The New Kid 2015

The New Kid | Le Nouveau

The New Kid-Le Nouveau

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THE NEW KID is a rare case among coming-of-age movies: a portrait of allegiances made and broken among middle-schoolers that calls special attention to the uglier, less picturesque aspects of passing through puberty.

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About The New Kid 💬

Benoît's (Réphaël Ghrenassia) first week at his new school does not go to plan. He's roughed up by Charles's (Eythan Chiche) gang, the popular kids, and the only pupils who welcome him with any kindness are the «nerds». Fortunately, there's Johanna (Johanna Lindstedt), a pretty Swedish girl who Benoît makes friends with and whom he falls for. However, little by little she drifts away to join Charles' gang. On his uncle Greg's (Max Boublil) advice, Benoît organizes a party and invites his entire class. It's his chance to become popular and get Johanna back.

The directorial debut of French actor Rudi Rosenberg tells the amusing story of a group of underdogs and the hierarchy they have to fight against at school.

• INTERVIEW WITH RUDI ROSENBERG

Q: Where did this project start?

Rudi Rosenberg: I had already made two short films about adolescence, 13 YEARS OLD and AGLAEE. I wanted to remain in this world by trying to tell a story that was both personal and at the same time universal. The character for The New Kid came to me almost by itself. I think that I always had the subject inside me because I was this «new kid» myself at school and I had problems integrating due to my timidity. And also, everyone has been the new kid at least once in their life...

Q: Why are you so attached to this age in particular?

Rudi Rosenberg: Teenagers express their feelings in a funny way. We often guess by chance what they're feeling because they still haven't learned to hide them properly, which as adults we're used to doing. It amuses me and it touches me. It's without doubt also due to nostalgia as I like to reconnect with this period through my memories.

It's specifically the 4th year (Grade 8 in US/Year 9 UK) which interests me. It's a transitional year when the contrast between the maturity of the pupils is the most obvious. Where, despite the age, we are not all in the same boat: there are those who are still clearly children, who suck their thumb, carry their school bag, and the others who have become real teenagers, who smoke, organize parties and go out with girls. I thought that the confrontation between these two worlds would offer rich of comic territory.

Q: How have you worked on the dialogue so that it seems so natural and never falsely like «a teenager»?

Rudi Rosenberg: My idea was never to describe the current generation. Young people today express themselves with new slang expressions and use social networks but all of that will be out of fashion in a few years. On the other hand, the embarrassing situations, the moments of joy, the need to be part of a group, the desire to be cool etc., they are timeless. I, therefore, made sure to get rid of as many of the language tics as possible.

It seems to me that it's exactly that kind of trick that can, in some teenage films, give it an inauthentic feel or even make it over the top, as if it needed to prove to young people that we know what it is like to be them. It was important as well that the film spoke to everyone. I wanted a nostalgic adult or a teenager today to see themselves in the characters, beyond the fact we use some recent music or a current piece of vocabulary. Incidentally for the music in the film, I really didn't want songs linked to right now. I have, for example, used Ray Charles and even a track by David Guetta from the 2000s. During filming, some teenagers were quite hard on the film. They told me: «It's complete rubbish: the music isn't famous, we never see us on social networks, we don't drink, it's not dirty enough!»

However, to my great surprise, when we organized screenings, they adored the film.

Q: «THE NEW KID» evokes «400 Blows...»

Rudi Rosenberg: I wanted to make a film with adolescents who did stupid stuff. My memories of being a teenager and having friends is off doing stuff that was completely idiotic: my childhood friend was actually Max Boublil who plays the role of the uncle. At his house, we spent our time throwing coke out of the window - he lived above a hairdressers -, we made prank calls, repainted the walls of his living room with soup... the whole film was built on this desire. I wanted to show kids who laughed while doing things that are a bit silly and have the story of their friendship take place naturally.

There are a lot of films about a group of friends who are already together. With THE NEW KID, the idea was to look at the moment just before all that and to focus on the creation of a group, at its birth. I think that there is something beautiful at that age: without knowing each other we become mates in five seconds and it can last for a week or an entire lifetime. The birth of friendship at that age - the spark that goes off - it's very powerful. There is something profound and free which the teenagers are obviously not aware of. Making a friend when we've become an adult, it's also beautiful, but it's maybe more aware, less spontaneous.

Q: We get the feeling that adults don't exist in your world...

Rudi Rosenberg: I really wanted it to be immersive. When I was a kid, I loved the TV show THE WONDER YEARS. But as soon as there were scenes with the parents, I got bored. So I said to myself that if I were to ever write a story one day, it would be without adults! The only adult here is Max Boublil's character but can we really call him an adult?

Q: The presence of Max Boublil is funny, as the kind godfather...

Rudi Rosenberg: Yes. As a teenager, who hasn't known this kind of adult, an uncle or a godfather, that we have underestimated? The one who gave us advice that we listened to, that we admired. And twenty years later we see them again and we understand: «but this guy was a loser!» Which is now my case in the eyes of my nephews. Max was the perfect actor for the character of Greg. Greg should be physically quite attractive as a former player who knows all about women. But also quite good at comedy to make the uncool side of the character believable.

The New Kid Movie Details 🎥

Directed by

Rudi Rosenberg

Writing Credits

Rudi Rosenberg (Screenplay)

Bruno Muschio and Igor Gotesman (Collaboration)

Starring

Réphaël Ghrenassia

Joshua Raccah

Guillaume Cloud-Roussel

Géraldine Martineau

Johanna Lindstedt

Eythan Chiche

Max Boublil

Gabriel Nahum

Ismaël Mandile

Arthur Grégoire

Iléana Courbey

Dimitri Lazareff

Paola Dubois

Music by

Jonathan Morali

Cinematography by

Nicolas Loir

Genre: Comedy

Country: France

The New Kid Official Trailer

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