It is the effervescence in the commune of Meymac, in Corrèze. For five weeks, the small town of 2,500 souls is transformed into a film set for the filming of the feature film For honor. A film by Phillippe Guillard starring Olivier Marchal and Olivia Bonamy.
When a film crew arrives in a village in the middle of the summer season, it’s the attraction of the holidays. Throughout the filming, on the Place de Meymac reigns an unusual agitation. “I think this is good. It brings a little life and then it changes a little”, rejoices a resident.
The shooting mobilized all of Meymac. The production recruited a dozen extras there. For everyone, it’s a first on a movie set. “We don’t have films being shot every day in Meymac. So we said to ourselves that this was the occasion. I applied and I was hired for two days“, smiles a figure. After Meymac, the entire film crew will be filming in Brive for three weeks.
Corrèze and rugby, a long love story that Philippe Guillard, himself a former rugby player, wanted to place at the center of his new film.
For honor tells the story of a small Limousin village that welcomes refugees and integrates them through rugby. We find there the values of collective sport, the competition between the clubs but also the mutual aid of the villagers, and finally the beauty of Meymac. “Here all the artistic axes are beautiful, whatever. Whether it’s the hall, the church, the street that goes up, the steeples. All of this really tells what I want to show. We are really in a typical village. It shows that ‘we are really in the middle of France.”
After several years in the middle of the oval and some participation in TV shows, it is now behind the camera that Philippe Guillard officiates. Film author Jo’s son in 2011, he also directed comedies. Grandpa Sitter in 2020 with Gérard Lanvin and Olivier Marchal, and I love what you do which was released in the spring of 2022. The film For honor is expected to hit theaters around March 2023.