Movies - Jack Mimoun and the secrets of Val Verde: Our interview with Malik Bentalha

By Mulder, Chessy, Disney Village, 09 october 2022

Jack Mimoun et les secrets de Val Verde is a French film directed by Malik Bentalha and Ludovic Colbeau-Justin and is scheduled for release on October 12, 2022. It was previewed at the Espace Carat during the Angoulême Francophone Film Festival. The filming will take place in 2020 in Thailand and Paris. The shooting will end in July 2021. 

During the Premiere organized in my favorite cinema, the Gaumont Disney Village (Disneyland) of the film Jack Mimoun et les secrets de Val Verde, we were able to interview the writer, director and actor Malik Bentalha.

Q: Can you tell us about the origins of this film ?

Malik Bentalha: The origins of this film are very simple, it's the great adventure movies of the 80's that made us dream like Indiana Jones, The Goonies and later Jurassic Park, so it's a real declaration of love to these movies that made me travel and dream.

Q : If your film is so effective it is because it benefits from superb natural landscapes. Can you tell us a little about the shooting in Thailand ?

Malik Bentalha : The filming was done in the Thai jungle in many different regions and provinces. In Thailand, because we wanted to offer to the spectator a real escape in addition to the laughter, we really wanted the spectator to travel as he was able to travel in the films that I mentioned previously, and we wanted to shoot in real settings. We did not want to be in studio to accentuate this really exotic and sincere side.

Q : When we discover your film, we instantly think of the Indiana Jones film saga, but also of films like The Green Diamond. Can we say that American cinema had a strong influence on your first film as co-director ?

Malik Bentalha : Yes, especially since it is a genre film.  Let's say it's an adventure film, so in France we don't have many references. It's true that in France we were inspired a lot by Rio de Broca's Man, by a tribute to Bebel. It's true that we went to dig into the references and all the films that I was able to quote in the United States, In pursuit of the green diamond, The Goonies, Indiana Jones. This cinema has a great influence on me as a director but also in my life.

Q : Can you tell us about the way you shared the direction with Ludovic Colbeau-Justin ?

Malik Bentalha : With Ludovic it could not have been done if he had not been by my side. It was very fluid, as we like to say, we put our egos at the service of the film, but not the other way around, so we really prepared ourselves well in advance. We started to get in touch very early around 2019. We shot in 2021 so the fact of preparing well in advance allowed us to be ready the day of the shooting in the jungle in Thailand.

Q : Can you tell us about your excellent cast in which we find around you three excellent actors François Damiens, Jerome Commandeur and Benoît Magimel but also the superb actress Joséphine Japy ?

Malik Bentalha : Yes, it was my dream casting. It was really the ideal casting; It's written for them, it's true that with the scriptwriters Tristan Schumann and Florent Bernard when we wrote the script we had their music in our head and for us it was impossible to do it with other actors and with another actress so I'm a fan of Jerome, François, Benoit and Joséphine is extraordinary. I am a big fan of Josephine and she is already one of the greatest actresses.

Q: What was the most difficult scene for you as an actor and as a director to shoot ?

Malik Bentalha : I would say maybe the suspension bridge, the tribute to Indiana Jones. That's it, because we were quite high up and in addition to the acting, we had to manage the technical side of the sequence, a complex side, and that's where directing with two people comes in, because we can oppose our points of view and find better solutions

Q : The special effects signed by Alain Carsaux's team are very successful to the point that your film can compete with American blockbusters and even surpass them thanks to the great care given to the action scenes and the lines that constantly hit home. For your first film, did you expect such a success ?

Malik Bentalha : Frankly I expected it but not as much, that is to say that necessarily you have to be viscerally convinced because you write what you do, but I did it so much with the heart that perhaps it is the solution today. But I did it so much with my heart that maybe that's the solution today so that there is a revival I hope in French cinema, it's to make the projects, to make the scenarios and in any case to shoot the scenarios with the heart and with the guts and I had a visceral desire since I was a child, so I expected it to be good because there was a real sincerity behind it, but I didn't expect so much positive feedback, so thank you to the spectators

Q: Music plays an important role in your film. Can you tell us about your collaboration with Mathieu Lamboley ?

Malik Bentalha : Mathieu Lamboley is one of the people who allowed us to make this declaration of love to great cinema, to this kind of forgiving cinema and the same goes for the composers, whether it's John Williams, Hans Zimmer, Ennio Morricone, I'm certainly forgetting some of the legendary ones, but it's true that we were really very inspired by John Williams

Q : What can you tell us about your current projects and can we hope to discover a sequel to this excellent film Jack Mimoun and the Secrets of Val Verde ?  

Malik Bentalha: Listen, I'll just complete the question on the musical composition; It was done with a symphony orchestra of a hundred people so I'm very proud of it and as for my projects, today it is to release Jack Mimoun. It's my baby, I really want to take care of the release before projecting ourselves elsewhere and we hope in any case if the public decides to make this film a success we hope to leave for a sequel and we already have a lot of ideas.

Our review can be read here

Synopsis: 
Two years after surviving alone on the hostile island of Val Verde, Jack Mimoun has become an adventure star. The book recounting his experience is a best-seller and his television show beats audience records. He is then approached by the mysterious Aurélie Diaz who will bring Jack Mimoun back to Val Verde to lead him in search of the legendary Sword of the pirate La Buse. Accompanied by Bruno Quézac, Jack's ambitious but reckless manager, and Jean-Marc Bastos, a mercenary as disturbed as he is unpredictable, our adventurers will embark on an incredible treasure hunt through the jungle of the island of a thousand dangers.

Jack Mimoun and the secrets of Val Verde
Directed by Malik Bentalha, Ludovic Colbeau-Justin
Produced by Éric and Nicolas Altmayer
Written by Malik Bentalha, Florent Bernard, Tristan Schulmann
With Malik Bentalha, Benoît Magimel, François Damiens, Jérôme Commandeur, Joséphine Japy 
Music : Mathieu Lamboley
Image : Thomas Lerebour
Editing: Delphine Rondeau, Vincent Tabaillon
Production companies: Mandarin Films, Pathé Films
Distributed by Pathé Distribution (France)
Release date: August 27, 2022 (Angoulême Festival), October 12, 2022 (France)
Running time: 102 minutes

With all our thanks to Malik Bentalha for answering our questions and to Mourad for having organized this beautiful meeting