By Thomas Adamson
PARIS (AP) --French composer Francis Lai, who won an Oscar for the iconic "Love Story" soundtrack, has died, France's Culture Ministry said Thursday. He was 86.
Nice Mayor Christian Estrosi, who led nationwide tributes to Lai, who died on Wednesday, said he hopes to name "an emblematic place of our city" after the self-taught music legend who was born in the city in 1932.
Lai started as an accordionist, but quickly rose through the ranks as a composer, writing songs for singers including Edith Piaf and Yves Montand.
It was after his meeting with French New Wave director Claude Lelouch in the 1960s that Lai turned to the silver screen and produced his most famous work.
"He was the man of my life, an angel disguised as an accordionist," Lelouch said in interview with RTL radio.
"We made 35 films together and we had a love story that lasted 50 years," he added.
Lai wrote "A Man and a Woman" for 1966's Academy Award-winning movie of the same name. It featured the well-known musical jingle "dabadabada."
Lai's success culminated with his 1970 Academy Award for the score of "Love Story ," one of the most enduring romantic movies of all time. Its main song "Where Do I Begin?" boasts household recognition even among those unfamiliar with the movie, thanks to popular vocal renditions by Andy Williams and Shirley Bassey.
After 20 Years of Acting, Megan Park Finds Her Groove In The Director’s Chair On “My Old Ass”
Megan Park feels a little bad that her movie is making so many people cry. It's not just a single tear either — more like full body sobs.
She didn't set out to make a tearjerker with "My Old Ass," now streaming on Prime Video. She just wanted to tell a story about a young woman in conversation with her older self. The film is quite funny (the dialogue between 18-year-old and almost 40-year-old Elliott happens because of a mushroom trip that includes a Justin Bieber cover), but it packs an emotional punch, too.
Writing, Park said, is often her way of working through things. When she put pen to paper on "My Old Ass," she was a new mom and staying in her childhood bedroom during the pandemic. One night, she and her whole nuclear family slept under the same roof. She didn't know it then, but it would be the last time, and she started wondering what it would be like to have known that.
In the film, older Elliott ( Aubrey Plaza ) advises younger Elliott ( Maisy Stella ) to not be so eager to leave her provincial town, her younger brothers and her parents and to slow down and appreciate things as they are. She also tells her to stay away from a guy named Chad who she meets the next day and discovers that, unfortunately, he's quite cute.
At 38, Park is just getting started as a filmmaker. Her first, "The Fallout," in which Jenna Ortega plays a teen in the aftermath of a school shooting, had one of those pandemic releases that didn't even feel real. But it did get the attention of Margot Robbie 's production company LuckyChap Entertainment, who reached out to Park to see what other ideas she had brewing.
"They were very instrumental in encouraging me to go with it," Park said. "They're just really even-keeled, good people, which makes... Read More