Can we imagine Les Enfants du Paradis, with Arletty, anywhere other than Paris? Or The Fabulous Destiny of Amélie Poulain, with Audrey Tautou, located in a setting other than Montmartre? In the same vein, who today can imagine Daniel Morales (aka Samy Naceri), at the wheel of his Peugeot 406, driving anywhere other than in the maze of Marseille streets? The very fact that the music is by the rapper Akhenaton, a child of the Phocaean city, reinforces this identification. Taxi, the film broadcast this Thursday, November 9, 2023, at 9:25 p.m., on TMC, was however not fantasized and presented turnkey. The production underwent some meanders, one of which, in particular, questions its filming location.
The Marseille Grand Prix
The story is tasty and well-known. Pizza delivery man, crazy about speed, Daniel (Samy Naceri) changes jobs by becoming a taxi driver. Cherishing his Peugeot 406 which he customized to his taste, he is capable of driving like an F1 driver in the streets of Marseille when one of his clients orders him to race with improbable timing… But he can just as easily gently pilot his car when he transports Camille, a sixty-year-old whose son Emilien (Frédéric Diefenthal) encounters some difficulties in his daily life as a police officer. He must, among other things and at all costs, obtain his driving license after eight unsuccessful attempts. Furthermore, Emilien is part of a brigade responsible for stopping a gang of bank robbers. Their mission will turn into a fiasco…
The rest under this advertisement
The film Taxi was shot in Marseille for a simple question of budget and authorizations
Author of the script for Taxi, which he wrote in a month, Luc Besson cannot direct it, busy putting into construction, then staging, his major project: The Fifth Element. So he decided to entrust the production of Taxi to Gérard Pirès, who had not made a feature film for fifteen years. While filming was to take place in Paris, Gaumont, Besson’s historic producer, decided to relocate it to Marseille, with little-known actors – Patrick Bruel and Vincent Perez having initially been considered. The reason is easy to guess and has to do with the budget. Filming in the Marseille city rather than in Paris, especially with performers without much fame, will allow production costs to be drastically reduced. Not to mention that authorizations to shoot car stunt scenes are easier to obtain in Marseille than in Paris… Despite all these concessions, Gaumont will end up withdrawing from the project, doubting its commercial value after Besson’s refusal to achieve it. The latter hired Pierre-Ange Le Pogam, an executive at Gaumont, and created their own production company with him, EuropaCorp. Taxi will be their first triumph. And Gaumont will bite its fingers.
The rest under this advertisement
2023-11-09 22:29:06
#Taxi #film #initially #planned #Paris #finally #shot #Marseille
