Michel Hazanavicius, the Oscar-winning director of the silent Best Picture winner The Artist, is at the helm of Final Cut, a.k.a. Z (Comme Z), a French-language remake of the Japanese hit One Cut of the Dead (watch it HERE). Final Cut is currently in production in Paris.
Starring Romain Duris, Berenice Bejo, Gregory Gadebois, Finnegan Oldfield, Matilda Lutz, Sebastian Chassagne, Raphael Quenard, Jean-Pascal Zadi, Lyes Salem, Simone Hazanavicius, and Luana Bajrami, this take on One Cut of the Dead is set
against the backdrop of a B-movie shoot that is descending into disaster, Duris plays the director who seems to be the only one invested with the necessary energy to keep the low-budget zombie film afloat. As he tries to gee up jaded technicians and uninterested actors, shooting is disturbed by the arrival of authentic undead.
Hazanavicius said,
The brilliant concept of the original film, a dream cast, a light and highly motivated crew, all of this makes me thrilled to be making this movie, about shooting a movie."
Final Cut is being produced by La Classe Americaine, Getaway Films, SK Global Entertainment, and BlueLight. France 2 Cinema is co-producing. The film is also supported by Canal+, France Televisions, SOFITVCINE 9, and Cine+. Wild Bunch International is handling distribution in France and the international distribution sales. Japanese companies Enbu Seminar, Hairu Entertainment, and Gaga serve as executive producers on the project, and Gaga will be distributing the film in Japan.
One Cut of the Dead was directed by Shinichiro Ueda and inspired by Ryoichi Wada's play Ghost in the Box. Shot on a budget of just $25,000, Ueda's film earned more than 30 million dollars at the global box office, and was featured on a memorable episode of The Last Drive-In with Joe Bob Briggs.