Vive Veber: The Anonymous Success

Except for the most scholarly enophile, most wine connoisseurs are unaware it was American grapes that saved their French cousins from extinction in the 19th century. In the 1860's, Phylloxera, a root-devouring insect, invaded the vineyards and chateaux of France. From Alsace to Beaujolais, Bergerac to Bordeaux, 90 percent of France's signature export fell victim to this virulent pest. Since Phylloxera only attacked the root and not the fruit, horticulturist T.V. Munson introduced Vitis vinifera, a California grape with a built-in resistance to the caustic bug. The Franco population, however, were accustomed to its native fruit and were not so fond of the flavor this new California-bred Vitis offered. So Munson simply grafted the regional French wine grapes onto the roots of the California vinifera version and saved France's vineyards with a new hybrid grape genus that has not only survived but thrived.

That same marriage of Franco-American synergy serves as an appropriate analogy to the flourishing career and films of France's resident comedic genius, filmmaker/auteur Francis Veber, who has produced the most successful crossbreeding of American and French cinema in history.

Although casual American movie-goers might not initially recognize his name, they most likely have viewed and laughed at more than a few Veber films. If imitation remains the sincerest form of flattery, then the modest, self-effacing Veber must be blushing a shade of Bordeaux claret. With nearly forty French-language films already tucked neatly under his belt, the reigning maestro of cinematic Gallic farce is currently having his eleventh comedy, La Doublure revamped into an American version, entitled The Valet by the kings of gross-out humor, the Farrely Brothers. Now, with Sacha Baron Cohen ("Borat"), currently vying for the rights to re-make Veber's 1998 acerbic cult comedy Le Diner de cons(The Dinner Game), Mr. Veber will have an even dozen of his French films remade here in the States, an achievement unparalleled in film history.

This affable French expatriate was once quoted as saying, "Je ne vis pas en Amérique, je vis à Hollywood" ("I don't live in America, I live in Hollywood"). He has become the antithesis of Munson's grape hybrid of 140 years ago; M. Veber has successfully grafted the roots of his Gallic wit onto Hollywood comedic taste.

Born in Neuilly-sur-Seine in 1937, the multi-talented writer/director/producer was raised in a family of talented writers that included his father, grandfather, two uncles and, most impressively, his mother, author of more than forty books and two plays. Veber's two sons are currently following in the family tradition. 

Although young Francis began his studies in medicine at university, his stint in the French army led him to his true calling when he began writing for BLED, a publication of the Algerian army. Upon his discharge, Veber hit the ground writing, spending three years as a reporter with Radio Luxembourg in Paris.

He promptly turned his versatile pen to the stage, and in 1968 his first play, L'Enlèvement (The Kidnapping), enjoyed a successful eight-month run at the Theatre Edward VIII in Paris. He then made a seamless transition to television, where he worked on 30 episodes of the hit 1969 comedy "Agence Interim," starring Pierre Vernier and Daniel Ceccaldi. The prodigious scribe-turned-dramatist next set his sights on film, breaking into the industry with Applelez-moi Mathilde (Call me Mathilde), a generic 1970 crime flick. Although it wasn't a grand success, it would take Veber only two years to find his niche and harness his potential. He penned the mistaken-identity farce Le Grand blond avec une chassure noire (The Tall Blonde Man with One Black Shoe), which was a tremendous hit in France and set the foundation for the Veber "formula," a trademark that would produce some of the biggest hits in French cinematic history.

Combining elements of absurdist existentialism with slapstick, sight gags and a touch of Jerry Lewis, his patented formula thrusts his bumbling but ultimately endearing hero into classically Veberian narrative devices and bizarre mayhem - including mistaken identities, farcical situations, dubious double-crosses, wildly mismatched duos and improbable plot twists - to create lighthearted escapist popcorn entertainment that transcends cultural differences with broad international appeal. It was just that broad, universal appeal that led Hollywood, with its insatiable appetite for unspoiled talent, novel ideas and fresh scripts, to Veber's front door. So, in 1981, the Francis Veber script L' Emmerdeur metamorphosed into what would become legendary director Billy Wilder's swan song, Buddy, Buddy. Other offers followed, as Veber scripts began to challenge wine as France's number one export. The French root had begun producing American cinematic fruit.

The List:

• The Tall Blond Man with One Black Shoe (Writer, 1971), with Pierre Richard, became The Man with One Red Shoe (1985), with Tom Hanks.
  
  
• Le Jouet (Writer-Director, 1976), with Pierre Richard, became The Toy (1982), with Richard Pryor and Jackie Gleason.
  
  
• La Chèvre (Writer-Director, 1981), with Pierre Richard and Gerard Depardieu, became Pure Luck (Writer-Director, 1991), with Martin Short and Danny Glover.
  
  
• La Cage au folles (Writer, 1978) became The Birdcage (1996), with Robin Williams, Gene Hackman and Nathan Lane.
  
  
• Les Fugitifs (Writer-Director, 1986), with Pierre Richard and Gerard Depardieu, became Three Fugitives (Writer-Director, 1989), with Nick Nolte and Martin Short.
  
  
• L'emmerdeaux (Writer, 1973), with Lino Ventura and Jacques Brel, became Billy Wilder's last film, Buddy, Buddy (1981), with yet another teaming of Walter Matthau and Jack Lemmon.
  
  
• Hold-Up (Writer, 1985), with Jean-Paul Belmondo (shot in French-speaking Canada), became Quick Change (1990), with Bill Murray.
  
  
• Les Compères (1983), with Pierre Richard and Gerard Depardieu, became Father's Day (1997), with Robin Williams and Billy Crystal.
  
  
• Mon père, ce héros (1991), with Gerard Depardieu, became My Father, The Hero (1994), with Gerard Depardieu reprising and Lauren Hutton.
  
  
• Out on a Limb (Director, 1992), with Mathew Broderick, John C. Reily and Jeffery Jones.

Even more amazing: While Veber has had ten films remade here in the States and has two more on the way, France's most prolific and successful director/writers, Francois Truffaut and Jean-Luc Godard, have had only one or two of their films make the transition to a Hollywood version. To add even more perspective to Veber's accomplishments: American screen giants, Terrence Mallick and Quentin Tarrintino, two of the biggest names in contemporary Hollywood, have each written fewer than the twelve scripts Veber has imported. Veber's record is, indeed, stunning.

Part of Francis Veber's success in France is owed to his wise and loyal casting decisions. Pierre Richard, Gerard Depardieu and Jean Reno have all enjoyed multiple roles in his films, while Depardieu and Reno have followed their director across the Atlantic and have flourished here in the States.

In addition, the stable of American A-list comedic actors who've appeared in Veber films - Bill Murray, Richard Pryor, Walter Matthau, Jack Lemmon, Nick Nolte, Martin Short, Robin Williams, Jackie Gleason, Gene Hackman, Nathan Lane, Tom Hanks, Dianne Weist, Danny Glover, Mel Gibson (in a cameo), Lauren Hutton, Matthew Broderick, John C. Reilly and many more - is strking, to say the least.

If this filmography isn't impressive enough, consider that The Birdcage, (now a Broadway show and Veber's biggest box office success to date), has earned more than $200 million in ticket sales and home rentals. When one considers that his aggregate cimematic resume has grossed nearly a billion dollars, one wonders why he has not received the recognition he so rightly to deserve.