RELEASE DATES:

• February 11, 2004:Belgium and France
• February 13, 2004: Luxembourg
• February 26, 2004: Germany (or July 1, 2004 according to imbd.com)
• March 12, 2004: Finland
• June 11, 2004: Spain
• July 17, 2004: Canada (Fantasia Film Festival)
• July 23, 2004: UK
• April 15, 2004: Netherlands
• August 12, 2004: Czech Republic
• August 18, 2004: United Arab Emirates
• September 10, 2004: Denmark

gunslinger courtesy of jacoco

CAST:
(courtesy of: imdb.com)

• Vincent Cassel: Mike S. Blueberry

• Michael Madsen: Wally Blount

• Juliette Lewis: Maria

• Djimon Hounsou: Woodhead

• Colm Meaney: Jimmy McLure

• Eddie Izzard: Prosit Luckner

• Temuera Morrison: Runi
  
  
• Nichole Hiltz .... Lola
  
  
• Lisa Brenner .... Madeleine
  
  
• Tchéky Karyo .... The Uncle
  
  
• Vahina Giocante .... Madeleine
  
  
• Hugh O'Conor .... Young Mike S. Blueberry
  
  
• Kateri Walker .... Clara Von Luckner

FILMING LOCATIONS:

• Mexico (Durango, Chihuahua and Zacatecas)
• The UK @ Shepperton Studios (June)
• Southern Spain (Almeria) in July/August

SYNOPSIS: Blueberry is described as a mystical Western. Set during the 1870s, the project is about a spiritual marshal named Blueberry who tries to stop Blount (played by Michael Madsen), the man who murdered his girlfriend, from getting to a stockpile of gold hidden in Indian territory. Eddie plays "Prosit", a German villain on a persistent mission to find pots of gold in the Superstition Mountains. 

PLOT:(from imdb.com...translation cleaned up a bit)
Blueberry is stationed in the little town of Palomito as sheriff. One day there is an ordinary fight in the local saloon, but one of the trouble makers, named Prosit, shows up as Baron Werner Amadeus von Luckner. Prosit has made a lot of enemies. The fact that he owns the gun of a popular man killed in that town makes him a prime suspect. The people want to lynch him and Blueberry can only just prevent that. Two bounty hunters arrive to take Prosit along to Durango but Prosit escapes with Jimmy making him a lot of promises about a gold mine. Then the trouble starts, with betrayals, bounty killers, hostile indians and the mysterious ghost who guards the gold mine.

BACKGROUND:   Blueberry was created in the early sixties by Jean-Michel Charlier and Jean Giraud, and quickly developed into one of the best selling series in French Bande Dessinee. Mike S. Blueberry began the series as a Lieutenant in the US Cavalry, but the 25-plus books in the series have seen the character involved in a variety of situations from sheriff, outlaw on the run, to retired card-shark at the OK Corral.

(thanks Ken for the following info) "Jean Giraud is otherwise known as Moebius, and is recognized as one of the greatest creators of graphic storytelling (comic books, but that is such a misnomer) ever.  He has also contributed, in small or large part, to thedesign and look of such films as Alien, Blade Runner, Willow, The Abyss, and most recently The Fifth Element.  The man has an imagination that is way the hell out there, and I only say that out of pure envy.  Blueberry is available in this country in graphic novel format (there's lots of them,I've only got a few myself), and they're the antithesis of Moebius' film work; just plain old westerns."

cover and history
(click for larger pics)

LINKS:

Buy the DVD: [US] | [Other]

Buy the CD

press release confirming Eddie's involvement in Blueberry

Background Info

Official Site of Director Jan Kounen (some sections are in French)

Imdb.com listing

Alta Vista's Translations (use this to translate french and spanish sites)

NEWS:

• Added PHOTOS from French Premiere (09.13.05)
  
  
• Apparently Blueberry is being released on DVD in the US under the more macho title of RENEGADE (09.17)
  
  
• Buy the dvd/video
  
  
• Added SCREENCAPS *warning spoilers!* (08.05)
  
  
• Recent UK Reviews (newest first) from VIEW LONDON, TELEGRAPH, CHANNEL FOUR FILM, SHADOWS ON THE WALL, BBC FILMS, SKYMOVIES, PLUM-NOIRE
  
  
  
• July 17, 2004: New pic!
  
  
  
• June 8, 2004: Blueberry set to open in the UK on July 23, 2004
  
  
• May 14, 2004: Thomas Langman, one of the producers of "Blueberry", is at Cannes to sell it at the Movie Market. You can hope that this wonderful movie is coming soon to the theatres of UK...(from Jan Kounen's Forum) Cool Blueberry wallpaper HERE.
  
  
• April 21, 2004: Read interviews with JAN KOUNEN, VINCENT CASSEL, and JULIETTE LEWIS.
  
  
• April 17, 2004: LISTEN to clips from the soundtrack and buy it HERE

BLUEBERRY BOX OFFICE (France)

• March 10-16: Blueberry drops out of the top 20

• February 29, 2004: "A far more expensive, but equally revealing, flop is the French movie Blueberry, which appeared with great fanfare two weeks ago. The movie, which cost €42m (£28m) - one of the most costly French films ever - is a Western, filmed in English, shot partly in Spain, with a Dutch-born director and the stand-up British comedian, Eddie Izzard, playing a wicked German cowboy. Although it contains beautiful sequences shot in the Mexican desert and mountains, French critics dismissed the film near-unanimously as pretentious tosh. It has long, psychedelic, dream sequences of, among other things, birds circling in the sky. One of these sequences - part of an attempt by the eponymous hero, played by Vincent Cassel, to wrestle with his demons through Indian drugs and religion - lasts 20 minutes. The movie has been a disaster at the French box office and is bound to raise, again, questions about the generous subsidies available (to some) in the French film industry. The one person who emerges with credit is Mr Izzard, whose performance against type has been widely praised." (from The Independent)
  
  
• February 17, 2004: Ain't it Cool Review (thanks Spoot)
  
  
• February 12, 2004: Another Ain't it Cool Review (thanks Steve)
  
  
• February 11, 2004: Photographs from the filming on Jan Kounen's site
  
  
• February 11, 2004: Blueberry review from Yahoo.co.uk
  
  
• February 10, 2004: Paris premiere of Blueberry (no pics of Eddie)
  
  
• February 6, 2004: French review
  
  
• January 30, 2004: "French Baguetti Western Plays Hollywood at It's Own Game" (thanks Spoot)
  
  
• January 28, 2004: Ain't It Cool reviews the movie (thanks Steve)
  
  
• January 7, 2004: Incredible Teaser and Trailer available on the official site (Quicktime required)
  
  
• December 11, 2003: This year IMAGINA, the International Digital Entertainment and Interactive Content Trade Show, will present a first-look world premiere screening on Tuesday 3 February 2004 of the film by Jan Kounen: "BLUEBERRY, l’Expérience Secrète" ("Muraya") produced by Thomas Langmann and Ariel Zeïtoun, in the presence of all three of the film's stars: Vincent Cassel (in the title role), Juliette Lewis and Michael Madsen. Shot largely on location in Mexico in breathtaking natural settings, made even more spectacular by innovative special effects (created by Mac Guff), this film should be one of the year's most exciting productions. More info here.
  
  
• November 17, 2003: Teaser trailer online
  
  
• November 2, 2003: Opens February 11, 2004 (Belgium and France), February 26, 2004 (Germany)/March 18, 2004 according to imdb.com
  
  
• September 25, 2003: Official site is live and active.

Auntie Momo's Blueberry Gallery

• July 2, 2003: According to director Jan Kounen, post production was delayed for two months so the distributors have pushed back the film's opening to February 11, 2004.
  
  
• Poster from the Cannes Film Festival (click for larger pic)

• May 23, 2003: "In a bumper Cannes for France's UGC Intl., Jan Kounen's $35 million "Blueberry" and the $25 million western comedy "The Daltons" have presold for top dollar to a raft of territories around the world. "Blueberry" has sold to almost every territory bar English speaking countries, while "The Daltons" has also notched up sales to a handful of major territories, UGC Intl. topper Said Ben Said told Variety Thursday. Deals included Filmax in Spain, Tobis in Germany, Central Partnership in Russia, Pyrine in Poland and Hungary, Proptiki in Greece and I Vision in Korea. Japan was sold to Media Factory at the AFM. "The Daltons" has also sold on script to Spain's Filmax. " [from Variety]
  
  
• May 18, 2003: "Blueberry (aka Muraya, l'Experience Secrete De Mike Blueberry) which stars Vincent Cassel, Michael Madsen and Juliette Lewis, is set to be given a major teaser campaign at Cannes and a very wide French release at Christmas." [from screeninternational]
  
  
• May 10, 2003: "Blueberry is going well, the editing part is almost finished, we started a year ago! The sound mixing is coming in London, for 9 weeks, in Cannes film festival will the crew be there on the week end of the 17th), digital effects and music are working 22 hours a day. After Cannes I'm running to London for the final mix." [from jankounen.com]

New Promo Artwork

• January 10, 2003: According to Screendaily.com, Blueberry is looking at a third quarter (July - Sept) 2003 release.
  
  
• January 3, 2003: Here are some pics from the set of Blueberry. From the looks of things, this is going to be one stylishly good looking movie.
  
  
• December 12, 2002: Our first look at Eddie as Prosit Luckner (thanks Dorene)
  
  
• November 25, 2002: French TV Canal+ interviewed Vincent Cassel, Juliette Lewis and Jan Kounen. Screencaps are here.
  
  
• November 8, 2002: The French version of Premiere magazine shows us the first look at Vincent Cassel as Blueberry. The french title of the movie is "Muraya: L'Experience Secrete de Mike Blueberry"
  

• August 26, 2002: Filming was completed in Spain on August 24, 2002. They anticipate a year of post-production with a 2003 release date (from Jan Kounen's Forum)
  
  
• August 18: 2002: Excerpt from interview with Juliette Lewis--
  "It was a hot day in L.A. last month, and the delightful actress Juliette Lewis was getting ready to fly to Sain to resume work on a Western based on, of all things, a French comicbook hero Mike Blueberry. She's been making movies since her teens, but "Blueberry" was going to be special. "It's such an exciting shoot, because my dad plays my father," said Lewis about the actor Geoffrey Lewis. "When I was growing up, he was just my dad. But he's worked with legends like John Milius and Clint Eastwood, and now I realize how good he is and how much he's taught me." They'd already filmed in France and Mexico. How did that go? "Talk about hot!" said Lewis. "Real desert, living in cabins, no electricity, no heat, and the nights were cold."

  
  "Outhouses?" I asked. Lewis laughed. "Kerosene lamps are OK," she said, "and I can take the cold. But outhouses? Temperamental isn't me, but I might have gotten temperamental over that." (thanks Mary Alice)

• 

  August 17, 2002: Hugh O'Connor (My Left Foot, Chocolat) and French actress Vahina Giocante. Eddie's sequences finished filming on August 14, 2002. (thanks Jean Simon)

• July 16, 2002: Filming continues in Almeria, Spain until the end of July. (from Le Canyon de Blueberry)

• July 13, 2002: Juliette Lewis has returned to Europe to finish scenes with Eddie Izzard and French actor Vincent Cassel in "Blueberry," based on the French comic book -- grateful to have another vehicle in which to utilize her talents. (from columnists Stacy Jenel Smith and Marilyn Beck)

• June 24, 2002: A peek at Prosit? This was taken today at Spike Milligan's memorial service in London.

• June 20, 2002: Eddie has left Mexico and is now in Spain doing additional filming for Blueberry

• June 14, 2002: (From Alex Cox's online diary) "Instead I wander out into the desert, to one of the old movie sets (Texas Hollywood) where dozens of French and Spanish art people are building interiors for the massively-expensive French western "Blueberry". Yes, you know, "Blueberry", the, uh, famous French comic book western where the characters talk a great deal, wear very cool costumes, and occasionally shoot guns. Michael Madsen is playing one of the bad Americans, so I know a bit about the film from him. The shoot is quite long: several weeks in Durango, Mexico (where they made "Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid"), several weeks in studios in London (shurely Paris, no?), then several more weeks in Almeria (where they shot "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" and 500 other Spaghettis) in midsummer. When we filmed "Straight to Hell" in Almeria, it was August and the temperature was 110 degrees farenheit IN THE SHADE! For the authentic sweaty-look, all the actors were obliged to wear Pam Tait's heavy, black, wool costumes. This is a fine old film tradition (shoot in the hottest place on Earth and make the actors wear all black, or, more recently, robot costumes), and I am sure "Blueberry" will be honouring it as well!"

• June 10, 2002: The Vincent Cassell flick has recently been shooting at the Dunes of Bilbao in Coahuila, besides the Basaseachi Waterfall. It looks set to premiere at Cannes next year. (DarkHorizons)
  
• Fine Kiwi actor, Temuera Morrison has confirmed at a SciFiExpo in Plano, Texas that he's joined the Vincent Cassel pic with production scheduled to wrap at the end of the year. (DarkHorizons) Download a clip of him discussing the role here (and watch him belt out a Maori tune). thanks Olivier for the clip
• April 9, 2002: Eddie announces getting role in a "spaghetti western" called Blueberry which starts filming in Mexico on April 8th