Best Friend Forever Launches Kung Fu Action Romance ‘Zenithal’ From ‘Titane’ Producer Kazak & ‘Parasite’ Distributor The Jokers Films
16.05.2023 - 12:27
/ deadline.com
EXCLUSIVE: Brussels-based company Best Friend Forever has acquired international rights for zany Kung-Fu-themed action romantic comedy Zenithal.
Vanessa Guide stars as a woman battling to establish peace between the sexes after her long-time boyfriend falls under the thrall of a Machiavellian schemer, who has murdered and harnessed the virulent powers of a famous Kung-fu master, as part of a plan to restore absolute male domination.
It is the first feature of Jean-Baptiste Saurel, who has recently been signed as one of the directors on France TV’s upcoming Zorro reboot starring Jean Dujardin, with previous credits including the Disney+ sci-fi French original Parallels.
The feature expands on his provocative 2012 Cannes Critics’ Week short The Dickslap (La Bifle). BFF have released a first still hinting at one of the zany plot twists.
“Zenithal questions the injunctions of virility through comedy, with a visual style inherited from US comedy & manga culture,” said Saurel.
“At the time of gender relations redefinition, I offer my own answer, by making fun of the level of seriousness with which these subjects are addressed today. The intimate enemy is men’s ignorance of their own bodies and of women’s bodies and the difficulty of questioning themselves.”
Guide (30 Days Left, The Brand New Adventures of Aladin) is joined in the cast by Franc Bruneau, Cyril Guei (Full Time, How I Became a Superhero), Xavier Lacaille (Parliament – France TV Show), Bruno Gouery (Emily in Paris Netflix Show, White Lotus HBO Show).
Key crew include cinematographer Yann Maritaud (The Big Hit, Slalom) and stunt coordinator Samuel Kefi Abrikh (Valerian, Dunkirk, Mission: Impossible – Fallout)
“Zenithal is a unique, cathartic and necessary film,