Woody Allen’s “Coup de Chance,” the controversial filmmaker’s 50th movie, has found a French distributor. Metropolitan FilmExport, one of country’s biggest independent distributors, has come on board to release the movie in France.
The release date has not yet been set, but sources close to the film say it could world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival.
Metropolitan FilmExport has never handled a movie directed by Allen before as it typically focuses on commercial U.S. movies such as the “Hunger Games” franchise and “Evil Dead Rises.”
While Allen’s movies have also always been widely popular in France, his previous film “Rifkin’s Festival” sold under 100,000 tickets for Apollo Films after world premiering at the San Sebastian Festival. It was the director’s worst B.O. performance in France. Budgeted in the $20-million range, “Coup de Chance” was a pricey acquisition that not many French distributors could afford to gamble on.
Allen previously described “Coup de Chance” as a “poisonous romantic thriller in the veins of “Match Point.” ” It marks the New York-based filmmaker’s first film in French.
In spite of his highly controversial profile, Allen was able to assemble a topnotch French cast Valerie Lemercier (“Aline”), Niels Schneider (“Love Affair(s),” Lou de Laage (The Mad Women’s Ball”), Elsa Zylberstein (“Simone”) and Melvil Poupaud (“One Fine Morning”).
In the U.S., meanwhile, Allen has lost all major support due to the resurfacing of abuse allegation involving his daughter Dylan. He’s believed to be facing more difficulties to find big-name American actors willing to star in his films. Rebecca Hall, Timothée Chalamet and Greta Gerwig, for instance, said they regretted working with Allen.
Although “Coup de Chance” was rumored to be his last film, Allen issued a statement last year saying “he has no intention of retiring.”