A little something more dissected: Handisport, “competition” from Kaamelott, international release, remakes…

The producers of Artus' film tell the story of its creation and success, seen from the inside.

The success ofA little something extra is also observed internationally, reveals Variety in a long paper looking back on the success of the filmArtus, but above all at all stages of its manufacturing and promotion. To dissect this well-thought-out comedy about disability, the American site interviewed Pierre Forette and Thierry Wong, two of the film's producers via the company Cine Nomine. At a time when the feature film has just crossed the 7 million admissions mark in France, here is a best-of of their revelations.

How far will A Little Something Extra go? It is already the 5th biggest French success in 15 years

Trust Artus

The duo says that the comedian presented them with the idea ofA little something extra during the manufacture of If we sanganother comedy by Fabrice Maruca, released in 2021. Artus played an important role and “he came to see us one day on set to tell us that he had this project in mind for which he would have liked to direct, they detail. He was already talking about a comedy with actors with different disabilities. He thought about it after his sketch dedicated to Paralympic athletes, which he presented to the public as part of a standup festival in Montreux.”

Forette then explains that they watched the sketch in question, which they found “very funny and at the same time very direct, we took it right in the face. You know that after this show, Artus was contacted by Handicap International and the organizers of the Paralympic games? He also received tons of messages from people with various disabilities who told him: 'Thank you for treating us like everyone else.' This sketch was understood as a gesture for more inclusiveness.”

Cast the actors before writing the dialogues

Artus surrounded himself with two co-authors for A little something extra, Clément Marchant and Milan Mauger, but he asked them to take a break during the writing, once most of the story was written down, in order to cast his main actors with disabilities. This is how he met Boris Pitoëff, Marie Colin, Sofian Ribes, Théophile Leroy, Mayane Sarah El Baze…

“Artus absolutely wanted to choose personalities, people who were not professional actors but who could inspire him to write dialogues 'real', remembers Forette. We therefore organized an audition lasting three days, in Paris, based on announcements on social networks. We saw people from all over France to find our eleven characters who had to represent a whole range of personalities. Artus was keen to incorporate their own humor into their characters.”

The person concerned, for example, specified that a Dalida fan is one in life, just like the young person who loves dressing up really spends his time changing outfits.

Find the right support

“It's a first film, a pure comedy full of disabled people who are not professional actors… it wasn't so obvious on paper, recognizes Forette. But our television partners, M6 and Canal +, immediately supported us. They shared our enthusiasm for this project. On the other hand, it was more difficult to find a distributor.”

Words which confirm whatArtus confided in Firstjust before the release of A Little Something Plus:

“VSI've been ranting on this subject for a very long time. So when I started to think about a film featuring these somewhat atypical actors, I couldn't see myself giving it to anyone else. In any case, I felt justified in it. And when we embark on a first film, we say to ourselves… that it will perhaps be the last! So I tried to put in everything that suited me and pleased me. And I found it crazy that so few people had wanted to go into this area before because people with disabilities have such an imagination that I knew that what they were going to give me in front of a camera was going to be crazy. .

It was indeed complicated. What surprised me the most was how openly I was told things: that people didn't want to see disabled people in the cinema! These interlocutors did not even try to cover all this behind false excuses. We wanted to finance my first film but not with this population! But it's a blessing in disguise because, in the end, I was able to count on the best possible partners who offered me the means to make this film and who invested fully. Because A little something extra could never have seen the light of day without a united team.”

A little something extra: a hilarious comedy… about disability [critique]

The actor, co-writer and director did not name anyone, nor did his producers say which companies refused to support A little something extra. They only give one example: SND. Usually, this distributor is associated with M6 cinema releases, but “They couldn't take this particular film because they had just committed to Kaamelott.” Alexandre Astier's big-budget feature film, also pre-purchased by M6, was a priority for SND.

The duo then explains that they approached Philippe Godeau, known for having produced and distributed strong films dealing with disability, such as The eighth day (1996) or Almost (2021): “Godeau was interested in our film, but his company was in the process of restructuring (…), he told us that he could not offer us a minimum guarantee.” They still decided to team up, while joining forces with other partners. “It was a long journey, admits Wong. In total, we signed with nine groups to be able to produce the film.” They cite in particular Cineaxe, Entourage, Cinecap, the funds dedicated to cinema from BNP Paribas, Same Player (the company of Vincent Roger which has just produced Under the Seine at Netflix), Echo Studio and Cabo. Wong and Forette also invested their own money to make sure the film was made, says Variety.

Spectacular promo

Once A little something extras filmed, edited and dated May 1, 2024, the Pan Distribution team was able to rely on Artus, who was in the middle of touring his show from January to April. And who spoke about his first achievement during each performance.

“We couldn't have dreamed of a better promotion, Forette greets him. He showed the trailer to all his spectators, every time he went on stage, and he also presented them with a QR Code allowing them to reserve seats for his previews. It went viral instantly. All the sessions we organized before the release ofA little something extra were a hit: we sold more than 27,000 tickets.”

Not to mention that Artus has multiplied the short videos with his entire team, to show the public behind the scenes of this exceptional promo aboard the “tourbus”.

Make you want to come back to the cinema

After its excellent start during the May 1st public holiday, the film was a hit all over France, breaking record after record. It gained audiences as its number of screens increased, systematically crossing the million admissions mark per week for six in a row. Quickly became the biggest success of 2024 in France (in front Dune 2), word of mouth grew, Artus multiplied the television sets and radio stations to defend it, and he was also able to climb the steps in the company of all his actors. After a month, this provincial success rubbed off on Paris and its suburbs, also going to the top of the charts there.

What Forette and Wong are most proud of is thatA little something extra was able to bring back spectators who had not been there for a long time. Among its records, the comedy has also reached pre-Covid scores very high, and it was seen by both young and old people, women and men, families…

“It warmed our hearts to read the opinions of all these people as they left the cinema, who said that they had not been to the theaters for a long time but that this film made them want to come back,” he confided to the American media.

And now, international success?

Just with its French entries, A little something extra records $64 million in revenue. It has been in the top 10 of the biggest hits of the moment for 7 weeks. Faced with the phenomenon, foreign distributors are starting to take an interest in it.

Other Angle takes care of the rightsA Little Something Extra abroad, and they are sold in Belgium (Vertigo), Switzerland (Praesens) and Canada (AZ Films), countries where the film has already been released. Germany (via Square One), Italy (Eagle), Portugal (Films4U) will follow, but also Australia (Moving Story), Israel (Shoval), Russia (Volga)… “Other Angle is currently in advanced discussions with the United States, the United Kingdom, Latin America, Eastern Europe, Japan, Korea, the Middle East and Africa”also specifies Variety.

Other Angle was chosen to manage the film's rights abroad after the successful collaboration around the first film by Clovis Cornillac, one of the main actors ofA little something extra. When he came out A little, a lot, blindlyin 2015, it was already this company that partnered with Cine Nomine, and it was also through this collaboration that the validation two remake projects, in Spain and South Korea. Will deals of this kind be signed aroundA little something extra ? This is what tease Variety in the title of the article, but for the moment, nothing concrete has been signed.

Let us remember, however, that in France, the next success that Artus' comedy must beat at the box office is The Aries Family, which attracted 7.4 million spectators in theaters ten years ago. After this nice hit, Eric Lartigau's film, also dealing with disability, was the subject ofan American remake, Codawhich won the Academy Award for Best Picture in 2022.

The steps of the Cannes Film Festival will have a little something extra in 2025