The Truth About Charlie

The Truth About Charlie is a 2002 mystery film. It is a remake of Charade (1963) and an homage to François Truffaut's Shoot the Piano Player (1960) complete with the French film star Charles Aznavour, making two appearances singing his song "Quand tu m'aimes" (first in French, later in English). The film was produced, directed and co-written by Jonathan Demme, and stars Mark Wahlberg and Thandiwe Newton in the roles played by Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn in Charade.

This version closely mirrors the plotline of the original film. It is once again set in Paris and features several famous French actors. Director Agnès Varda made a cameo appearance. Actress/chanteuse Anna Karina sings a Serge Gainsbourg song in one scene. Peter Stone, screenwriter of Charade, receives a story credit as Peter Joshua, one of the aliases Grant's character uses in the first film. The name of Wahlberg's character in the remake is Joshua Peters. The film received mixed-to-negative reviews from critics and was a flop at the box office, earning only $7.1 million worldwide.

Plot
British newlywed Regina Lambert lives in Paris with her husband Charles. She returns home following a short vacation, determined to divorce Charles only to discover their apartment has been stripped bare and that her husband has been murdered. The French police are in her apartment. Charles had liquidated their possessions for $1.8M and the money is missing.

Regina is soon reunited with a mysterious stranger Joshua (Mark Wahlberg) she met on her holiday. He helps her piece together the truth about the deceased Charlie and deal with three menacing people who are now following her.

Cast

 * Mark Wahlberg as Lewis Bartholomew (alias Joshua Peters)
 * Stephen Dillane as Charlie
 * Thandiwe Newton as Regina Lambert (credited as Thandie Newton)
 * Sakina Jaffrey as Sylvia
 * Christine Boisson as Commandant Dominique
 * Simon Abkarian as Lieutenant Dessalines
 * Park Joong-hoon as Lee Il-sang
 * Lisa Gay Hamilton as Lola Jansco
 * Ted Levine as Emil Zadapec
 * Magali Noël as Mysterious woman in black
 * Tim Robbins as Carson J. Dyle
 * Agnès Varda as The widow Hyppolite
 * Charles Aznavour as Charles Aznavour
 * Olivier Broche as Aznavour fan
 * Manno Charlemagne as 'Chez Josephine' Maitre D'
 * Anna Karina as Karina
 * Philippe Katerine as Karina fan
 * Philippe Duquesne as Café cook
 * Kenneth Utt as The Late Monsieur Hyppolite
 * Sotigui Kouyaté as Dealer Prophète
 * Paula Moore as Ms. Hoskins
 * Françoise Bertin as Woman on Train
 * Jason Ainley as Smash Loser
 * David Barco as Smash Champion
 * Mike Diamente as Smash Referee
 * Alban Lenoir as Skinhead

Production
In December 2000, it was announced Jonathan Demme was finalizing plans to direct, write and produce a remake of the 1963 film Charade with Thandiwe Newton and Mark Wahlberg in talks to star. Due to how heavily Demme and his co-writers based the film upon Charade, it was determined that original writer Peter Stone had to be credited, but Stone felt uncomfortable placing his name on the film as he hadn't been involved and opted for the pseudonym Peter Joshua as a reference to an alias used by Cary Grant's character in Charade. Demme's unorthodox approach to the material was inspired by French New Wave and had wanted Universal to include the tagline "When in doubt, laugh" on the film's promotional materials but was rejected.

Reception
The Truth About Charlie received mixed-to-negative reviews from critics. The film holds a 34% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 135 reviews. The website's consensus reads, "Newton has star quality, but this exercise in style can't hold a candle to the original." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 55 out of 100, based on 35 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.