Babylon, A.D. (Mathieu Kassovitz, 2008)

[Antoine Doinel]

Vin Diesel aside, early set reports are not good. From the NY Post:

April 21, 2007 -- THERE'S been big trouble on the set of the new sci-fi flick, "Babylon A.D." - thanks to a colossal clash of egos between its muscle-bound star Vin Diesel and temperamental French director Mathieu Kassovitz, sources tell Page Six.

"Diesel shows up late all the time, sometimes two hours late . . . He's laughing because he's getting paid overtime for delays that he caused," one Hollywood insider said.

"They were shooting in Prague on sound stages, and were finally kicked out by the sequel to 'The Chronicles of Narnia.' They shut down one time for two weeks because the director had a nervous breakdown . . . Vin's manager has been to Prague three or four times trying to talk sense into him."

But other sources say it's Kassovitz, once dubbed "the white Spike Lee," who's fueled the chaos. "He's a different kind of director and doesn't always mesh with people on the set," one insider said. Another said, "Vin has actually been quite good. He's holding the project together. It's Kassovitz who's the problem." Kassovitz's rep denied any friction and said he did not have a breakdown.

Producer Alain Goldman admitted to us that Kassovitz "is not an easy director in terms of temper. Sometimes he has a lot on his shoulders. But it has been a tough schedule and a difficult movie because it involves a lot of action. And people who were saying this about Vin are making false statements." Diesel's rep declined to comment.

An official at Film Finances Inc., which provided the completion bond for "Babylon A.D.", confirmed, "It has been a difficult shoot for everybody."
The picture, based on a French novel, has Diesel playing a war vet-turned-mercenary escorting a woman from Russia to Canada. Things get dangerous when it turns out the woman is carrying an organism that a bizarre cult wants to harvest to produce a genetically modified Messiah. It co-stars Michelle Yeoh, Gérard Depardieu and Charlotte Rampling.

The movie is over-budget and three weeks behind schedule because a skiing sequence had to be shot in Sweden thanks to a lack of snow in Eastern Europe, Goldman said.

[Steven H]

The article is more interesting, and better understood, if you substitute "Vin Diesel" with "Hitler".

[The Invunche]

That's brilliant.

[Napoleon]

I'm not a religious man, but I'd like to think that this is divine justice being handed out to Kassovitz for allowing criterion to make a pigs ear of Le Haine's subs.

[Jean-Luc Garbo]

Vin Diesel with... Gerard Depardieu and Charlotte Rampling? I wonder what they have to say about the film's difficulties. Them being pro's at this job and all.

[Antoine Doinel]

From IMDB:

Vin Diesel Movie "Had To Be Bailed Out"

Action star Vin Diesel's new sci-fi movie Babylon A.D. had to be rescued by a insurance company after running so far over-budget and behind schedule it faced being axed. Film Finances Inc, a firm which insures movies to ensure they will be completed, handed over $1.5 million to pay for additional filming in Paris and Prague, according to the New York Daily News. A spokesperson for the company confirmed it had paid out, but refused to reveal the amount. The unnamed source added that only "10 of 15 percent" of the 250 films insured each year need to be bailed out. An insider claims the movie ran into trouble because of an ongoing battle between Diesel and French director Mathieu Kassovitz. The source tells the Daily News, "These guys really didn't get along. I think they wouldn't mind if they never saw each other again." But Diesel's representative Meredith O'Sullivan, insists, "The movie wrapped and everyone's really happy with it. Vin is not a diva."

[Antoine Doinel]

Fox has hacked Kassovitz's original 160 minute cut to a mere 90 minutes.

[HerrSchreck]

That's bad.

I ask because I really don't know: has Kassovitz made any critically acclaimed films since La Haine? I mean anything anywhere near as well received since? I know that at the time of the docs in the CC the sense was no, but I don't know whats happened since then.. nor have I seen anything else by the dude.

White SPike Lee.

Like when they said "The New Spielberg" for Night... when they say you're gonna be real big but call you by someone else's name-- you May Just Be Finished. Especially if the guy you remind them of is still alive and making films in this cramped playing field.

[Fletch F. Fletch]

From TWITCH:

BABYLON AD Cuts Not As Severe As Feared
Posted by Todd Brown at 4:57am.

An update here on the status of Mathieu Kassovitz’ Babylon AD. We reported a few days back that the film had been cut - and cut deep - by Fox for international release, their version of the film running ninety minutes while the Euro version was reported to hit the 160 minute mark. That ninety minute number is definite as Fox has submitted their cut to the BBFC for certification but we’re now hearing that the length of the European version may not be as long as originally reported, suggestions now being made that the European cut will have a run time in the hour and forty five minute - or 105 total minutes - area, which would mean cuts of only fifteen minutes as opposed to seventy. We haven’t been able to get firm confirmation of this, nor is it clear whether the change is the result of bad information in the first place - unlikely as it came directly from actress Michelle Yeoh - or if Kassovitz has been doing some cutting of his own.

[Antoine Doinel]

I ask because I really don't know: has Kassovitz made any critically acclaimed films since La Haine? I mean anything anywhere near as well received since?

Though not nearly as well received as La Haine, and depending on who you ask, Crimson Rivers is supposed to be quite good (though I haven't seen it myself).

[jbeall]

Cafe au Lait has some nice moments, but it's nowhere near as good as La Haine. My sense is that Kassovitz is too heavy-handed--like Spike Lee can often be--to be more responsible to the film than to the "message." I think La Haine turned out so well b/c it's what Kassovitz knows, and was able to make his portrayal more realistic than it is when he's out of his element.

[Fletch F. Fletch]

Int'l trailer

[THX1378]

I had forgotten that Kassovitz made both La Haine and Crimson Rivers. Rivers is a good film, one of the better serial killer films from the last couple of years that even if the film doesn't make sense sometimes still works.

[Fletch F. Fletch]

Second Int'l trailer

[Fletch F. Fletch]

Domestic trailer

[kaujot]

Fucking sick of that score.

[Antoine Doinel]

The RZA and Hans Zimmer join forces to score this "thought provoking" film.

[Antoine Doinel]

Kassovitz publicly slams Fox for their handling of the film.

[domino harvey]

I had never heard of this til about a week ago and the perversity of its existence-- a bunch of major French stars playing second-fiddle to Vin Diesel in a sci-fi blockbuster directed by Kassovitz?-- was better when it lived in my imagination and I didn't have to sit through it. An ugly, ungainly, confused, weird, chopped-up mess, with "message" moments involving immigrants and poverty rubbing uncomfortably with a ragtag collection of sci-fi nonsense and way too many ideas this film has zero interest in exploring. I was never bored, exactly, if that counts as praise, and its narrative incompetence has a certain morbid charm, but here's an OOP Fox title you probably don't need to track down. It has been a loooong time since I've seen Vin Diesel in anything and I'd like to try to surpass my previous record between viewings after seeing this one.