Suddenly Alone: from the clash with Jake Gyllenhaal to the film with Gilles Lellouche and Mélanie Thierry
Thomas Bidegain recounts “the nightmare” experienced on his survival project, planned with Hollywood stars and finally filmed in French…
Just before the release of Suddenly alonebroadcast this evening on France 2, its co-writer (with Valentine Monteil) and director, Thomas Bidegain (The Cowboys), told Première about his wish to initially shoot his film in English, with Jake Gyllenhaal and Vanessa Kirby.
The two international stars were to play this couple stranded on a snowy and hostile South American island.
Very quickly, the scenario seduces. At the time, the project was called Suddenly. Technikart described at the time the commitment of Jake Gyllenhaal who even became co-producer of the film. As the story is only based on two characters, the production is looking for a leading actress to play the role. Thomas Bidegain exchanges with Margot Robbie, who declines, then with Ana de Armas and Jodie Comer. Finally, Jake Gyllenhaal proposes Vanessa Kirby, with whom he has just filmed Everest. Despite the constraints linked to Covid, preparations are progressing. Zoom meetings are increasing and, eight weeks before the first clap, the whole team meets in Iceland for location scouting. This is where everything changes.
While the scenario is validated, Jake Gyllenhaal requests numerous modifications. He questions the purpose of the film, challenges the director’s choices and tries to impose his vision. Thomas Bidegain says he saw his actor “to go crazy” and propose ideas that are confusing to say the least: “For a scene on the boat, Jake sells us the idea that he slaps a fish.“Another day, after coming across a mare with whom he said he entered “in communion with nature”then burst into tears while listening to a speech by Greta Thunberg, the actor asserts in front of the entire team that the real subject of the film is no longer the couple, but “love of nature“.
Understanding that his project is beyond his control, Thomas Bidegain calls his producer Alain Attal: “I’ll talk to Jake and we agree that there’s no point in persisting. Our visions diverge too much. We won’t be able to shoot in September. (…) It’s all over, and the 26 million are gone!“
In just four days of scouting, the project collapsed. In FirstThomas Bidegain explains that he quickly understood that Jake Gyllenhaal ultimately wanted to buy the rights to the film to produce it himself: “I immediately told my producer Alain Attal that it’s OK.” But Alain Attal categorically refuses.
This abandonment cost its producer and StudioCanal dearly, who nevertheless supported it until the end. But the director starts from scratch. As he then explains to Firsthe decides to completely rewrite his script: “We rewrote everything in French. It was exciting because survival is an intrinsically American genre. We reduced the adventure aspect a little and increased the part about the couple. Basically, I got closer to my initial desire.“
The filmmaker is delighted to be able to shoot this new version in French with actors in whom he has complete confidence. The first to board is Gilles Lellouche.
“He’s quite a fascinating actor. Intelligent and very physical. It’s beautiful to see the pleasure he has in playing“.
From A Prophet to Cowboys: Thomas Bidegain comments on his filmography
To give him the answer, Thomas Bidegain wants to form a unique duo:
“We had to find an actress who accepted the physical challenge linked to this filming in a hostile environment. I know Melanie Thierry for a long time. Beyond her talent, I know how much she loves challenges. She had never played with Gilles, whose enthusiasm was immediate when I mentioned his name.“
Two years later, Suddenly alone finally comes out in the version we know, carried by Mélanie Thierry and Gilles Lellouche, two actors fully invested in the project without ever trying to take control of it. Despite good reviews, the film was a failure at the box office with only 250,000 admissions.
