While Costa-Gavras has rightfully earned his place among the great filmmakers thanks to films like “Z” and “Missing,” let’s be honest for a moment, he hasn’t really resonated on the arthouse front since “Amen.” in 2002 (and we’ll forget “Mad City” ever happened). But it looks like the helmer is coming back in a big way as the stars seem to be lining up for his next project, the topical financial world drama “Le Captial.”
In case you missed it Vincent Cassel is already on board and Variety reports that Mathieu Kassovitz (who starred in “Amen.”) and Gabriel Byrne have now joined as well. Based on the novel by Stéphane Osmont — with further inspiration from the essay “Total Capitalism” by former Credit Lyonnais president Jean Peyrelevade — the film is a harsh look at the banking system with Kassovitz set to play Marc Tourneuil, the head of Europe’s Phoenix Bank who is facing a hostile takeover from U.S. hedge fund companies, while making a play to acquire a debt-laden Japanese bank.
Meanwhile, Byrne will play one of the new shareholders of Phoenix. But perhaps most curiously, model, sort-of-actress and certified crazy person Naomi Campbell has been offered the role of a model that Tourneuil becomes infatuated with. Curiously, there’s not one mention of Cassel in the latest report. Hmm.
The globe-trotting film which will span Paris, London, New York, Davos and Tokyo was written by the director’s son and filmmaker Romain Gavras (“Our Day Will Come“), Jean-Claude Grumberg and Karim Boukercha. Filming begins in September and could this be a Cannes entry for 2012? The filmmaker has won three times in the south of France taking home the Jury Prize for “Z,” Best Director for “Section Spéciale” and the Palme d’Or for “Missing,” and we’re betting the fest would love to have him back.
