There are not many people in my RwL (Real working Life) who know about my weakness for Richard, but those who do, have been put on high alert by me – and first news are in. Warner Bros. Germany (through their PR agency) have just released the official confirmation that My Zoe started filming last week. Here is the German press release – I am attaching a quick translation at the end.
Shooting starts on Julie Delpy’s MY ZOE
CAST: Julie Delpy, Richard Armitage, Daniel Brühl, Gemma Arterton, Sophia Ally, Saleh Bakri, Lindsay Duncan, Jördis Triebel, Nicolette Krebitz, Nina Kunzendorf, Laura Wilkinson and others.
DIRECTION & SCRIPT: Julie Delpy
PRODUCER: Malte Grunert (Amusement Park)
CO PRODUCERS: Warner Bros. Film Productions Germany, Gabrielle Tana (Baby Cow Films), Andrew Levitas (Metalwork Pictures), Hubert Caillard & Dominique Boutonnat (Electrik Films)
Theatrical release in 2019 distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures
Berlin, May 30, 2018 – Filming has started last week in Berlin of Julie Delpy’s new movie project MY ZOE. The exceptional, two-time Oscar®-nominated artist wrote both the screenplay, and is also directing and playing the female lead. Filming will continue until the beginning of August in Berlin and surroundings as well as in Moscow. In addition to Julie Delpy, an impressive international and national cast of stars has been signed up: Richard Armitage (THE HOBBIT trilogy, OCEAN’S 8, “Hannibal”), Daniel Brühl (INGLORIOUS BASTERDS, RUSH) and Gemma Arterton (THE GIRL WITH ALL THE GIFTS, THE ESCAPE) are playing lead roles. They are assisted by Tony® Award winner Lindsay Duncan (BIRDMAN), Saleh Bakri (THE TIME THAT REMAINS) and newcomer Sophia Ally and the German actresses Jördis Triebel (“Dark”, WESTEN), Nicolette Krebitz (DRAUSSEN IST SOMMER, WILD), Nina Kunzendorf (DIE FRAU IN GOLD), Luise Helm (KÄNIGSKINDER, HARTE JUNGS) and Laura Wilkinson (“Carlos – the Jackal”).
In MY ZOE, Julie Delpy plays Isabelle, a newly divorced mother who, after a difficult breakup, is forced to communicate with her ex-husband (Richard Armitage) about the shared custody of her daughter Zoe (Sophia Ally) while trying to maintain her career as a renowned scientist. When a sudden tragedy puts even more pressure on the already fractured family, Isabelle takes an unexpected and shocking decision … MY ZOE confronts the audience in a fascinating and ruthless way with the question of how far a mother might be willing to go out of love for her child – regardless of pushback from outside the family, or her own fear of further tragedy in her life.
Screenwriter and director Delpy has been working on the basics of a story on the unconditional love of parents for their children for 20 years: For MY ZOE she captured the core of a story focussing on parents who are prepared to pay any price for their child after a devastating stroke of fate. The film is gripping drama that will keep the audience reflecting for a long time after the end of the movie.
Julie Delpy is known to a wide international audience for her starring role in the BEFORE SUNRISE trilogy, which included her writing credits and was rewarded with an Oscar® nomination for BEFORE SUNSET and BEFORE MIDNIGHT. She also wrote scripts and directed The Countess, 2 Days in New York and LOLO T.
MY ZOE is produced by Malte Grunert for Amusement Park, his production company founded together with partner Daniel Brühl in Berlin, as well as Warner Bros. Film Productions Germany and Gabrielle Tana, who in 2014 directed Stephen Frears’ drama PHILOMENA which was nominated for the Oscar® in the Best Motion Picture of the Year category. US producer and director Andrew Levitas (LULLABY) is also involved in the international financing of the film , acting as producer through his production company Metalwork Pictures. Electrik Films’ Hubert Caillard and Dominique Boutonnat are co-producers.
The film is supported by Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, Filmförderung Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein and the German Film Fund (DFFF).
The German distributor is Warner Bros. Pictures. The theatrical release is scheduled for 2019.
(Pink highlights my own.)
Update: They have just put the release online, too: (in German) Unfortunately no pics of RA yet.
BUT: this sounds interesting. I loved the Before Sunrise trilogy and look forward to what Delpy has written. I hope that the role of husband and father gives RA a little bit more scope than the last time he played daddy (in Brain on Fire). Sounds as if we can’t expect any romantic coochie-coo, but if there is drama, there is at least opportunity for RA to stretch his acting chops again, especially as he gets top bill after Delpy and can be assumed to be much in the picture as the father of “Zoe”.
Also: filming in Berlin (and Moscow) until beginning of August – lucky RA, a summer in Berlin again, combined with walking in Lucas’ footsteps in Moscow. Sounds like a nice summer job…
Guylty Pleasure 
Not sure if this will be a subject for me in the end but at least in terms of how it will be made and especially if and when we will get to see it, it looks very good 🙂 Hopefully one we will be able to go buy a ticket at the box office for and see on the big screen! So glad it worked out financially and rather nice they were benefiting from funds in Berlin and are shooting there. I am sure everyone is happy about being there 🙂
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I’m not so sure about the “ten years in the future” news we heard yesterday, but other than that it could be interesting. Ok, yeah, family drama. Possibly RA (type-)cast as a nasty ex-husband? Fingers crossed that the film will be distributed widely. With Warner Bros. Germany on board, it has a good chance. And I would like to think that everyone is delighted to be in Berlin – great place in summer.
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i don’t know about the 10 years in the future thing, been a bit absent from news/internet. But i remember somewhere it said this had a sci-fi twist to it? I am thinking if that’s the case and she is some scientist she’ll do some experiment and stuff like that. Not sure how much he is involved along the whole story. It did sound at some point that it was the mum’s story not both parents. Yes, he does sound like the possibly nasty ex, bet still wearing a beard, otherwise he would probably look too young in comparison to the rest. Not one i would run to see without him, that’s for sure. But,if it is in the cinemas i will go just for the pleasure of seeing his work publicly. Ocean 8 should be a ball, i could do with a bit of fun and nice clothes and jewels and stuff for a change instead of all darkness, sadness, doom and gloom, there’s been nothing but both in his work and in almost everything else i’ve seen. Apart from An ideal husband that is– though that isn’t too cheerful either.
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There was an article yesterday from the Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung which referenced My Zoe and said the film was set (partly?) 10 years in the future. I usually do not really like things like that, but this doesn’t sound like a dystopian fantasy, so I’m sure it’ll be close enough to the present to make it interesting (for me).
The Julie Delpy character sounds as if she is still the main character – with four other leads by her side (Armitage, Brühl, Arterton, the child).
Eh, do I understand you correctly – you think without beard Armitage looks younger than Brühl or Arterton? 😳
I honestly have absolutely no interest in the clothes on O8 at all. I ‘ll be watching it for the suspense and the women; I literally do not give an F about the clothes.
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i get it 🙂 i know many people don’t 🙂 However, my gran worked as a seamstress and that is what fashion is in the end, at least for me or the craft of it which interests me. I like the creation and the beauty of some of it.
Well i thought maybe Arterton was meant to be the daughter? i probably got it wrong, but yes i think without the beard he looks about their age and they are a bit younger? I thought between him and Zoe they are meant to be the oldest generation in the story. But who knows.
Parental sacrifice stories are not necessarily my cup of tea, just like BOF wasn’t. Also there have been a slew of stories about missing children and what that does to families recently on TV and such, so we’ll have to see what this brings new to the plate. I’ve sort of given up on the idea of any film ideas being of interest to me since the last once of the last number of years has been Urban….
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I’m not interested in the fashion insofar as I’d never wear any of that stuff (in the stye diary so far, I saw one outfit that appealed to me, a flowered dress Sarah Paulson was wearing that I’d have worn about ten years ago), but sewing lessons with my grandmother as a girl and my mom as a teen absolutely convinced me it is an art with a history and a skill, as much as music or other types of visual art. A well-made garment really offers a feeling of accomplishment to the maker. The industry aspect of it can be distasteful and I’m frustrated by how it affects humans’ body images but the clothes themselves are fascinating.
I don’t care much about the stylishness of my own appearance but there’s no reason that others shouldn’t.
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Ditto for some stupid reason the android app no longer has a like button in the comment list but it is pretty much what i too both like and dislike about it. Admire the craft and creativity and am not such a fan of industry and link to body image. I wouldn’t and couldn’t wear any of it but like the look of some of it especially the Blanchet suits 😊
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Re. your assumption that Arterton was the daughter – I don’t think so. From another release today it sounded as if she was part of a couple (based in Moscow) to whom Delpy turns for help. (Unless she is a time traveller and visits her by-then-grown-up daughter in the future to rectify whatever tragedy has occurred?!)
Re. fashion – it goes without saying that the designing and making of garments is of course a veritable craft for highly skilled people, and I did not mean to denigrate the skill and imagination that culminates in a high-fashion dress. I’m just not into that sort of thing. I never dress up – I actually do not *know* how to dress up and make myself look classy 😁. Forever a yokel, that’s me 😫
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Not a yokel at all! You certainly have your own style that looks great on you 😊 and yeah i realised Arterton was not the daughter in the end lol didn’t pay attention properly wish we knew how young the child is but don’t think that has been disclosed yet
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Hehe, thanks – but definitely not my area of expertise 😁
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Up Ireland! http://www.tv3.ie/xpose/article/fashion/268620/Irish-designer-Simone-Rocha-joins-acclaimed-team-of-designers-for-Oceans-8
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Oh, interesting!!! I had no idea that John Rocha’s daughter had followed him into fashion. Cool. (I wonder whether she was also chosen because Bonham Carter’s character is Irish? Would be a nice touch.)
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Wow, das klingt aber erst einmal nicht schlecht! Danke für die Infos! Jördis Triebel, Nicolette Krebitz und Nina Kunzendorf sind auch starke deutsche Schauspielerinnen-Typen!
So ganz kann ich mir auch noch keinen Reim auf die Handlung und mögliche Twists machen. Spontan kommt mir jetzt Richards Rolle als Tom Cahalan in Brain on fire in den Sinn – ähnliche Geschichte, zumindest oberflächlich.
Die gestrige Ankündigung, dass Cannes 2019 für die Premiere vorgesehen ist, finde ich auch schon mal sehr positiv. Da scheint doch einiges an Power dahinter zu stecken. Bin gespannt!
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Mir sagen wie immer die deutschen Schauspielerinnen wieder mal nichts, aber gut zu wissen, dass es sich dabei um fähige Frauen handelt.
Ja, ich fand beim ersten Lesen auch, dass das noch mal nach einer Neuauflage von BoF klingt. Eins-zu-eins dasselbe: geschiedene Eltern, tragische Problematik wegen gemeinsamer Tochter. Nur dass wir jetzt noch nicht wissen, was für einen radikalen Ausdruck von Mutterliebe sich Delpy ausgedacht hat. Ich schätze mal, dass das auch irgendwas mit ihrem Beruf als Wissenschaftlerin zu tun hat. Selbstversuch, um die Tochter zu retten? Irgendwas muss sie ja dann wohl opfern, wenn es hier um Mutterliebe gehen soll…
Oh, das mit Cannes hatte ich gar nicht mitgekriegt. Das sind ja ehrgeizige Pläne. Steht da denn aber nicht auch noch vor, dass die Jury überhaupt den Film aussuchen muss, bevor der da im Wettbewerb läuft? Oder hat Frau Delpy Beziehungen *haha*?
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Die Premiere in Cannes wurde gestern hier angekündigt: https://www.unternehmen-region.de/de/lernobjekte-und-leinwandhelden-2320.html
Ich bin hinsichtlich der Auswahlkriterien dort völlig unbewandert, aber der Film müsste ja auch nicht zwangsläufig im Wettbewerb laufen. Keine Ahnung.
Nach dem Urban-Desaster und den anderen Indie-Tiefschlägen wäre das ja mal ein Wort, oder?
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Ha, hatte ich gestern sogar gelesen, aber das mit Cannes ist mir glatt durch die Lappen gerutscht. Danke!
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Daniel Bruhl?! Hmm. Really liked him in The Alienist. I’ve never heard of Delphy
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You have never heard of Delpy??? Ah, you’re still young 😂. You should look up the Before Sunrise trilogy. Seminal films of the 90s (and subsequent). Really good – not flashy.
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That does look really good. Can’t say I’d heard of her either before the My Zoe movie was first talked about.
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I suppose she is more well-known in Europe…
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sorta more suspicions possibly confirmed: https://www.msn.com/fr-fr/divertissement/cinema/julie-delpy-tourne-son-nouveau-film-my-zoe/ar-AAy1lPY
this says indeed she is a geneticist and does turn to the couple in Moscow for help.. . my fan questions is of course: are we seeing the ex only at the beginning as the thing is set up and from then on it’s her in Russia or is he going along on the journey (the short summaries seem to imply he isn’t…)
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Oops, there we are – you read it, too.
Hm, I suppose it’s inconclusive whether the ex-husband/father is there all through the story. Given that RA is named as one of the leads, I would’ve thought his role is substantial enough.
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I hope so too! Fingers x as he seemed really keen so you’re probably right it must be a slightly bigger part just hope it’s not an obtuse and unpleasant forceful alpha male kinda thing fingers very x
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That is my only worry – the wrong type of typecasting 😦
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Pingback: Richard Armitage tangentially related | Me + Richard Armitage
Guylty, let me tell you, the German actresses are really big names and are all critically acclaimed!!! 🙂
I still can’t make any sense of the film’s story, but as RA was so determined to take part in it, I guess it is not only a minor role he is playing (and hopefully not the through and through bad guy! We are all dreading this possible (bleak) outlook, aren’t we ??!!!!)
Are you remembering this great album of New Order?? (Nicole Krebitz was the model for the whole campaign. Loads of singles, besides the album with her photos).
https://www.laut.de/New-Order/Alben/Get-Ready-713
https://www.google.com/search?q=Nicole+krebitz+New+Order&client=firefox-b&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiy2Zyq7q3bAhWlD8AKHRcFDPkQ_AUICygC&biw=1344&bih=684
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Oh wow, no, I did not recognise Nicolette (!) Krebitz. Interesting, thanks for pointing that out.
I am really chuffed that RA is getting to work with so many German actors lately.
As for the role he plays in MZ – I just read an article from 2016 which stated that the role of the husband/father was currently being cast. So RA was the last lead actor to come on board…
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I am still worried by Julie Delphy ‘s comment about ‘other’ actors were outraged/annoyed she had offered them the role some people thought she was joking/messing around but I just think it was weird
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Which comment was that? I don’t remember hearing that…
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Nice find! Sounds intriguing too! I too wonder how big Richard’s role will be…
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I’m hoping the best, based on the fact that he is listed as one of the leads. To me, that would suggest he is not just there for a bit at the beginning that sets up the story. But well, wishful thinking and conjecture…
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Two of my most favourite and great actors(Kunzendorf and Armitage) in a film together !Wow!!Never expected this would happen.Really looking forward to this film.
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Ah, interesting. I had never heard of Nina Kunzendorf (been living away from Germany for too long), but I am happy to believe that the cast is top class – and am looking forward to seeing them in action. Thanks for the comment!
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