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Fresh off the box office success of “The Count of Monte Cristo,” French producer Dimitri Rassam is entering a new era with Yapluka, his one-year old European financing and distribution vehicle. The company, which is backed by Pathé, shipping magnate Rodolphe Saadé and broadcaster M6, is kicking off with an ambitious quartet of projects.
Besides the previously announced historical epic “The Iron King” that’s reteaming Rassam with “The Count of Monte-Cristo” writers and filmmakers Alexandre de la Patellière and Matthieu Delaporte, Yapluka has boarded “Winter Warriors,” an epic film that will be directed by Nicolaj Arcel, the Oscar-nominated director of “A Royal Affair; as well as “Slaying the Badger,” which will be directed by Tobias Lindholm (“A War”) and co-written/produced by Ben Stiller; and “The Legion,” an adventure thriller inspired by the French Foreign Legion that’s being written by Erik Jendresen (“Mission impossible : Dead Reckoning,” “Band of Brothers”).
In an interview with Variety at his Paris office, Rassam unpacked the inaugural slate of Yapluka to outline his drive to build a home for filmmaker-driven theatrical movies budgeted between $20 million and $80 million that combine scale with creative freedom. “The world is extremely polarized right now,” says Rassam, whose production company Chapter 2 is part of Mediawan. “You have very small budgets, and you have massive tentpoles. And it feels like there’s less original IP.”
Those projects that Yapluka is pursuing are “mid-size by Hollywood standards, but big by indie standards,” he says, before citing movies that inspired him growing up, such as “Forrest Gump,” “Dances with Wolves” and “Indiana Jones.” “I naturally gravitate towards pictures that have a generous approach towards audiences, but I don’t think it precludes having a very strong artistic vision,” he says. The banner’s mandate, he continues, “is to empower the filmmakers, give them a lot of prep time, shoot as much as possible on location, cut through the red tape, have the least possible bureaucracy, and partner up.” Rather than acting solely as a financing platform, Yapluka is designed to operate across development, production and distribution. “What we can contribute is more than money,” he says. “It’s the ability to shelter risk, build bridges — not just from a financing and distribution point of view, but also from an execution point of view.”
“Winter Warriors,” an adaptation of Olivier Norek’s bestselling novel, will be directed by Arcel, the critically acclaimed Danish director of “A Royal Affair” and “A Promised Land.” Rassam points to both the book’s commercial success — more than 400,000 copies sold in France — and its contemporary relevance. The book is set against the backdrop of the Finnish-Soviet Winter War of 1939, and follows a group of young men who are drafted to face the Red Army. “Its story is both extremely powerful, entertaining but also highly relevant today,” he says, adding that Arcel was his first choice. “I’ve wanted to work with him ever since I watched ‘A Royal Affair.’ He was the ideal director for such an ambitious project.” Arcel is writing the script with Anders Thomas Jensen (“The Last Viking,” “Riders of Justice”).
“Slaying the Badger,” set in the world of professional cycling in the 1980s, brings together Lindholm with Rassam who is producing via his banner Chapter 2; Pathé; and producers Ben Stiller and John Lesher of Red Hour Productions. Lindholm, a celebrated Danish screenwriter and filmmaker best known for his Oscar-nominated film “A War,” as well as the Oscar-winning “Drunk” (which he co-wrote), penned the script of “Slaying the Badger” with John Raymond Baker and Stiller. The film will tell the story of Greg Lemond, the American former road racing cyclist, and his epic rivalry with Bernard Hinault. Lemond and Hinault won the Tour de France, three and five times, respectively. The film will start shooting next year across Europe and the U.S. “I’m extremely grateful John Lesher and Ben Stiller reached out to partner up on this ambitious project and we couldn’t be more thrilled to have such a gifted writer/director in Tobias at the helm,” Rassam says. Yapluka is also doing “The Legion,” an adventure film based on a true story set within the legendary French Foreign Legion that Jendresen is writing.
“The Iron King,” meanwhile, is the first installment adapted from Maurice Druon’s “The Accursed Kings” book series and is believed to have inspired “Game of Thrones.” It’s a project Rassam has been nurturing for more than a decade. “We’ve been fantasizing about it for over ten years,” he says. “It’s an epic adventure, and it will have the appropriate scope.” The film is slated to shoot in 2027, with Delaporte and de la Patellière currently finalizing the script. Rassam will be producing “The Iron King” with his production company Chapter 2, Fargo Films and Pathé Films.
Alongside Yapluka’s projects, Rassam is also gearing up for his next major production under his Chapter 2 banner. “Black Devil,” a €43 million historical epic that will be directed by Ladj Ly (“Les Miserables”) and is budgeted on par with “The Count of Monte Cristo,” begins shooting on Feb. 9. The film has already secured French free TV and pay TV pre-sales from M6, Disney and Netflix, underscoring its commercial appeal well ahead of release. Shooting will run from February through June, spanning locations mostly in France with a portion in Morocco. Rassam will be building on his experiences with “The Count of the Monte Cristo” and “The Three Musketeers” in “optimizing production value by maintaining the core of our physical production teams.” “We have the sets, we all have a real-life approach to storytelling,” he says. Pathé and Goodfellas are handling worldwide sales, library pictures is co-financing as well.
At its core, Yapluka is built around a belief in theatrical cinema as both a cultural and commercial engine. “Yapluka is about the theatrical experience,” Rassam says. “We believe it’s the best way to create IP.”
What gap is Yapluka meant to fill in today’s movie business?
The world is extremely polarized right now. You have very small budgets, and you have massive tentpoles. And it feels like there’s less original IP’s. At Yapluka, our ambition is to be story-first, so we will go where we need to go to capture the truth of the story. And we’re also filmmaker-first. There’s no one-size-fits-all solution. Our mandate is to empower the filmmakers, give them a lot of prep time, shooting as much as possible, on location, cut through the red tape, have THE least possible bureaucracy, and partner up. If you want to have the necessary muscle, you need to build alliances. I think what we can contribute that is
more than money by extending to filmmakers and producers the ability to shelter risk, build bridges, not just from a distribution and financing point of view, but also from an execution point of view, and work with budgets between $20 and $80 million. It’s mid-size by Hollywood standards, but big by indie standards. I grew up with “Forrest Gump,” “Dances with Wolves” and “Indiana Jones.” It’s part of my personal pantheon of movies. I naturally gravitate towards pictures that have a generous approach towards audiences, but I don’t think it precludes having a very strong artistic vision.
Why is the $20–80 million budget range creatively important to you?
At that price range, there is a little bit more creative freedom. What makes us unique is that not only do we produce more cost effectively than studios, but we also produce a lot in Europe, on location. On one hand, it’s about taking creative risks, and on the other hand, it’s about fiscal discipline and optimization. That space, for me, is extremely interesting.
How do you define the Yapluka model within that space?
The Yapluka model is early stages MRC, early stages Legendary. I was inspired by those American models. MRC partners on a movie-by-movie basis. Legendary builds long-term relationships with IP and talent. What interests me is being able to partner up — on risk, on design, and on execution, which means that very often my production company Chapter 2 will be in partnership with Yapluka on projects. We will also be in partnership with Pathé, but not only them. We’ll also have Anglo-Saxon partners. The modus operandi is to be able to take risks and support projects. That’s why I wanted to talk about “Slaying the Badger” which we’re doing with Ben Stiller and John Lesher, and we’re not the only producers. There will be many projects where I won’t be a producer.
Your first slate includes several period films. Are you mainly interested in that kind of material?
It’s true that “The Legion” is period, “Winter Warriors” is period, and “Slaying the Badger” is period, “The Iron King” are all period. But I would love to have a contemporary spy movie. I think it’s a genre that’s been taken over by platforms, often in series format, and in a way it no longer really exists in cinema, like the great John le Carré inspired movies. Ultimately, if something arrives and it’s unique, and has a great director attached, we’ll look at it. We’re a very director-driven company. What matters is to make films that have a strong vision, in which there is some sincerity. That’s really what guides us.
You say that “independence” has been redefined. What does that mean to you today?
Independence has been redefined in the last few years. Pathé for instance is an independent company, and we believe it’s one of the best ways to create IP.What matters today is not isolation. If you want to have the necessary muscle, you need to build alliances. That’s really what I wanted Yapluka to be — a vehicle to partner up, to coalesce reach, muscle, and talent. Not just financially, but creatively and strategically.
How many projects per year do you want to handle at Yapluka?
It’s not a volume business for us. We want to make, on average, two to three movies a year. The plan is around fifteen movies over five to seven years. Because we’re involved very early, at the inception of projects, we can afford to find tailor-made solutions per movie. I never want to be shackled or beholden to too large of a bureaucracy that forces you to put movies into production. That freedom is essential. Right now, we’ve got four Yapluka projects lined up, which is, give or take, between €150 and €200 million of production. So it’s obviously sizable for us.
What is it about filmmakers like Nicolaj Arcel and Tobias Lindholm that makes them stand out to you?
I’ve been really amazed by what both Nicolaj and Tobias have achieved with the budgets they were given, and the type of talents they worked with, and the craftsmanship.I think there’s really something to be said for people who love movies, but also love making the most out of their stories, because they are so sincere and invested in their project.They represent the type of talent we want to work with. They have this rare combination of talent and craftsmanship. It so happened that both of them are Danish, but there are a lot of others that we’re looking at who have that same combination.They are authors with a vision, but also with a desire and a strong ambition to reach a wide audience. That’s also the case with Matthieu Delaporte and Alexandre de la Patelliere (“The Count of Monte Cristo”) who are currently in advanced development of “The Iron King,” the first volume of the “Accursed Kings” book series.
How central is Europe to your vision of ambitious independent filmmaking?
The foundation of Yapluka is European. I think in a way it’s easier to partner up with the best of Scandinavia, the best of Italy, the best of Germany, the best of the UK. Sometimes it’s also about partnering up within your own country. What I’m not going to do at Yapluka is make films that have nothing European about them. But being European doesn’t mean being closed off. “The Odyssey,” for example, is deeply European, and it was shot in Europe.
At the same time, the U.S. market is crucial for the projects that you’re making at Yapluka, right?
If you want to have the ambition of making a movie that will have a real Anglo-Saxon career — an American career, to be specific — and not have an American partner somewhere, it’s just not possible. It’s a relationship business. You need to have the right people around the table. That’s why Yapluka has the philosophy of starting very early along the path to production. We make sure that we don’t just finance the movie, but that we truly produce and distribute it, and not figure that out down the line.The market has shifted from a sales model to a presales model, and I think it’s better for movies. For films of that size, you don’t want to be making a movie on your own.
You’ve said that animation was a real turning point for you in thinking internationally. Why?
The game changer for me was animation. It really ingrained a culture of international. Very often in Europe, international was approached from a financing perspective — how do I aggregate X, Y, Z, tax incentives. That’s a portion of the equation, but it’s not sufficient. The key is talent and IP first.At the heart of it is making sure you have a champion of the picture for wherever you intend it to exist. You can’t have the ambition of making a movie that will have a real American career and not have an American partner somewhere. Animation taught me that execution, intermediation, and relationships are as important as financing.
What kind of films — and filmmakers — do you ultimately want Yapluka to stand for?
I don’t believe in opposing popular cinema to art house. In France, we have a tendency to do that, and I think it’s a mistake. I think you can have an incredibly popular film and still be very sincere artistically.I want to work with filmmakers who are extremely sincere artistically, but also very generous toward audiences. I serve one master: the movie itself. It’s a way of putting ego aside and collectively deciding to serve the film.
Why is theatrical so important for you, and what do you think defines a theatrical movie today?
Yapluka is about the theatrical experience. Yapluka is about me making movies for theaters. We believe it’s the best way to create IP. We partner up with platforms — it’s not one or the other — but the type of movies we will be making are tailor-made and thought-through for cinema. The theatrical experience isn’t just about the bells and whistles and the big spectacles. It’s about the desire to share in the story, the vision, in a definite time frame. When you go and see a movie in a theater, you talk about it. A theatrical release inhabits a certain time frame, a conversation. Audiences today truly detect when you have a sincere vision or not, and that’s what justifies a theatrical experience. To warrant being a theatrical release, you need to have enough of a proposal, both artistic and production-wise, that justifies that type of conversation. It can be widely entertaining and thought-provoking. That’s part of what defines a theatrical movie today.
How inspired are you by your uncles, Claude Berri and Paul Rassam, who were both revered French producers and made very ambitious films?
The relationship that my uncle, Paul Rassam, on one side, and Claude Berri, on the other, had with Pathé and Jérôme Seydoux, is still very strong and very key to what I’m doing as a producer. Together with Pathé we’re enlarging it for a more international slate. That’s philosophically at the heart of Yapluka. A lot of the movies I grew up on were made that way, at a time when French cinema was much more international. “Jean de Florette,” “Manon des Sources,” “Cyrano de Bergerac” — they were massive international hits. Those films were ambitious, popular, and deeply auteur-driven at the same time. That space is something I’ve always been drawn to.
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