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Claude Zidi (born 25 July 1934) is a French film director and screenwriter. From 1971, he became known as a director of comedy film, the majority of which were box-office hits in France. He was one of France's most commercially successful directors between the 1970s and the 1990s. In 1985, he won the César Award for Best Director for his film My New Partner ( Les Ripoux).
In 1970, Zidi worked as a cameraman on La Grande Java, the first film starring the comedy team Les Charlots (known in the English-speaking world as The Crazy Boys). He befriended the group of actors, to whom he submitted a synopsis for what would become their next film, Les Bidasses en folie (1971). Les Charlots specifically requested that Zidi be the director of that picture. Les Bidasses en folie was an immense and unexpected box-office success, turning Les Charlots into France's new comedy stars. Zidi directed three more films with Les Charlots, produced by Christian Fechner and Claude Berri, which were also commercial hits: Stadium Nuts (1972), Le Grand Bazar (1973) and Les Bidasses s'en vont en guerre (1974), the latter being a sequel to their first film together.
Now known as a specialist of mainstream burlesque comedies, Zidi continued his association with Fechner by directing Pierre Richard, also at the time one of France's new comedy stars, in La Moutarde me monte au nez ( Lucky Pierre, 1974) and La Course à l'échalote (1975). Both films paired Richard with Jane Birkin. Zidi next directed Louis de Funès and Coluche in L'Aile ou la cuisse ( The Wing or the Thigh, 1976) which was a great box-office success and came to be regarded as a comedy classic in France. The next year, Zidi directed L'Animal, starring Jean-Paul Belmondo and Raquel Welch; in 1978, he directed Louis de Funès again in La Zizanie. While most of Zidi's films were very successful at the box-office, they were generally dismissed at the time by French critics.
Zidi's next box-office hits, both released in 1980, were The Under-Gifted, which was Daniel Auteuil's film breakthrough, and Inspecteur la Bavure ( Inspector Blunder) starring Coluche and Gérard Depardieu. These were followed by Les Sous-doués en vacances (1982), a sequel to his 1980 film, and Banzaï (1983), again with Coluche.
In 1984, Zidi directed Les Ripoux ( My New Partner) starring Philippe Noiret and Thierry Lhermitte, a cynical, less burlesque, comedy about police corruption which was a major box-office hit. For that film, he won the César Award for Best Director, and was also nominated for Best Original Screenplay.
In 1987, Zidi directed Association de malfaiteurs ( Association of Wrongdoers) a comedy with social undertones, which was commercially successful and also enjoyed a good critical reception. In 1989, he essayed drama with Deux, a romance film starring Gérard Depardieu and Maruschka Detmers, which was a box-office failure. He then returned to comedy with Ripoux contre ripoux (1989), a sequel to My New Partner, and La Totale! (1991), an action comedy which was later remade in Hollywood as James Cameron's True Lies.
In 1993, the crime film Profil bas, starring popular singer Patrick Bruel, was a box-office disappointment. This was followed by another failure, the comedy Arlette starring Josiane Balasko and Christopher Lambert (1997). Zidi returned to success in 1999 by directing the first live action Asterix film, Asterix and Obelix vs. Caesar.
In 2000, Zidi, and James Cameron with him, were sued by screenwriter Lucien Lambert, who claimed that La Totale ! (and consequently True Lies) had been plagiarized from one of his own unproduced screenplays. The court ruled in Zidi and Cameron's favor in 2001, but the Court of Appeal of Paris reversed the ruling in favor of Lambert three years later. Zidi was ordered to pay Lambert US$15 million (his profit percentage for the box office receipts of True Lies), while Cameron was found not liable for damages.
Zidi's next directed La Boîte (2001) and Ripoux 3 (2003), a new sequel to My New Partner with Noiret and Lhermitte again reprising their roles. His last work as a director was a 2011 television film co-directed with his son Julien, which was pitched as a television pilot for a series based on My New Partner. The pilot was broadcast on TF1, but was not picked up for a series. Zidi then decided to Retirement, citing the lack of success of his later films, the evolution of the French film industry, and the personal stress he had experienced due to the La Totale ! plagiarism lawsuit.
| Featuring Les Charlots |
| Featuring Les Charlots |
| Featuring Les Charlots |
| Featuring Les Charlots |
| César Award for Best Film César Award for Best Director |
| Remade as True Lies |
| TV movie, co-director with Julien Zidi |
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