French director Pascal Chaumeil died in Paris on Thursday. The filmmaker, who had been suffering from cancer, was 54.
Chaumeil is perhaps best known to British audiences for his French-language romantic-comedy Heartbreaker, a huge hit in France, and more recently a Hollywood debut in A Long Way Down. In the former, he gave Romain Duris and Vanessa Paradis a Mediterranean-side stage to flaunt their comedy chops, chemistry and Dirty Dancing skills; while the latter offered a first taste of directing in English. That Nick Hornby adaptation combined Pierce Brosnan, Toni Collette, Imogen Poots and Aaron Paul as four suicidal strangers.
Chaumeil’s long-standing passion for filmmaking was sharpened on the sets of Régis Wargnier - I'm The King Of The Castle in 1989 - and Luc Besson. He worked as assistant director on Léon before being promoted to second unit director on The Fifth Element.
From there, he secured directorial gigs working on the early episodes of acclaimed French crime series Spiral and legal drama Avocats & Associés. Ultimately, it was Heartbreaker (2010) that provided his greatest success, landing five Caesar awards and huge box-office receipts.
The director recently completed post-production on his final film, Romain Duris drama A Little Job, which is scheduled for release in France in the new year.
He is survived by his wife, Camille Chaumeil. “He really lived for cinema,” she told Agence France-Presse. "He dreamt of being a director from the age of 15.”