A very busy start to 2022 for director Christopher Thompson. His new film, Tendre et saignant, starring Géraldine Pailhas, Arnaud Ducret, Alison Wheeler, Jean-François Stévenin, is currently showing. And at the same time, the son of Danièle Thompson and grandson of Gérard Oury is immersed in the preparation of Bardot, a television series in six episodes of 52 minutes each, for France 2.

The director does not complain about this double activity. On the contrary, he has missed film sets terribly since Bus Palladium (2010) and his debut behind the camera. "Because there is nothing I love more than shooting, says Christopher Thompson. We may be doing the most beautiful job in the world, but sometimes it's difficult to edit films. It's true that I had aborted projects. One was magnificent and happened during the Cannes Film Festival. A choral comedy that was canceled twice."

It is thanks to the support of producer Jean Cottin that the director was able to shoot Tendre et saignant.

"I wanted to stick to romantic comedy and follow the codes of this genre. With my co-screenwriter, Fabrice-Roger Lacan, with whom I frequented the same butcher's shop, we said to ourselves that it was both a a kind of theater and a meeting place. In short, the beating heart of a district." He adds: "Butchery is a traditional profession and one in full mutation. A world of men but where I wanted to highlight a woman, Charly [jouée par Géraldine Pailhas, ndlr] in her forties, who finds her roots and redoes his life by meeting Martial [joué par Arnaud Ducret, ndlr].

After Bus Palladium, Christopher once again directs Géraldine Pailhas. "However, I did not write the role of Charly for her. But after a whole process, I chose Géraldine. She brings things that I know of her intimately since we have lived together for a long time. It is an exceptional collaborator who brings me a lot. was a great happiness for both of them. She is wonderful."

Not a classic biopic

And now Christopher Thompson is fully invested in Bardot. “With Danièle [Thompson, sa mère, ndlr], we have been working on this series for two years, he slips. We are at the dawn of filming, at the end of February. It is not a classic biopic, but the Brigitte Bardot's youth, between 1949 and 1960. The life of a freedom-loving woman who, with her joy of living, finally created a small world revolution. It will be above all a story of young people in this France of the post-war period which goes from black to white. France in the 1950s which is transformed and goes through difficult moments in its history with in particular the Algerian War."

A work in complete complicity between his mother and him. “We co-wrote the script, we are preparing the casting, and then we divide the work. The shooting will last fourteen weeks [from April 11 to May 6 in Saint-Tropez, editor’s note] and we will produce three episodes each.

The one who will play BB would already be chosen, but the director does not want to reveal his name yet. Christopher will soon be scouting in Saint-Tropez where he has often spent his family vacations. "Saint-Tropez remains a magnificent village. There are still places that have not been affected by time and we will try to film all of this in the most beautiful way," he concludes.