Shunned by French studios, ‘Amèlie’ director clinches Netflix deal

He made perhaps the most famous French film of the century so far with Amèlie, and now Jean-Pierre Jeunet says he’ll make his new movie with Netflix after failing to find a traditional backer.

The US streaming giant has found great success in poaching directors who increasingly struggle to get funding elsewhere, including Martin Scorsese (The Irishman), Alfonso Cuaron (Roma) and Jane Campion (The Power of the Dog).

Jeunet was similarly strained to find studio support for his movie, BigBug, a dystopian comedy set during a war between humans and robots that premiers on Netflix on Friday.

“Almost no one wanted my new film in France. I came close to a full-blown depression,” Jeunet told AFP.

“I heard the same words, the same phrases as I did for Delicatessen (his 1991 debut) and Amèlie: it’s too weird, too detached and therefore too risky.”

Jean-Pierre Jeunet, poses behind a poster for his movie ‘Amèlie’ in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, 22 March 2002. Photo: Erlend Aas/NTB Scanpix/AFP

Netflix, however, called at just the right time. 

“They said yes to the project in 24 hours,” Jeunet said.

The streaming platform has faced some of its biggest obstacles in France, a country with strict...