Oscar-Winning Director Costa-Gavras Teams With Playtime for ‘Last Breath’ Starring Denis Podalydès, Charlotte Rampling; First Still Unveiled (EXCLUSIVE)

Costa-Gavras, the celebrated Franco-Greek master who’s won an Oscar and a Palme d’Or, has teamed with French sales company Playtime for his latest film, “Last Breath.”

Currently in post-production, “Last Breath” boasts a strong international cast led by Denis Podalydès (“Deception”) and Kad Merad (“Welcome to the Sticks”), who star alongside Marilyne Canto (“The Starry Sky Above Me”), Charlotte Rampling (“Dune”), Ángela Molina (“Broken Embraces”), Karin Viard (“Strangers by Night”), Hiam Abbass (“Succession”) and Agathe Bonitzer (“Maria Montessori”).

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Costa-Gavras penned the film, based on the book “Le Dernier Souffle” by Régis Debray and Claude Grange. A Cannes regular, Costa-Gavras won the Palme d’Or for “Missing” in 1982, served on the jury in 1976 and won the Jury Prize with his political thriller “Z” which went on to win an Oscar. He has also been feted as guest of honor at Cannes Classics, the selection dedicated to heritage films.

“We are extremely proud to work with the world-acclaimed, Oscar-winning director, Costa-Gavras. When reading the script, we were all deeply moved by the story: a famous writer investigating the world of palliative care,” said Sébastien Beffa co-CEO of Playtime and the head of acquisitions.

“Costa deals with a serious subject – how we care for our dying ones – but with such freshness, candour, and sheer intelligence, that one is engulfed in the story from page one. Costa-Gavras brings us on a journey to the very heart of life,” Gavras continued.

“Last Breath” is currently in post-production and will be distributed in France by Bac Films, whose recent
releases include “Hopeless,” “The Zone of Interest,” “Junkyard Dog” and “Club Zero.”

Costa-Gavras is also editing the film. His crew includes the cinematographer Nathalie Durand, production designer Catherine Werner Schmit and composer Armand Amar. KG Productions’s Michèle Ray, Gavras and Alexandre Gavras are producing the film.

Playtime is now part of pan-European banner Vuelta Group, alongside German distributor-producer SquareOne Entertainment, Scanbox in Scandinavia, Indiana Productions in Italy, and Pan in France, as well as German company Telepool, which was just acquired from Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith’s Westbrook.

Here’s a first still of the film:

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