Getty Images
Film industry observers have been captivated in recent weeks by the ongoing negotiations surrounding Nancy Meyers’ upcoming romantic comedy “Paris Paramount.” The film, which is set to star Scarlett Johansson, Penelope Cruz, Owen Wilson and Michael Fassbender, was originally set up at Netflix with a reported budget of $130 million. But disagreements over the film’s final budget (Meyers and her team were reportedly seeking an additional $20 million) eventually led Netflix to scrap the project.
Now “Paris Paramount” is being shopped to other studios, with Warner Bros. supposedly in the mix. And if nothing else, the negotiations have attracted plenty of extra attention for the film. Meyers has been a reliable hitmaker for decades, directing slick romantic comedies like “What Women Want,” “It’s Complicated” and “Something’s Gotta Give.” But if “Paris Paramount” is ever completed, it will likely be her highest-profile project for quite some time.
Meyers took to his personal Instagram account Saturday afternoon to give fans a vague update on the film. While the question of where (if anywhere) the film will ultimately land and what budget it will receive is still up in the air, questions about the film’s title can be easily settled.
Meyers explained that the working title is part of a quote from legendary romantic comedy director Ernst Lubitsch (of “The Shop Around the Corner” fame), who famously said that “I’ve been to Paris, France and I’ve been to Paris, Paramount and frankly I prefer Paris, Paramount.” Given that the film supposedly tells the story of a love affair between two movie stars, the quote about the romance that can be found in a Hollywood movie is an apt choice.
“A lot has been written about my new film,” Meyers wrote in the post’s caption. “Here’s one thing I can easily figure out – and that’s the title – ‘Paris Paramount’. It’s from a quote by the brilliant and elegant comedy director (dare I say the creator of the romantic comedy) Ernst Lubitsch. The film is about a group of people making a movie and the magic and mystery of what we do. As always, Lubitsch said it best.”