Latest news with #Godard
Sydney Morning Herald
22-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Sydney Morning Herald
Why School of Rock director Richard Linklater is obsessed with new wave cinema
The year was 1960. Jean-Luc Godard was nearly 30; for at least 10 years, along with his fellow film critics and buffs clustered around the film magazine Cahiers du Cinema, he had been champing at the bit to make his own film. His comrade Francois Truffaut had managed to make The 400 Blows, which was shown at the Cannes Film Festival. Godard was poised to make a film – black and white, barely any script, shot from the shoulder – that would be a slap in the face to stolid French film culture. And then, finally, it happened. He made Breathless. Richard Linklater's Nouvelle Vague recounts how Godard persuaded a producer to back him, then proceeded to spend a lot of time in cafes with actors Jean-Paul Belmondo and Jean Seberg and his crew while improvising a film about a petty criminal's love affair with an American student. It manages to be energetic, nostalgic and inspiring all at the same time. Without a doubt, it was also the most fun anyone had at the last Cannes Film Festival, but not just because it was preaching to a receptive choir. It's a story about cinephiles, of course, but these swaggering flaneurs could be doing anything that involves wearing sunglasses indoors and smoking Gitanes. 'I am kind of obsessed with collective art,' says Linklater. 'It's about creativity and expressing yourself and doing something as a group. It's great when people come together and do something. Whatever it is. Get together and rob a bank!' Which, as he points out with a laugh, is absolutely the makings of a movie. 'And it's such an intriguing moment in history: the birth of the personal film, which is still kind of a radical notion.' He told his own cast – including Guillaume Marbeck as Godard, Zoey Deutch as Seberg and Aubry Dullin as Belmondo – to forget the film's iconic status: that came later. At the time of filming, Godard and his team were busy throwing out the rule book. 'It turns out to be the most influential film of its time, but the vibe of it isn't that,' says Linklater. 'It's an origin story. There was always room for the new, the revolution. I can relate. My own first film [ Slacker, 1990] felt that way – and it's important for the artist to feel that way.' The aspiring revolutionaries expected their film to be bad but, somehow, everything came together: the score, the look and feel of it, the spark and freshness of Belmondo and Seberg. Cinema was born in 1895. Breathless, Linklater points out, now marks its halfway point. The filmmakers identified with the New Wave were operating with tiny budgets. Cranes were out of the question; for aerial views, they made do with shooting from third-floor balconies. Dollies (for mounting cameras on wheels) were too expensive; Godard had to make a virtue of a hand-held camera's immediacy, while his famous jump cuts glamorised any awkward joins. Nouvelle Vague is shot in the same way. 'I'm using the syntax of the time,' says Linklater. 'No steadycam, no cranes, no dollies.' He also has a cast of actors who, like Belmondo and Seberg, seem to have walked from nowhere straight into their roles. Marbeck is still wearing Godard's sunglasses, suit and tie in Cannes; he says he had studied Godard's work in film school, but had to work on his Swiss accent, spending days lying on his couch 'like with a psychiatrist' recording and repeating the lines until he mastered each tricky consonant. Dullin says he auditioned when he saw a casting call on Facebook for Belmondo look-alikes. 'When I was young, two or three people told me oh, you look like Belmondo. So I said 'why not?'' Deutch, who swapped her long dark hair for a blonde pixie cut, looks uncannily like Seberg in the film. Loading The film was made in French with a French crew. Linklater is a fan of rehearsal; the script had every line in French and English and they would rehearse in both. 'It made it too easy for him!' snickers Marbeck. 'He didn't have to learn French!' Actually, nobody is sure how much French Linklater speaks; he says himself that he wouldn't want anyone to have to listen to him try. He was an early convert to the New Wave, around the time he realised he would rather make films than write novels. 'I started a film society just to see the movies. And the spring of '88 I showed 17 Godard films! We lost a lot of money but I was doing it for my own education. I thought I had something to learn.' In a way, this film provides further education for a new generation. 'It's not talking down to people who don't know about it,' says Deutch. 'It's saying 'hey, come on, join the party!' Because that's what Rick does. He brings people in. There's nothing pretentious about him, as a person or a filmmaker.' The French are famously chauvinist about their language and culture, but nobody involved seemed to mind a monolingual American telling their story – not this monolingual American, anyway. 'He is very French in a way, because he is very artistic,' says Marbeck. Dullin agrees: 'He is the least 'Texan' Texan guy! I think he loves France so much he understood it. It's not like a foreigner's view of France.' Marbeck had seen some of Linklater's films – Boyhood, School of Rock, Before Midnight – without realising they were by the same director; now he sees the sensibility they shared, both with each other and with the early New Wave. 'He has an approach where the action is more important than his style. It's more about a feeling – and it's the same feeling. So I understand why he would want to make a film about hanging out with French people.' Loading Despite being shot in shades of grey, Nouvelle Vague is a sunny film. Even Marbeck's version of Godard seems much more affable than the man we saw in later life. 'Part of that was me,' he says. 'And part of it is what Jean-Luc was at this time. Because he was hoping for cinema to save him, you know? Can you imagine, he's wanting to make his movie for 10 years. You want, you want, you want and now it's the time! Who wouldn't be happy? Even Godard, I think, would be happy.' Would he be happy with Nouvelle Vague? Probably not, but everyone else is.
The Age
22-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The Age
Why School of Rock director Richard Linklater is obsessed with new wave cinema
The year was 1960. Jean-Luc Godard was nearly 30; for at least 10 years, along with his fellow film critics and buffs clustered around the film magazine Cahiers du Cinema, he had been champing at the bit to make his own film. His comrade Francois Truffaut had managed to make The 400 Blows, which was shown at the Cannes Film Festival. Godard was poised to make a film – black and white, barely any script, shot from the shoulder – that would be a slap in the face to stolid French film culture. And then, finally, it happened. He made Breathless. Richard Linklater's Nouvelle Vague recounts how Godard persuaded a producer to back him, then proceeded to spend a lot of time in cafes with actors Jean-Paul Belmondo and Jean Seberg and his crew while improvising a film about a petty criminal's love affair with an American student. It manages to be energetic, nostalgic and inspiring all at the same time. Without a doubt, it was also the most fun anyone had at the last Cannes Film Festival, but not just because it was preaching to a receptive choir. It's a story about cinephiles, of course, but these swaggering flaneurs could be doing anything that involves wearing sunglasses indoors and smoking Gitanes. 'I am kind of obsessed with collective art,' says Linklater. 'It's about creativity and expressing yourself and doing something as a group. It's great when people come together and do something. Whatever it is. Get together and rob a bank!' Which, as he points out with a laugh, is absolutely the makings of a movie. 'And it's such an intriguing moment in history: the birth of the personal film, which is still kind of a radical notion.' He told his own cast – including Guillaume Marbeck as Godard, Zoey Deutch as Seberg and Aubry Dullin as Belmondo – to forget the film's iconic status: that came later. At the time of filming, Godard and his team were busy throwing out the rule book. 'It turns out to be the most influential film of its time, but the vibe of it isn't that,' says Linklater. 'It's an origin story. There was always room for the new, the revolution. I can relate. My own first film [ Slacker, 1990] felt that way – and it's important for the artist to feel that way.' The aspiring revolutionaries expected their film to be bad but, somehow, everything came together: the score, the look and feel of it, the spark and freshness of Belmondo and Seberg. Cinema was born in 1895. Breathless, Linklater points out, now marks its halfway point. The filmmakers identified with the New Wave were operating with tiny budgets. Cranes were out of the question; for aerial views, they made do with shooting from third-floor balconies. Dollies (for mounting cameras on wheels) were too expensive; Godard had to make a virtue of a hand-held camera's immediacy, while his famous jump cuts glamorised any awkward joins. Nouvelle Vague is shot in the same way. 'I'm using the syntax of the time,' says Linklater. 'No steadycam, no cranes, no dollies.' He also has a cast of actors who, like Belmondo and Seberg, seem to have walked from nowhere straight into their roles. Marbeck is still wearing Godard's sunglasses, suit and tie in Cannes; he says he had studied Godard's work in film school, but had to work on his Swiss accent, spending days lying on his couch 'like with a psychiatrist' recording and repeating the lines until he mastered each tricky consonant. Dullin says he auditioned when he saw a casting call on Facebook for Belmondo look-alikes. 'When I was young, two or three people told me oh, you look like Belmondo. So I said 'why not?'' Deutch, who swapped her long dark hair for a blonde pixie cut, looks uncannily like Seberg in the film. Loading The film was made in French with a French crew. Linklater is a fan of rehearsal; the script had every line in French and English and they would rehearse in both. 'It made it too easy for him!' snickers Marbeck. 'He didn't have to learn French!' Actually, nobody is sure how much French Linklater speaks; he says himself that he wouldn't want anyone to have to listen to him try. He was an early convert to the New Wave, around the time he realised he would rather make films than write novels. 'I started a film society just to see the movies. And the spring of '88 I showed 17 Godard films! We lost a lot of money but I was doing it for my own education. I thought I had something to learn.' In a way, this film provides further education for a new generation. 'It's not talking down to people who don't know about it,' says Deutch. 'It's saying 'hey, come on, join the party!' Because that's what Rick does. He brings people in. There's nothing pretentious about him, as a person or a filmmaker.' The French are famously chauvinist about their language and culture, but nobody involved seemed to mind a monolingual American telling their story – not this monolingual American, anyway. 'He is very French in a way, because he is very artistic,' says Marbeck. Dullin agrees: 'He is the least 'Texan' Texan guy! I think he loves France so much he understood it. It's not like a foreigner's view of France.' Marbeck had seen some of Linklater's films – Boyhood, School of Rock, Before Midnight – without realising they were by the same director; now he sees the sensibility they shared, both with each other and with the early New Wave. 'He has an approach where the action is more important than his style. It's more about a feeling – and it's the same feeling. So I understand why he would want to make a film about hanging out with French people.' Loading Despite being shot in shades of grey, Nouvelle Vague is a sunny film. Even Marbeck's version of Godard seems much more affable than the man we saw in later life. 'Part of that was me,' he says. 'And part of it is what Jean-Luc was at this time. Because he was hoping for cinema to save him, you know? Can you imagine, he's wanting to make his movie for 10 years. You want, you want, you want and now it's the time! Who wouldn't be happy? Even Godard, I think, would be happy.' Would he be happy with Nouvelle Vague? Probably not, but everyone else is.
NDTV
29-06-2025
- Health
- NDTV
'Family Doctor' Tracks Shubhanshu Shukla's Health In Space: European Flight Surgeon
New Delhi: Two days ago, astronaut Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla scripted history by becoming the first Indian on the International Space Station (ISS), albeit with a "heavy head and space sickness". In an exclusive interview with NDTV, European Space Agency's seasoned flight surgeon Dr Brigitte Godard assured that Mr Shukla is medically fit for space. With years of fighter pilot training and dedicated medical oversight, India's astronaut is ready to take on the rigours of microgravity. Incidentally, each astronaut has a family physician attached to take care of them. Concerns about Shux's health in space and the physiological toll of spaceflight are being addressed, said Dr Godard. She offered reassurance, stating that he is "well-trained" and "should be fairly fine in space." Flight surgeons, as Dr Godard explained, are not surgeons in the traditional sense. "Hopefully, we are not doing surgery in space," she said with a smile. Instead, they serve as physicians for astronauts, conducting weekly telemedicine check-ins during missions to monitor astronauts' health and address any medical concerns. "We interact during the flight every week with them to check every medical point," she added. European Space Agency's seasoned flight surgeon Dr Brigitte Godard. Mr Shukla, a decorated fighter pilot, has undergone years of rigorous training, both in aviation and in preparation for spaceflight. Dr Godard emphasised that his background makes him particularly resilient to the challenges of space. "He has many, many years' background of fighter pilots, so he will be safe and he has a good flight surgeon taking care of him," she said. The Indian Air Force (IAF) has deputed its space medicine specialist from the Institute of Aerospace Medicine (IAM) Dr Punyashlok Biswal as Shukla 'family physician' as he orbits the Earth. In 2019, it was IAM's then chief Air Vice Marshal Dr Anupam Agarwal who had helped select Mr Shukla and three other Indian astronaut designates for India's first batch of Gaganyatris. Spaceflight, even for short durations, can affect human biology and physiology. From fluid shifts and bone density loss to space motion sickness, astronauts face a range of potential issues. However, Dr Godard was confident that Mr Shukla's mission would be smooth. "This is a short flight, so we could expect maybe some space motion sickness, but I would not expect that much problem," she noted. The relationship between an astronaut and their flight surgeon begins long before lift-off. "His flight surgeon is already taking care of him since many years," Dr Godard said, highlighting the continuity of care and the deep understanding built over time. This long-term medical oversight ensures that any changes in health are tracked and managed proactively. When asked if the 1.4 billion citizens of India should be concerned about Captain Shukla's health in space, Dr Godard responded with calm assurance, "Captain Shukla should be fairly fine in space and they will be proud of him. I'm sure of that." The role of flight surgeons is more than just medical professionals. They are trusted companions on the astronaut's journey. "Flight surgeon doesn't seem like a good word, they are like family physicians or family doctors for the astronaut."
Yahoo
29-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Netflix Buys Richard Linklater's ‘Nouvelle Vague' After Cannes Debut
Netflix has acquired Richard Linklater's Nouvelle Vague, a black-and-white love letter to the French New Wave, specifically to the 1960 classic Breathless. The sale comes after the film's strong debut at the Cannes Film Festival, where it received a 10-minute-plus standing ovation from the audience. 'If you do it long enough, I always thought you can make one film about making films. This is mine,' the filmmaker said at the Cannes press conference for Nouvelle Vague. More from The Hollywood Reporter 'Deported' Comic Russell Peters Doesn't Fear Being Sent Home Under Trump: "They'd Be Damn Foolish to Get Rid of Me" Unpacking That Unexpected 'Sirens' Ending With Meghann Fahy and Milly Alcock How 'The Tylenol Murders' Landed the Suspected Tylenol Murderer for Netflix Docuseries Nouvelle Vague tells the story of the making of Jean-Luc Godard's Breathless, which follows Michel Poiccard (Jean-Paul Belmondo), a small-time criminal on the run after killing a policeman, and his romantic entanglement with Patricia Franchini (Jean Seberg), an American journalism student in Paris. Linklater's French-language movie is shot on film in the 4:3 aspect ratio and stars Guillaume Marbeck as Godard, Zoey Deutch as Godard's star Jean Seberg and Aubry Dullin as Jean-Paul Belmondo. THR film critic Jordan Mintzer wrote in his review, 'It's an impressive package that certainly required more money and manpower than Godard's first feature did, while ironically enough, the moral of this movie is that a big budget and crew aren't needed to make something great. Linklater celebrates JLG's audacity even if he's directed something more conventional (although much to his credit, he directed it almost entirely in French). If Nouvelle Vague is not exactly Breathless, it's a loving homage to the crazy way Breathless was made — back when you could shoot movies fast, cheap and out of control, and somehow change cinema in the process.' Scott Feinberg, THR's executive editor of awards, also predicts that Nouvelle Vague is one of the strongest titles coming out of Cannes in the Oscar conversation. Linklater has previously been nominated for five Academy Awards. Nouvelle Vague will likely not receive a longer theatrical run in the U.S., just the standard awards-qualifying two-week window domestically, a source tells THR. Deadline was first to report the news of the sale. Best of The Hollywood Reporter 13 of Tom Cruise's Most Jaw-Dropping Stunts Hollywood Stars Who Are One Award Away From an EGOT 'The Goonies' Cast, Then and Now
Yahoo
28-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Richard Linklater's ‘Nouvelle Vague' Draws Raft Of International Buyers For Goodfellas
EXCLUSIVE: Richard Linklater's love letter to the New Wave Nouvelle Vague has sold to more than 20 theatrical distributors worldwide for Goodfellas following its buzzy Cannes premiere, as one of four French majority productions in Competition this year. They join Paris-based distributor ARP Sélection which will release the film in cinemas in France on October 8 on 500 screens, having produced the film under the banner of ARP Production with Linklater's Austin-based Detour Film. More from Deadline Zoey Deutch Felt Jean Seberg's Spirit Helped On The Set Of Richard Linklater's 'Nouvelle Vague': It Was 'A Wild Story' – Cannes Studio Doc Talk In Cannes: Deadline Podcast Hosts American Pavilion Panel On Challenged State Of Documentary Industry Sony Pictures Classics Takes North America & Multiple Territories For Cannes Caméra D'Or Winner 'The President's Cake' The French-language production about the making of Jean-Luc Godard's 1960s New Wave classic Breathless has sold out in Europe for Paris-based sales company Goodfellas. It has unveiled deals to Benelux (Cherry Pickers), the UK & Ireland (Altitude), Switzerland (Filmcoopi), Germany, (Plaion), Spain (Elastica Films), Greece (Cinobo), Italy (Lucky Red /Bim), Portugal (Alambique), Scandinavia (TriArt Film), Ex-Yugoslavia (MCF Megacom), Romania (Independenta), Baltics (Scanorama) and CIS (MJM Group). In the rest of the world, it has been acquired for Latin America (Cine Canibal), Japan (Nikkatsu Corporation/AMG), Australia (Transmission Films), South Korea (AUD), and Indonesia (Falcon Pictures). Canada, China and Asia are among territories currently under negotiation. Goodfellas says all the distributors are planning theatrical releases for the film. Nouvelle Vague, which is Linklater's first French-language film, received the support of France's National Cinema Centre (CNC), Ciné+OCS and Canal+. ARP's Michèle Halberstadt, who is a producer and co-writer on the film, and Goodfellas will submit Nouvelle Vague as a candidate to be France's Best International Feature Film entry for the 2026 Oscars. The selection process takes place in the fall. The international deals announcement follows news that Netflix has acquired U.S. rights for the film, where it will receive an awards-qualifying theatrical run and have support through the fall season. Nouvelle Vague reconstructs Godard's chaotic, improvised, hand-held shoot of Breathless on the streets of Paris over the summer of 1959. Shot in black and white and with a 4:3 aspect ratio, it stars Guillaume Marbeck as Godard, Zoey Deutch as Jean Seberg, Aubry Dullin as Jean-Paul Belmondo with other New Wave figures making appearances including François Truffaut (Adrien Rouyard), Claude Chabrol (Antoine Besson) and Raoul Coutard (Matthieu Penchinat). The film enjoyed an 11-minute ovation in Cannes and strong reviews, with Deadline critic Pete Hammond writing of the film: 'Linklater's splendid love letter to the French New Wave and Godard will make you fall in love with movies all over again.' Best of Deadline 'Hacks' Season 4 Release Schedule: When Do New Episodes Come Out? Everything We Know About 'Hacks' Season 4 So Far 'The Last Of Us': Differences Between HBO Series & Video Game Across Seasons 1 And 2
