{"id":411238,"date":"2025-09-09T19:41:12","date_gmt":"2025-09-09T19:41:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/411238\/"},"modified":"2025-09-09T19:41:12","modified_gmt":"2025-09-09T19:41:12","slug":"daryl-dixon-shot-for-160-days-in-france","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/411238\/","title":{"rendered":"Daryl Dixon’ Shot for 160 Days in France"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tAfter 11 seasons, AMC took its flagship show \u201cThe Walking Dead\u201d to France for a spinoff, \u201cDaryl Dixon,\u201d and spent 160 days filming season 1 and 2 across the country, from Mont-Saint-Michel to the Louvre museum, shepherded by a pair of line producers, Raphael Benoliel<\/a> (\u201cEmily in Paris,\u201d\u201dThe Killer\u201d) and Augustin de Belloy<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n\tSpeaking on a panel at the Deauville American Film Festival\u2019s Industry Encounters event, Benoliel and de Belloy shared anecdotes about the shoot which marked AMC\u2019s first time filming an entire series in Europe.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe U.S. network, which launched season 3 of \u201cThe Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon<\/a>\u201d on Monday and is prepping season 4, was initially thinking of coming to France to shoot a few exteriors. <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201c\u2018The Walking Dead\u2019 is really a tentpole in the U.S., so AMC wanted to keep that momentum and elevate the show, give a new impulse to the franchise, so one day, an AMC exec thought, \u2018How about Darryl Dixon under the Eiffel Tower?\u2019 joked de Belloy. <\/p>\n

\n\tThe line producer, whose banner Left & Right handles physical production and VFX, said AMC knew from the get-go that they \u201cwanted the story to be set in France, but they didn\u2019t know whether or not they would shoot it in France.\u201d They considered other options, including Ireland, but Benoliel and de Bellow managed to demonstrate to them that \u201cartistically and financially, it made a lot of sense to stay in France, and even shoot the rest of the world here.\u201d Indeed, an episode in season 2 takes place in Maine and Greenland, but it all filmed outside of Paris and in the Alps, respectively. <\/p>\n

\n\tDe Belloy pointed to recent examples of movies that filmed in France even though they\u2019re set elsewhere, such as \u201cEmilia Perez,\u201d \u201cThe Substance\u201d (taking place in Mexico and Los Angeles, respectively) and Natalie Portman\u2019s next film \u201cThe Gallerist\u201d (also starring Jenna Ortega) whose story takes place in Miami. <\/p>\n

\n\tOn top of the strong tax incentive which is a 40% rebate (30% and an additional 10% for movies with VFX), France is a hot destination thanks to its landmarks, including the Louvre museum where \u201cThe Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon\u201d also shot. \u201cI took them to a tour at the Louvre and their first reaction was, \u2018No way, we can\u2019t do one of the scenes with zombies in the Louvre in front of the Mona Lisa!\u2019 And I said, \u2018Yes, it\u2019s technically doable.\u2019 And they were amazed and we did it,\u201d said Benoliel, who recently wrapped filming season 5 of \u201cEmily in Paris\u201d in France and Italy as executive and line producer. He pointed out one of the key things when reserving these iconic sites is planning, rather than the cost (which can be roughly \u20ac20,000 without security expenses). The Louvre, like Versailles, is booked up for a year at any time so it has to be reserved way in advance, he said.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe bulk of \u201cWalking Dead: Daryl Dixon\u201d shot on exteriors, and the remainder in studios, mostly at the Studios de Paris, where the crew reimagined places like the Moulin Rouge cabaret.<\/p>\n

\n\tWhile AMC then took the series to Spain for season 3 and 4, the show has kept some of the key crew, including the stunt coordinator, from France, and are still working with Benoliel and de Belloy on the post-production and VFX. As such, the production is still able to continue benefitting from the 40% French tax rebate.<\/p>\n

\n\tDe Belloy and Benoliel put together a crew that was \u201c99% French\u201d in order to \u201cmaximize the tax rebate\u201d for AMC. \u201cWe had about 10 people coming from U.S., so the executive producers, the showrunner, David Zabel, the directors and Greg Nicotero (the award-winning makeup effects artist) who brought a few people with him, but the rest was French, and the Americans really enjoyed the experience of working with French cinematographers, production designers, costume designers, etc.,\u201d Benoliel said, noting that Nicotero also had some fun working with the local make-up effects artists. <\/p>\n

\n\tAlongside casting, which was done by veteran casting director Juliette Menager (\u201cEmily in Paris,\u201d \u201cFranklin\u201d), there was also a \u201czombie school\u201d on set which Nicotero launched and spearheaded.<\/p>\n

\n\tNicotero\u2019s \u201cmethod to find the \u2018hero zombies,’\u201d de Belloy said, was to bring together \u201ceight people (dancers or contortionists) and train them for two days on how to move, behave, wear the makeup, and do some tests with them.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n\tZombies were hired under a two-year long contract with different status. De Belloy explained there three different types of zombies for the show \u2014 \u201cThe hero zombies who spend two hours on the makeup chair every day, then the second layer which require half-an-hour to an hour of makeup, and the third layer, which is just wearing a mask.\u201d In total, about \u201c80 different zombies\u201d worked on the two seasons that filmed in France.<\/p>\n

\n\tBut the French zombies didn\u2019t make it to season 3, as Nicoreto launched a second zombie school in Spain. \u201cIt\u2019s full of Spanish zombies now!\u201d quips Benoliel. <\/p>\n

\n\tThe exec producer, who is also actively lobbying to strengthen the tax rebate to take into account above-the-line expenses, said the country can currently accommodate up to five major productions simultaneously.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cAt some point, we had \u2018The New Look,\u2019 and I was shooting \u2018Emily,\u2019 \u2018The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon\u2019 and \u2018Etoile\u2019 at the same time, and I think we could have a fifth one and still have access to an A-list crew,\u201d Benoliel said.<\/p>\n

\n\tFrance doesn\u2019t have Pinewood or Babelsberg, but it\u2019s bound to expand its offer in the next few years. Over 50 sound stages are being built at the moment as part of a $110 million\u00a0investment plan from the French government to beef up production infrastructure. One of the new backlots,\u00a0TSF<\/a>\u00a0Studios\u00a0Paris, spreads out over\u00a0120 acres and reproduces the streets of Paris. In Northern France, meanwhile, an 119-acre former air field has been acquired by French billionaire and Mediawan co-founder Xavier Niel through his holding and is being transformed into massive film studio.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Deauville\u2019s Industry Encounters event, which was organized by the festival\u2019s new head Aude Hesbert with the backing of the National Film Board (CNC), also included panels with the executive producer and VFX supervisor of Coralie Fargeat\u2019s Oscar-winning \u201cThe Substance,\u201d and the intimacy coordinator Katherine O\u2019Keefe, as well as the casting directors Antonia Dauphin and Nicolas Derouet, alongside a keynote from Joshua Astrachan, the producer of Jim Jarmusch\u2019s \u201cFather Mother Sister Brother\u201d which partly filmed in France and won Venice\u2019s Golden Lion. <\/p>\n

\n\tThe industry event also had a political dimension through the presence of Florence Portelli, who is the vice president for culture in the Paris region. Portelli made a fiery speech highlighting the importance of international shoots for the region which she argues is Europe\u2019s \u201cnumber one hub\u201d for film creation and production, \u201cin terms of days of shooting,\u201d and \u201cfinancial support to filmmakers with a budget of \u20ac24 million per year.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tPortelli also flagged the \u201cchallenging context\u201d in the U.S. due to \u201chigh cost of production, the impact of the 2023 strikes, and now the pressure of tariffs\u201d that she says \u201care pushing more and more American productions to seek opportunities abroad.\u201d \u201cEurope \u2014 and especially Paris Region \u2014 offers a very strong alternative,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\n\tBesides \u201cThe Gallerist\u201d with Portman, another upcoming U.S. movie that shot in France is \u201cThe Amateur\u201d starring Rami Malek.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After 11 seasons, AMC took its flagship show \u201cThe Walking Dead\u201d to France for a spinoff, \u201cDaryl Dixon,\u201d…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":411239,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5309],"tags":[141416,2000,299,36,141417,67411],"class_list":{"0":"post-411238","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-france","8":"tag-augustin-de-belloy","9":"tag-eu","10":"tag-europe","11":"tag-france","12":"tag-raphael-benoliel","13":"tag-the-walking-dead-daryl-dixon"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115176045785656005","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/411238","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=411238"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/411238\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/411239"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=411238"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=411238"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=411238"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}