Asterix at the Olympic Games on TF1: why was filming so chaotic?

Asterix at the Olympic Games is broadcast on TF1 this Monday, February 6, 2023. Between tensions on the film set, express rewrites of the script, return to a chaotic shoot.

Broadcast on TF1 on February 6, 2023, Asterix and Obelix at the Olympic Games remains infamous in collective memory as one of the failed adaptations of the irreducible Gauls. Thought of as a large-scale French blockbuster which has accumulated 6.8 million admissions in France, the film nevertheless seduced neither critics nor the public. In a major investigation, BFM TV went behind the scenes of the feature film that cost 78 million euros, revealing many complications on the set.

Producer and director Thomas Langmann had the ambition that Asterix and Obelix at the Olympic Games would become a real success on a European scale. The preparation of the film is nevertheless complicated by several constraints imposed by the exercise. The director of visual effects even remembers a preparation “in disorder and excess” with BFM TV. The production will encounter several difficulties: the script had to be rewritten several times to integrate the cameos of European comic stars, aiming to bring in funding from abroad. Screenwriters will even throw in the towel.

By wanting to bring back huge stars, Asterix and Obelix at the Olympic Games also paid for their whims, like Alain Delon who refused to change his lines, Gérard Depardieu who did not know his text, or Benoît Poelvoorde whose energy disappoints the producer. Langmann’s ambition knows no bounds, and he is particularly demanding with his teams, demanding in particular that scenes that have already been finalized be completely reshot. Quickly, a rivalry between the producer and the director of the film, Forestier, emerges behind the scenes. To this is added a lack of organization on the post-production side with a special effects budget which inflates considerably, while Pathé demands that the film be amputated by one hour to make the film usable in theaters. So many complications which mean that, for many, Asterix and Obelix at the Olympic Games is one of the least successful film adaptations of the work of Goscinny and Uderzo.