He was scheduled to have directed an English-language film called The Pretender.
Georges Benayoun was producing and
Mathieu Kassovitz and
Vincent Cassel were to have starred. Shooting, to have taken place in Eastern Europe, Paris, New York and London, was to have started in October 2001. The plot concerned recovery by a Jewish family of artwork stolen by the Nazis during World War 2. The film was budgeted at $23 million but was cancelled due to a dispute regarding the budget between Benayoun and StudioCanal.
