This British/French co-production between Sky Atlantic and Canal+ will have a budget of €19 million (£15.33 million / $24.68 million) for 10 episodes (50-55 minutes each).
That's €1.9 million per episode (£1.53 million / $2.47 million), which is around the budget for Borgia and superior to the budget for a 100% French-speaking Canal+ series — for instance, the 8-episode first season of Les revenants cost €11 million (£8,88 million / $14,29 million), meaning €1,38 mllion/episode (£1.12 million / $1,79 million).
Cameras will start rolling in / around Calais (France) and in / around Dover (England) in late February / early March 2013.
Synopsis :
A famous French political woman is found assassinated in the Channel Tunnel, her body laying exactly at the frontier between France and England. The police, both French and British, is called on the scene. What appears at first as a simple murder turns out to be a double homicide. The woman's body has been cut in half above the waist and then put together to form one body. The bottom half belongs to a British prostitute. This strange murder is just the beginning of an unprecedented wave of violence. Police forces of France and England are bound to work together to fight this serial killer describing himself as a "terrorist of the truth", blaming the moral bankruptcy of the modern European society during his killing spree.
Olivier Kohn, creator of the widely acclaimed Canal+ journalistic drama Reporters (2 seasons - 18 episodes, 2007-2009), and Yann Le Nivet, writer on Olivier Marchal's gritty cop dramas Flics and Braquo, are working with Ben Richards (Outcasts, Spooks) and three other writers on the show.
And Dominik Moll, a César-winning, Bafta-nominated writer/director, will helm these 10 episodes. Moll has also been nominated for a Palme d'or twice, in 2000 and in 2005. In his filmography, there are :
2000 : Harry, un ami qui vous veut du bien (Harry, he's here to help). Starring Laurent Lucas, Mathilde Seigner, Sergi López and Sophie Guillemin.
2005 : Lemming. With Laurent Lucas, Charlotte Gainsbourg, André Dussollier & Charlotte Rampling.
2011 : Le moine (The Monk). With Vincent Cassel, Déborah François, Sergi López & Joséphine Japy.
Coming in late 2013 on the French and British pay cable channels.
Source.
Furthermore, the US remake of The Bridge for FX, taking place at the US/Mexican border and starring Diane Kruger & Demián Bichir, will NOT feature Spanish-speaking characters : American cops will be talking in English, and so will Mexican cops. FX chose to go that way because American audiences usually hate subtitles. However, there is still some Spanish in it — thus I imagine background noise / useless dialogue will be in Spanish and the main characters will be able to say "hola", "cabrón" and other words easy to understand, but then it's all in English with an accent.
Lazy americans, I watch most of the american shows with english subtitles :D
ReplyDeleteI feel like this was just to much anti-american to read.
ReplyDeleteWhat i have read of the script for the American verison of The Bridge i liked.
I am a big fan of the original, and i am form that part of the world where the original is filmed. They have a great director in place for the pilot of The Bridge on FX, and together with actors that are good (but in a way not too flashy, like a remake of The Bridge should be), i have high hopes for the american edition than i have been with a french/british eiditon, especially since it`s on FX with actors like Kruger and Bichir in front.
I'm annoyed they chose to have the Mexican officials and characters speak English most of the time. Nothing sets the tone like a foreign language when in a foreign land....
ReplyDeleteI've always been greatly annoyed by shows that have foreign characters in their native country speaking English all the time. Yes, many Mexicans do speak English well enough (if not fluently), but the native language adds a level of realism that cannot be achieved using only English.
It's one thing if they are speaking to a visiting American so they converse in English to be polite, but it is entirely different if they are speaking to another native speaker.Some I'm sure would understand English, but not feel the need to speak it or not feel comfortable speaking it, other characters just would not be able to speak it I'm sure. Not to mention many people would go out of their way to speak their native language as a sign of nationalism, or just to mock the American.
This does not lower my expectations for the series, but it is irritating if not disheartening.