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Fresh off her César win for co-writing “Un ours dans le Jura” (“How to Make a Killing”), Sarah Kaminsky is making an unusually ambitious leap into directing with “Las Vegas Thérapie.”
The €13 million French comedy-thriller
is now shooting across Nevada and Utah with a cast led by “Call My Agent!” star Laure Calamy (who also headlined “How to Make a Killing”), Jérôme Commandeur, Jérémie Renier and Quebec actor Noémie O’Farrell.
The high-concept plot opens in Las Vegas, where Jack (Renier), a Frenchman who has reinvented himself as a wedding planner, and Mauricette (O’Farrell), his irreverent Quebecois associate, welcome Philippe (Commandeur) and Isabelle (Calamy), a couple whose marriage is running out of steam. They embark on a fateful journey to Nevada on the advice of their therapist in an effort to rekindle their relationship. Things go off the rails when Jack discovers that Isabelle is his ex. What starts as couples therapy and a romantic excursion through the desert gradually turns into a far more dangerous road trip as bodies begin to pile up.
Kaminsky is producing with Leo Maidenberg, Aurélie Grossmann through their vehicle Declaration Studio, and Victor Hadida’s Davis Films.
Hadida, who has a longstanding experience working on major U.S. franchises such as”Resident Evil” and “Silent Hill,” recruited his partner on “Silent Hill,” David Wulf. The latter joined the project and is co-producing through his Salt Lake City-based company Redline Entertainment. Sébastien Delloye at Belgium’s Entre Chien et Loup is also co-producing.
“Las Vegas Thérapie” is not only a bold endeavor for a feature debut, it’s also a rare feat at a time when shoots are increasingly migrating from the U.S. toward Europe in search of lower costs.
The film will be shooting in the American West, stretching from Las Vegas and southern Utah to Kanab, Heber and the state’s vast Salt Flats.
“Sarah found the trailer parks, motels and all the things that you can’t recreate. We could have shot in Spain or Morocco for a quarter less, but it was important to shoot on location to have this original backdrop and that authenticity that Sarah’s script called for,” said Hadida, who described the movie as “a romantic road trip gone wrong,” driven by a biting sense of humor.
“Las Vegas Thérapie” was boarded by France Télévisions, Canal+ and Amazon, reflecting Kaminsky’s track record. While it’s Kaminsky’s first movie as a director, she’s known for writing a raft of popular films beyond “How to Make a Killing.” She previously co-wrote a number of hits directed by Dany Boon, notably “RAID Dingue” and “La Ch’tite famille,” as well as co-wrote Fred Cavayé’s “Farewell, Mr. Haffmann.”
Kaminsky, who co-wrote the screenplay with novelist and screenwriter Niko Tackian, said the story grew directly out of a road trip she took through the U.S. with her husband and stepsons.
“I was struck by so many things about America. There’s everything that is grandiose, these incredible spaces where suddenly everything feels very alive and you feel very small. And it’s also a country of contrasts. Inevitably, that makes you want to invent stories,” she said.
She was also inspired by Coen brothers movies. “The characters are Coen-style. They’re lovable losers. There’s tenderness too.”
The movie ultimately “talks about love,” she said. “One of the things it asks is whether you can love someone without deciding to be a couple. And if you are a couple, can you find the spark again after 15 years of everyday life together?”
“Las Vegas Thérapie” moves visually from the red-rock landscapes of southern Utah toward the stark white expanses of the salt flats as the thriller elements take over.
Maidenberg and Grossmann, who launched Déclaration Studio with Kaminsky, said they build Declaration Studio around a model that puts writing and development at the center of the company.
“I think most producers I could have gone to would have been scared at first, because making a film in the United States is something very few people do in France,” she said. “Aurélia and Léo were the opposite. For them, that was the challenge they wanted. It was: Why not think big? Let’s try.”
Hadida became a crucial piece of the production puzzle to make the film in the U.S. and introduced the French producers to Wulf.
“When I read the movie, I was thinking, ‘Wow, we can really do something incredible here in Utah,'” Wulf said. “The movie was so well-written, and the characters were so distinct and unique.”
Wulf tapped his regular topnotch crew to work on the movie. “Everybody was very excited — there are not so many European movies that come to shoot in the United States, so it’s a very unique thing.”
The crew is largely American, while several key positions that require close interaction with the French-speaking cast — including the cinematographer, sound department and script supervision — come from France.
That has created a bilingual set which Wulf described as “really fun.” “Some instructions have to be in French and some have to be in English. It’s a challenge in some ways, but also very rewarding,” he said.
The cast, meanwhile, quickly developed the chemistry Kaminsky had hoped for. She previously worked with Calamy on “How to Make a Killer” and had known Commandeur from their shared connection to Boon, but the actors themselves had barely met before the shoot.
“They didn’t know each other until last Friday,” Kaminsky said during the early days of production. “We did a lot of work by Zoom because I was preparing the movie in the U.S. and they were in France. I knew they would connect easily, but from the first day they met, with Jérémie and Noémie as well, they were always together, always laughing.”
The film also boasts two major action sequences involving stunts and gunfire. Calamy is doing much of her own driving in the film, including behind the wheel of a vintage 1953 Ford.
“Laure Calamy is the most amazing driver. It’s a manual, with the gears on the steering column. She’s a better driver than all of the crew,” he joked.
Hadida’s leading independent distribution company Metropolitan FilmExport will distribute the film in France.
