Changes: Asterix & Obelix: Mission Cleopatra

Revision as of 17:14, 28 July 2019

Asterix & Obelix: Mission Cleopatra, (Astérix & Obélix: Mission Cléopâtre), is a 2002 French film based on the comic book Astérix et Cléopatre by René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo. It was the most expensive French movie at that time.

The film was directed by Alain Chabat and starred Gerard Depardieu, Christian Clavier and Monica Bellucci. It sold 14,557,020 tickets in France.

Plot

The Egyptian queen Cleopatra (Monica Bellucci) bets against the Roman Emperor Julius Caesar (Alain Chabat) that her people are still great, even if the times of the Pharaohs have long passed. She vows (against all logic) to build a new palace for Caesar within three months. Since all her architects are either busy otherwise or too conservative in style, this ambiguous honour falls to an architect named Edifis/Numerobis (Jamel Debbouze).

Edifis is to build the palace and be covered in gold or, if not, his fate is to be eaten by crocodiles. Edifis calls upon an old friend to help him out: the fabulous Druid Getafix/Panoramix (Claude Rich) from Gaul, who brews a fantastic potion that gives the drinker supernatural strength. In order to help and protect the old Druid, Asterix (Christian Clavier) and Obelix (Gérard Depardieu) accompany him on his journey to Egypt. Asterix falls in love with an Egyptian woman named Guimieukis (Noémie Lenoir).

Edifis/Numerobis's rival architect Artifis/Amonbofis (Gérard Darmon) tries to incite a rebellion among Edifis's workers. Getafix brews some potion and construction resumes. When Julius Caesar gets wind of the project succeeding, he has the building site attacked by his troops in order to win the bet and not lose face. But just like the local pirates, he hasn't counted on Asterix and Obelix.

The movie relies on layers of cultural jokes, many of them from the original graphic novels by René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo; more were added by the screenwriters, including many references to current popular culture: Caesar's military commander, Caius Céplus, is named for the abbreviation of production company Canal+ (and is spelt "Caius C+" in the English subtitles), and parodies Darth Vader. Some jokes require a knowledge of French society, habits, etc. while others make use of the historical setting for humorous effect: Cleopatra asks her court painter (played by Claude Berri, the film's producer and a renowned contemporary art collector) to paint her "not in profile, for once" (taking a Mona Lisa pose) and he demurs, saying he's not into "modern art."

Dubbed English version

Miramax Films re-edited the film, cutting approximately 21 minutes and dubbing the movie into English using an American cast. The English script added many new jokes for the American audience, including more references to modern popular culture (Edifis continually calls Getafix a "droid", for example ; this pun was already hinted in the french version though, the actor playing Edifis being of north-african ascendance pushing on his distinctive accent to create a subtle confusion between "droid" and "druid"), and some changes in characterisation, most notably Obelix who appears far less stupid than usual. The dubbed dialogue uses some of the original English names, but the rest are either reused from the American English translation of the original album, or newly invented names. This is most notable among minor characters; the pirate crew, for example, are referred to by the names of famous rock and roll musicians (including John, Paul, George and Ringo) just before a cry of "let's rock and roll!"

The English language subtitles for other markets are a straight translation of the French dialogue, with only the names changed to match the original English translation of the album. The version released on DVD in the Australia by Madman Entertainment contains two discs, one the original French version (with multiple language subtitles) and the other the Miramax edit.

Cast

Character	Actor name
Asterix	Christian Clavier
Obelix	Gérard Depardieu
Numerobis / Edifis	Jamel Debbouze
Otis	Édouard Baer
Cleopatra	Monica Bellucci
Julius Caesar	Alain Chabat
Getafix	Claude Rich
Amonbofis / Criminalis	Gérard Darmon
Itinéris (Vodafonis)	Isabelle Nanty
Cartapus	Chantal Lauby
Sucettalanis	Marina Foïs
Caius Céplus	Dieudonné
Caius Antivirus	Jean-Paul Rouve
Redbeard	Bernard Farcy
Chamandra	Noémie Lenoir
The taster	Dominique Besnehard
Caesar's secretary	Emma de Caunes
The tiler	Zinedine Soualem
Narrator	Pierre Tchernia

Voice cast

Character	English cast
Asterix	David Coburn
Obelix	Dominic Fumusa
Edifis	Yul Vazquez
Cleopatra	Diane Neal
Julius Caesar	T. Scott Cunningham
Getafix	Philip Proctor
Amonbofis	Tom Weiner
Narrator	Erik Bergmann

Uncredited

Additional Voices - Matt Adler
Hutchus, "Superpower" Soldier #2, Flying thru Intersection Soldier - Stephen Apostolina
Additional Voices - Kirk Baily
Starskyus, "Superpower" Soldier #1 - Steve Blum
Documentary Narrator, Catapult Commander, Slave Driver with Horn - Steve Bulen
Additional Voices - Steve Cassling
Banquet Doorman - David Coburn
Otis, Nazi Commandant, Old Hayseed - David Cowgill
Roman on Horseback - Dan Edelstein
Additional Voices - Elisa Gabrielli
Young Hayseed, Cat - Jason Harris
Handmaiden - Bridget Hoffman
Caius Lucius, "My Bad" Soldier - Tom Kenny
Additional Voices - Steve Kramer
Additional Voices - Matthew Labyorteaux
Jailer, Gluteus Maximus, Gaul Forest Centurion - Lex Lang
Cellularservis - Mary Elizabeth McGlynn
Tiler - Sean McPhillips
Kittypus - Edie Mirman
Additional Voices - Jonathan Nichols
Gimmeakis - Peggy O'Neal
Additional Voices - Paul Pape
Peg Leg - Philip Proctor
Roman Drill Instructor, Crow's Nest Lookout, Sculptor - Stuart Robinson
Bloody Beard's Daughter - Lia Sargent
Cleopatra's Portraitist, Bribed Boatman - Michael Sorich
Crustaceous - Barry Stigler

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
+{{Film|image = Cleopatre-400x571.jpg|director = Alain Chabat|producer = Claude Berri|writer = Alain Chabat|based_on = [[Asterix and Cleopatra]]|starring = Gérard Depardieu
-'''''Asterix & Obelix: Mission Cleopatra''''', ('''''Astérix & Obélix: Mission Cléopâtre''')'', is a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2002_in_film 2002] French film based on the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comic_book comic book] ''[[Asterix and Cleopatra|Astérix et Cléopatre]]'' by [[René Goscinny]] and [[Albert Uderzo]]. It was the most expensive French movie at that time.
+Christian Clavier
+Jamel Debbouze
+Alain Chabat
+Monica Bellucci
+Claude Rich
+Gérard Darmon|music = Philippe Chany|cinematography = Laurent Dailland|editing = Stéphane Pereira|distributor = Pathé Distribution|release = 30 January 2002|runtime = 107 minutes|country = France
+Italy|language = French|budget = $58.5 million|gross = $111.1 million}}'''''Asterix & Obelix: Mission Cleopatra''''', ('''''Astérix & Obélix: Mission Cléopâtre''')'', is a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2002_in_film 2002] French film based on the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comic_book comic book] ''[[Asterix and Cleopatra|Astérix et Cléopatre]]'' by [[René Goscinny]] and [[Albert Uderzo]]. It was the most expensive French movie at that time.
 The film was directed by [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alain_Chabat Alain Chabat] and starred [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerard_Depardieu Gerard Depardieu], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_Clavier Christian Clavier] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monica_Bellucci Monica Bellucci]. It sold 14,557,020 tickets in France.