Coupez ! (Final Cut), Michel Hazanavicius’ tribute to the slaves of film shoots

Coupez ! (Final Cut) is a remake of One Cut of the Dead (Kamera o Tomeru na!), Shin'ichirô Ueda's student film that has become a cult movie in Japan. How did this idea come to you? 

During lockdown, I was working on a comedy about a film shoot and I had imagined a story based on a long take. One day, while talking with the producer Vincent Maraval, he recommended I see a film from a Japanese student that he had acquired the rights for in order to make a remake. I got back to him after seeing the film to offer to direct it. I thought its structure was absolutely brilliant.

What did you find interesting in the way it unfolded?

It was a real magic trick. The film begins with a long take that fails completely, so much so that it becomes intriguing. Ultimately, when you realise that the long take is not the subject of the film but rather a way of telling how and by whom the film was shot, everything becomes clear. It's this shift that really won me over.

Coupez ! (Final Cut) is an ensemble film that shows that, in cinema, the group is essential. How did you work with your team?

We spent five weeks before shooting with the actors who were going to shoot the long shot and rehearsed a lot with the camera operator Jonathan Ricquebourg, because the camera is an essential part of the choreography. These rehearsals led to the creation of a troupe, as in theatre. We then worked more traditionally with the other actors, who all benefitted from the group spirit that had been created. As the film is about a troupe, part of the job is making sure that it really exists.

How long did shooting take?

Six weeks, which is rather short. Eighty percent of the film was shot in the same place. It was important to me that there was a really good group energy on the set, because we were doing a remake of a low-budget film made be a student who had really committed himself. The actors were all on board with this idea. I would have been almost embarrassed to have made a film that was too expensive and too long.

What were your goals in terms of image and rhythm?

The rather saturated texture is there to show that the film that the character played by Romain Duris wanted to make was not supposed to be a failure and that nothing turned out as expected. I wanted there to be some sexy elements in the images, showing that what he was trying to pull off could have been successful. I also wanted the film to have a rhythm that accelerates as it progresses. Coupez ! (Final Cut) plays with three types of comedy that intermingle, from pastiche to situation comedy. The film then becomes very mechanical, like a vaudeville.

In Coupez ! (Final Cut), you also show that cinema is an art of commitment…

It ultimately doesn't matter if it's a dud or a great film! What matters is the commitment we bring to it and the human adventure that that represents, even if we can't always control everything. Sometimes the journey is more important than the destination.