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Top Ten CountdownOlivier Assayas (director, writer, actor) One of the leading talents to emerge from France’s film scene in the 1990s, Olivier Assayas has proven himself adept in many phases of cinema, from penning screenplays to directing provocative films to making documentaries. The son of screenwriter Jacques Remy, Assayas worked with his father, scripting segments of the popular Maigret TV series, and also wrote articles for the influential magazine Cahiers du Cinema. He also collaborated with Andre Techine on the scripts for Rendez-Vous and Scene Of The Crime before his making his feature film directing debut with 1986’s Desorde. 1996’s Irma Vep is probably Assayas’ most acclaimed effort, starring ex-wife Maggie Cheung as a Chinese-speaking actress who get so immersed in her part in a remake of Les Vampires that she adapts her personality. Other films include Demonlover (2002), a tale of Japanese anime, corporate espionage and Internet porn, with Connie Nielsen, Chloe Sevigny and Gina Gershon; Clean (2004), with Cheung as the junkie wife of a late rock star trying to regain custody of her child; and Boarding Gate (2007), an experimental thriller with Asia Argento as a prostitute-turned-assassin who would like to murder boyfriend-pimp Michael Madsen. The director also helmed segments of the anthologies To Each His Own Cinema and Paris, Je T'aime, and has completed Summer Hours with Juliette Binoche.
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