By Tambay A. Obenson | Shadow and Act
Après LA FAMILLE BÉLIER voilà notre 2e production DEMAIN, TOUT COMMENCE (co produit avec Vendôme). Un film d Hugo Gelin avec O.Sy & C.Poesy
— Stephane Celerier (@stephanecel) September 11, 2015
Above, French producer Stéphane Célérier announces via his Twitter account the start of production on a new feature film titled “Two is a Family,” which will be directed by Hugo Gélin, and will star Omar Sy and Clemence Poesy.
Details on the project aren’t in abundance, but we do know that the film (based on my translation from French to English) will see Omar Sy play a reluctant father to a child he never knew he had, by an ex-girlfriend who suddenly shows up at his doorstep with the kid, and leaves her there with him, disappearing afterward. Sy’s character, previously leaving a carefree life as a bachelor in the French Riviera, goes on a trip to find the mother, taking the child with him of course, ending up in London, where he takes a job as a stuntman. And, as you’d expect, a transformation follows, as he spends time with the child, and learns how to be a father.
French actress Clemence Poesy will play the mother of the child.
Apparently the film is being announced at the Toronto International Film Festival which kicked off yesterday, and will be a co-production between Vendome Production, SND productions and Mars Films.
Hugo Gelin will direct from a script he co-wrote with Mathieu Oullion and Jean-Andre Yerles.
Most recently, Omar Sy starred in “Samba,” the latest dramedy directed by Sy’s “Intouchables” helmers – Olivier Nakache and Eric Toledano – co-starring Charlotte Gainsbourg and Tahar Rahiin, in a tale of a Senegalese worker who battles to stay in France with the help of an immigration worker.
Sy made history when he became the first black actor to win the César Award for Best Actor (the French equivalent of the Oscars) in 2012, for his work in “Intouchables.” He since has been making himself familiar to American audiences, after moving with his family to Los Angeles, and booking roles in Hollywood fare, like the last X-Men movie, and this upcoming “Jurassic Park” sequel.
“Two is a Family” is just one of a handful of new projects on his slate, including Stephen Gaghan’s crime drama “The Candy Store;” a biopic on Rafael Padilla – a former Cuban-born slave, who became the first black artist in France during the Belle Epoque era – and more.