinAnd”and Alain Attal specifies that they want it filming in summer 2020. But that will never happen.
The Chinese didn’t like the scenario
History will record itAsterix and Obelix: The Middle Kingdom has been heavily affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, which first broke out in China. It therefore appears clear, since March 2020, that filming there is technically largely compromised. But in reality, at that moment, the prospect of co-production with China is already distant. Indeed, in May 2021, Alain Attal will then explain the columns of So Film :
We fought like dogs to try to put together this co-production with the Chinese. It didn’t work for simple reasons: firstly, for them this comic doesn’t exist at all, they don’t know it. It is a very well-known franchise in many European countries, in Russia, in Germany, in some Asian countries… but not in China. It was a huge obstacle to overcome. In between came the pandemic. We needed answers, but there was total radio silence. (…)
Things with the Chinese take longer, they want to control more. The censors had to approve the script and did not imagine that China could be invaded by Caesar’s troops, even if we are in a comedy and in -50 BC.
Guillaume Canet: “we couldn’t talk about pandas!”
China exercises very authoritarian and assertive control over its film productions and over foreign ones that claim to be distributed on its territory. A censorship whose application is inevitable, and which therefore posed a problem for the producer and director of the film. Guillaume clarifies this to the press when the film comes out in February 2023.
We realized very early that by shooting there we would have to face censorship because there were a lot of things that the authorities didn’t like in the script, especially in terms of humor: we couldn’t talk about the pandas for example! I felt it would be difficult, especially because the diplomatic situation had become complicated with the Uighur tragedy. I didn’t see us participating in the official screenings, taking photos, taking the actors, etc., taken hostage in a certain way in this whole context…
Asterix and Obelix: The Middle Kingdom then it became 100% French production., it is therefore in France that all the filming takes place, in particular in Auvergne for outdoor filming. With almost a year’s delay, given that the restrictions linked to Covid-19 postpone its launch to spring 2021. On the casting side there is a consequence. The performers of Asian descent who play the Chinese characters in the film are not Chinese actors or actresses. So Julie Chen and Leanna Chea are French, Linh-Dan Pham is French-Vietnamese, Tran Vu Tran is French, just like Bun-hay Mean.
Source: Cine Serie
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