Postmedia may earn an affiliate commission from purchases made through our links on this page. James A. Woods and Nicolas Wright wrote French Girl, a bilingual love letter to their home province of Quebec, almost 10 years ago. The two Montreal screenwriters then put it in a drawer and spent years doing other things in their adopted hometown of Los Angeles, including watching the big-budget sci-film they co-wrote, Independence Day: Resurgence, get savaged by the critics and disappoint at the box office.
Years later, the two old friends β who started as actors before becoming writer-directors β returned to the French Girl script and decided the time was right to get it made. Woods plays hockey in L. It is written and directed by Woods and Wright, with Bard serving as one of the executive producers. The French version here is titled Chez les Beaux-Parents.
But it was Bard who suggested they make the main male character American and try to get a Hollywood studio interested. Paramount bought world rights outside Canada and Paramount-owned Republic Pictures is releasing it in theatres in the U.
And Nick and I shared the same story in the sense that we have anglophone fathers who met French-Canadian women and decided to move here. The power of love. We thought what delicious background, to show the love we have for this province. About 30 per cent of the dialogue is in the language of Arcand, but so far no one has an issue with that.
Early screenings in the U. For them it is quite literally a dream come true. They also got to put in songs from great Quebec artists like Harmonium and Robert Charlebois. So Axl Rose hit the cutting-room floor.
