PARIS - Video Marc Dorcel's Casino: No Limit features the biggest budget of any French porn film. Directed by Herve Bodilis and distributed in North America by Wicked Pictures, the production cost 21,000 euros. There are 12 scenes, and a running time of over two hours. Director Bodilis had some things to say about working on a production like this.
Bodilis claimed the initial idea for the movie came from Marc Dorcel's brother Gregory. "Gregory Dorcel knows well his different directors, he wanted to produce a movie about a casino. The atmosphere and the ideas I proposed to him were the good ones. He chose me; I was the one.
According to the director, there was a mad rush to production after the initial idea was broached.
"The project was validated very quickly between appetizers and desserts during a lunch at the beginning of September 2007," Bodilis said. "Marc Dorcel wanted a very high budget movie and we needed to organize a shooting in a sunny place with beautiful beaches. We were in a hurry because the summer was finished in France and we didn't want to go too far. So the next week I was in Ibiza looking for locations. We began to shoot in Ibiza, three weeks later. I had only this period of three weeks to write the script, something we were talking on the phone with Gregory Dorcel about casting, about the scenes. The part shot in Paris was done in November and we did the Serbo-Croatian war in Budapest in November also."
So why is the budget so high? Bodilis answered, "When you write a script you are not restricted, but when you shoot it and you have comedy to add, your references are traditional cinema. So you want your movie not to be like a regular porno movie of the '80s, you want it to be modern and high tech. Helicopters, yachts, tanks-4000 euros for 1 minute in the movie-locations in Ibiza, a castle in Paris, regular actors, international performers like Nacho Vidal, Melissa Lauren, Yasmine, Roxy Panther, high quality music and mixes...all that stuff is very expensive!"
And with a budget like that, the pressure can mount. Bodilis credits his wife with smoothing out a lot of the panic.
"With such a big budget, the pressure is huge and everybody is nervous," said the director. "Fortunately the first part was in Ibiza, so we were more relaxed. We also knew that we would have time to finish the movie in Paris. In Paris, there were a lot of crazy situations due to the pressure, but I had the right person close to me: my wife. She takes care of the dress designing, the food for everybody, she does the translations as she is Hungarian, and she makes sure that everybody is feeling good on the set."
To see what Bodilis is talking about, visit Video Marc Dorcel's website and watch the trailer at http://www.dorcel.com/casino.
