Asterix at the Olympic Games ready for production

The third Asterix movie is all set to hit the floors and is slated for a January-february 2008 release. Bechkam, Zidane, and Schumacher will also star in the movie.

PRAVEENA SHIVRAM

13 March 2006
CHENNAI, INDIA

The indomitable little village of Gaul is all set to makes it's third screen presence, as Asterix at the Olympic Games is ready to hit the floors. Touted to be the most expensive European film in history at 93 million dollars (78 million euros), this film is a French-Spanish-German coproduction that is being directed by Frederic Forestier and Thomas Langmann.

With acclaimed actor Gerard Depardieu as Obelix again this time (though he announced that he was in "the prcess of stopping filming" and this might well be his last film), the film has also roped in real Madrid footballers, David Bechkam and Zinedine Zidane and Formula One champion, Michael Schumacher, who are said to have small roles in the film, probably as one of the many participants on the Olympics. The grapevine was also abuzz with Aishwarya Rai being a part of the film, despite the fact that the original story did not have a female character in it and the filmmakers were said to have a special role for her. The actor herself has categorically denied being part of this venture.

For all Asterix fans, this paragraph is probably redundant, but nevertheless, here is a brief outline of the story. When this little village of Gaul discover that the Romans are sending Legionary Gluteus Maximus to represent Rome at the Olympic Games, the Gaul's decide to participate as well, and send Asterix and Obelix too, creating quite a stir among the rest of the participants, for fear of the invincible powers of the famed magic potion, brewed by Druid Getafix. However, the Greek officials of the game ban the use of magic potion or any use of any other artifical stimulants, and it is up to Gauls to compete instead on their own wits. The rest, of course, is to see if the Gauls take home the medal or not.

Playing the role of the muscular and smug Gluteus Maximus is Jean-Claude Van Damme, while Clovis Cornillac will be replacing Christian Clavier (who starred in the last two) as Asterix. Julias Ceaser ( Alain Delon will play the third Julius Caesar in the series. The part was previously played by Gottfried John and Alain Chabat) and Brutus ( Benoît Poelvoorde has been cast as Julius Caesar's adopted son Brutus) also make an appearance in the film, though in the book, Julias Ceaser comes only towards the end and Brutus doesn't exist at all.

Although the script is ready (screenplay by Robert Longmann) and Albert Uderzo is said to be happy with the way the movie has shaped up, he is yet to give his final okay on the production. Though, once that is in place, both Uderzo and Anne Goscinny will retain a say in the filming process. The right-holders, Albert Uderzo and Anne Goscinny had apparently been unhappy with Mission Cleopatra (the second Asterix film released). In 2003, Claude Berri (who had produced the previous two Asterix movies) had presented a script for Asterix in Spain written by Gerard Jugnot to Uderzo and Anne, which was turned down. It looked like a third Asterix movie would never be okayed, until Robert Langmann (son of Berri) wrote a script based on Olympic Games. Albert Uderzo has given positive feedback on the project.

Mission Cleopatra had been one of the most successful French movies of all time, taking a worldwide box office gross of US $110 million. The Hindi version of this film was premiered at the Goa international film festival of India (IFFI) on December 3, 2005.

Initially, the film was said to begin in March 2006, most of it in Tunisia and Morocco. But now, the schedule has been shifted to June 2006, with most of the film being shot near Alicante, Spain. The film is slated for a January/february 2008 release, to coincide with the Beijing Olympics.