OSS 117 IS BACK!

Here's another one I missed that Kees alerted me to (and the Eurospy Forum is abuzz about)... and man is it good! I've previously reported that there's a sequel on the way to what might very well be the best spy spoof of all time, OSS 117: Cairo Nest of Spies. (If you still haven't seen the original despite all the hype I lauded it with here, then do yourself a favor and go rent it right now. Or better still, just buy it already!) What I didn't realize was that the website for that sequel is already live... and the movie comes out in France this April!

Jean Dujardin returns as the titular French agent, OSS 117, and Michel Hazanavicius is back in the director's chair. Louise Monot (who turns 27 today) is the new "OSS Girl." The title is OSS 117: Rio Ne Repond Plus (roughly "OSS 117: Rio Doesn't Answer" or "Rio No Longer Answers," a fantastic Eurospy title that also conjures the opening moments of Dr. No!). And this time, it's set in the Sixties! (The first film took place in the late Fifties.) 1967, to be exact. As the tagline says, the world has changed... but not OSS 117! Browse through stills from the forthcoming film (in the section "OSS 117 Vous Ecrit de Rio") and you'll get a taste of what we can expect: Dujardin stakes his staid chauvinism up against a liberated, Swinging Sixties chick, Dujardin looks perplexed and out of his element amongst hippies, and Dujardin gives Daniel Craig a run for his money in the swim trunks sweepstakes... in Christmas-colored briefs! The stills alone convey loving homages not only to the original (serious) OSS 117 films, but also (obviously) the James Bond films of the era, The Avengers and The Pink Panther. The Rio location is an ideal Eurospy travel destination, recalling classics of the genre like Kiss the Girls and Make Them Die, Dick Smart 2.007 and That Man From Rio. You can even watch the trailer! (In the "Videos" section, naturally.) It's in French, I'm afraid, but it's easy to get the gist of what's happening... and it looks really good.
OSS 117: Rio ne repond plus hits French cinemas April 15. Unsurprisingly, there's no word yet on release dates in other countries. (Consider that it took the first film two years to hit American screens.) Rest assured, though, that I'll keep you updated as any such news becomes available. This is now my most anticipated film of the coming year, hands down.