Towards the end of filming, Mathieu Amalric was directing this film during the day and acting in Sink or Swim (2018) at night, leaving him dangerously exhausted.
Mathieu Amalric became involved in the project in 2007 when, at a dinner with his friends Renaud Legrand and Pierre Léon, the two tell him that they spent years developing a biopic of Barbara starring his ex-partner Jeanne Balibar, also present at the dinner, but were never able to secure the necessary funding and were thus giving up, but wished he would take on the project. Amalric privately found the idea ridiculous, as he knew nothing of Barbara, but didn't want to offend his friends so didn't say so.
The more he thought about the idea, the more he thought making a biopic on Barbara was doomed to failure, and set out to prove it by getting together with Philippe Di Folco to research the singer's life in obsessive detail. Around the same time, producer Patrick Godeau got in touch with Balibar to tell her of his desire to produce a biopic of Barbara starring her. Godeau and Amalric get together and decide on creating a simple, classic, expensive biopic. Nevertheless Amalric remained uncomfortable with the idea of directing a biopic, complaining to his friend Martine Marignac about it, who then told him that what he wanted to do was a film about an actress playing Barbara.
Amalric was also hesitant about this, but eventually had an "eureka moment", deciding to have a film within a film, with each scene having something to say about Barbara's life. The script was finished in Spring 2016, with filming set to begin that September, which was delayed to December so Amalric could act in Ismael's Ghosts (2017). Further complications arose when the final budget proved smaller than expected, with only six weeks of filming on the schedule, leading the script to be rewritten. Moreover, after five weeks of filming, Amalric and François Gédigier, who was editing the film as shooting went on so that it would be ready for the Cannes Film Festival, realized the film made no sense, so new scenes were thought up and filmed.
The more he thought about the idea, the more he thought making a biopic on Barbara was doomed to failure, and set out to prove it by getting together with Philippe Di Folco to research the singer's life in obsessive detail. Around the same time, producer Patrick Godeau got in touch with Balibar to tell her of his desire to produce a biopic of Barbara starring her. Godeau and Amalric get together and decide on creating a simple, classic, expensive biopic. Nevertheless Amalric remained uncomfortable with the idea of directing a biopic, complaining to his friend Martine Marignac about it, who then told him that what he wanted to do was a film about an actress playing Barbara.
Amalric was also hesitant about this, but eventually had an "eureka moment", deciding to have a film within a film, with each scene having something to say about Barbara's life. The script was finished in Spring 2016, with filming set to begin that September, which was delayed to December so Amalric could act in Ismael's Ghosts (2017). Further complications arose when the final budget proved smaller than expected, with only six weeks of filming on the schedule, leading the script to be rewritten. Moreover, after five weeks of filming, Amalric and François Gédigier, who was editing the film as shooting went on so that it would be ready for the Cannes Film Festival, realized the film made no sense, so new scenes were thought up and filmed.
Mathieu Amalric and Jeanne Balibar were in a long-term relationship until 2003, and have two children together.