Two years have passed since elite police officer Damien Tomasso (Cyril Raffaelli) teamed up with reformed vigilante Leito (parkour originator David Belle) to save the notorious District 13, a racially charged ghetto populated by violent drug dealing gangs and vicious killers. Despite government promises to maintain order, the state of the district has deteriorated, and a group of corrupt cops and elected officials are conspiring to cause civil unrest in D13, looking for an excuse to raze the area and cash in on its redevelopment. Now Damian and Leito must join forces again, and use their mastery of martial arts and their unique physical skills to bring peace to the neighborhood by any means necessary… before a proposed nuclear air-strike wipes it off the map. With bone crunching fights and death defying leaps, this adrenaline charged sequel takes the groundbreaking parkour action from District B13 to thrilling new heights.

ABOUT THE FILM
"From the first day on set, right away, I was placing bombs", explains David Belle, aka Leïto. "That sets the tone for the film! It's the beginning of the story and we already have things blowing up.  And then the cops are right on my tail from the get go because I'm putting bombs down.  There's no time to discuss or anything, I've gotta get out of there and fast!  And here, I understood that this was indeed:  District 13-Ultimatum."   
The end of District B13 told the story of Damien (Cyril Raffaelli) and Leïto (David Belle) in a neighborhood in a state of disrepair.  The one promised the other that things would change, but nothing really did.  Well, yes, they did a little.  Today, secret services want to blow everything up.  So on screen, like in life, the two accomplices have found each other again….under fire.
Ever since their first scene together four years ago, it's been electric! "We had a lovely reunion in Serbia," jokes Cyril.  "Very little dialogue, chases, gunshots to avoid….There is always a lot of emotion when filming the first few takes because we're all finding our footing.  David and I were instantly delighted to be working together.  We said: 'This is awesome!' With everything that's going on in the movie, we'll have plenty to have fun with."  "With us, as soon as we're together, we know things are going to blow up in any case," confirms David.
The director Partrick Alessandrin is the brainchild behind District 13-Ultimatum.  He wanted to shoot an action movie.  Luc Besson, whom he has known since The Last Battle, offered him one and not a bad one at that in the sequel to District B13.  "I've been directing for a few years now but I agreed to this film a little as if I were going back to school. From Parkour to combat fighting to the car tricks, this was an intensive apprenticeship…fascinating!"

SERBIA, THIS PARADISE
After six weeks of pre-production, it was off to Serbia. They started shooting in Belgrade on October 27th 2008.  The crew built the set at the foot of a few buildings aligned to look like a staircase.  This is an area sufficiently vast and rich in natural decors: buildings, parking lots, garages, bridges, underground tunnels, alleys, urban fields…and plenty of rooftops. David Belle's reaction when he discovered all this:  "This is awesome".  In all, about thirty sets were created on location.  And the pace was quickly set: one or two different sets a day for three weeks. "For the action scenes we had some sick architecture, a real playground for those who practice Parkour. Every day was intense!" grins David.  "Serbia brought a lot to the film," recognizes Patrick Alessandrin.  "Belgrade has an incredible feel to it and this is while we were shooting a fairly difficult movie on urban violence.  We went on TV, the radio and to the press to warn locals that bombs were going to explode; machine guns were going to go off, that helicopters would be flying above their buildings or else people would have flipped out. Ten years ago, this country was still at war."  "At one point, I was walking around with an AK-47 and acting all proud," says the rapper La Fouine, who plays one of the gang leaders.  "A guy comes towards me and says: 'You shouldn't really walk around with that, we're coming out of a war, it's a bit dangerous, even for you.' My AK-47 quickly disappeared after that."   
The head set decorator Hugues Tissandier had the difficult task of creating District 13, a closed neighborhood surrounded by a wall.  Within those walls, he brings to life five distinct neighborhoods: Arab, black, Chinese, gypsy and skinhead.  Each one has its unique flavor, its inhabitants, its cultural codes…its authenticity.  The latter, he found in a real gypsy neighborhood under a highway bridge.  "It's an incredible place, a mix of beauty and horror, of dignity and liberty," admits Patrick Alessandrin.  "The real in the middle of the reconstituted elements allowed us to authenticate the rest. We have this crazy race along 500 meters of an unreal amount of trash with the locals who live in cardboard homes and shoeless kids right there."  The gypsies agreed to play extras and to see their universe disturbed long enough to catch a powerful scene: Leïto is being chased by an SUV that's destroying everything in its passage.  This car chase was orchestrated by David and Michel Julienne, the car stunt coordinator.  "It was a bazaar but a more romanticized vision of one," explains Hugues Tissandier. "There was a pile of accessories, garbage, of things that needed to be sorted and re-sorted to be sold, with this car race in the middle of it all.  We added houses to destroy with the SUV.  We prepared zones to protect the actors and the stunt people as they went through the mound of objects.  We had to sort through everything.  When we would lift things, we'd find glass shards and pieces of TV's, scrap metal that could indeed hurt someone.  We went through it all to make sure it was safe for the stunt people." 

NEVER BEFORE SEEN STUNTS
The collaboration between Hugues Tissandier and Cyril Raffaelli was constant, as Cyril once again coordinated the stunts on this movie.  Cyril described every stunt to him.   He provided Hugues with all the angles, height and space between objects, each movement so that the leading foot or the landing one could be anticipated.  Each set was conceived for stunts. "We were therefore able to calculate it by the centimeter and to be very precise on impressive and dangerous stunts by being able to limit the risk," assures Cyril.  80% of the stunts are done in real time without any special effects.  Cyril and David did their own stunts.  They also did all the hiring of the stunts people.  Over four days, they auditioned up to 400 candidates, each within their specific discipline: combat fighting and Parkour.  They set it up in a warehouse.  On one side, Cyril had his Tatamis and sparing-partners, and on the other side, David had his scaffolding and obstacle course set up. "It's not enough to have a good idea when you're a choreographer," says Cyril, "you must also have someone who can make it happen."
Neither Cyril nor Luc Besson were short on ideas.  Luc created a hand-to-hand combat scene between Damien and the Chinese where there is a Van Gogh painting between them that Damien must protect from the slightest nick. "When Luc told me I'd be fighting with a Van Gogh between my hands, I was little disappointed because I thought it would be limiting," recalls Cyril.  "And then, I started working with the painting. I saw what I could do, and I had a few interesting ideas.  But it was only when we were editing that I understood what Luc wanted.  When I was holding onto that painting, there's this feeling that we are protecting something.  It makes that scene more human, more magical."   
On his end, Cyril had a nice little stunt up his sleeve for David: a chase scene where he needed to slip himself through a narrow opening, in doing so he would collapse a small sheet metal roof, his two pursuers would then crash into it and fall into emptiness.  This is a complicated stunt in its timing and positioning that was once again performed without special effects.  There was nothing more than a mattress 4 meters below to catch the two officers.  "This was precise," explains David. "If I pushed too high, I would hit my head against the roof and I would spin out of control.  If I didn't push enough, I was against the wall.  I didn't practice it.  When we shot it, that was the first time I was doing it because in Parkour I work instinctively and the body naturally positions itself.  You do it based on a feeling, that's my thing."       
November 19th, 2008 marked the end of the shoot in Serbia.  The crew returned to France to start shooting the Parisian scenes.  This was the opportunity for Michel Julienne to destroy the entire second floor of 36, quai des Orfèvres with a car, for David to climb along the Centres des Operations Militaires and for Cyril to invent new fights. "I'm fairly proud of this sequel," confides Cyril, "whether it's the combat fights, the Parkour, the chases…there's a real evolution in comparison with the first movie.  The bet was to put the bar even higher, to be more into it, more esthetic and I think we succeeded. I think people will like it because they'll know it's especially for them that we did it. They were there for the first movie and we want them to be excited to discover the second one full of as many new ideas."   

NEW FACES
Luc Besson's productions traditionally feature the participation of musicians on screen and on the soundtrack.  District 13-Ultimatum is no exception to that rule. To assist Cyril and David, a few of the biggest names in Francophone rap accepted to play the actor.  "All these guys have their own universe, a certain ease and even poetry in their style, they are well-rounded artists," underlines Patrick Alessandrin.  "They know how to play and how to move their bodies, there is a real will to give something of themselves."  None of them sing in the movie, but that didn't stop them from doing it between takes. "With La Fouine, we had fun doing a few improvised poems," says James Deano, who plays a gang leader.  "We would take turns throwing a word out at each other and we'd have to drop four rhymes like that.  It was poetic.  Hardcore poetry."
Three rappers play three of the five gang leaders.
MC Jean Gab'1, already present in District B13, is back. He is Molko, the leader of the Black gang.  "I sell anything there is to sell, from the most illegal to….what's illegal.  And if you don't go through me for it, I'll kill you."  The rapper especially enjoyed the action in his scenes. "In a fight sequence, you'll knock out one or two guys.  Cyril though will bring six down.  I was psyched I was able to fight with six guys." 
La Fouine plays Ali-K, the leader of the Arab gang. "Every day, he would come in with a new idea," explains Patrick Alessandrin, "like spitting.  And it became part of his character,a reoccurrence."  La Fouine also liked the fighting, "Cyril taught me Thai boxing.  I totally invested myself in learning the choreography.  My muscles were aching for a week.  But during my combat scene, since I'm not an actor, I was really hitting the military and police officers.  I would knee them, elbow them, and take them to the ground.  After each take, I would go see them and say: 'Sorry guys, I have a hard time moderating the impact I'm exerting,' they would laugh.  They were hurting all over but they were laughing."
James Deano played Karl, the leader of the skinhead gang, and the news came to him as a not-so-pleasant surprise. "I didn't really know what role I was going to have," admits the Belgian rapper.  "It's only once on location that Patrick Alessandrin explained it to me.  And I said 'He's a skinhead, no, no, no!' But that's the movies, being able to step outside yourself to play someone else.  Since I had very little dialogue, I didn't really have a chance to try myself in a 'real actors' role.  In this movie, all I do actually is beat people up.  And on top of that I had to learn how to do it!"
Patrick Alessandrin called upon two young actors to play the last two gang leaders.
Elodie Yung plays Tao, the Chinese gang leader.  The actress had a personalized choreography to allow her to fight with her long braid that ends in a blade. "Cyril found plenty of little things and tricks that stick with my character." confirms the actress. "The choreography was fairly simple.  Since I'm really tense, I fight while listening to music. It gives an airy element to the choreography, nonchalant, kind of dance-like and with the weapon at the end of my braid, it gives it a sharp and enveloping element to the choreography. It's very beautiful."     
Fabrice Feltzinger plays Little Montana, the leader of the gypsy gang.  "He thinks he's Al Pacino", explains the actor. "He's definitely seen Scarface, it's clear he's crazy about weapons.  He's ready to kill anything and right away."  Fabrice Feltzinger shot most of this with real gypsies in Belgrade in the middle of their neighborhood.  "There would be entire families.  I was heading up the gang and the only one to not be a gypsy.  They'd make fun of me: 'You're the gang leader? Haha!' with the real leader not far behind me."

TWO SLAM DUNKS
"I wanted quality actors in District 13-Ultimatum," specifies Patrick Alessandrin. "And we were lucky enough to get two spontaneous 'yes' that totally surprised me."
Daniel Duval accepted the role of the enigmatic Walter Gassman, the protagonist who brings trouble unto the district.  "It was great for the whole team that Daniel accepted the role in District 13-Ultimatum," continues Patrick. "I discovered an incredibly sweet, professional and perfect actor who fully met the aspirations I had for this film."
And Philippe Torreton plays the President of the French Republic.  "It's a difficult role that calls for maturity," explains the director.  "Many actors have it but they aren't credible in front of the camera.  Philippe was extremely generous with the team.  He wanted the role, but he also did it because his son is a huge fan of District B13!"  On his end, Philippe Torreton expressed how impressed he was with the work of the two main actors, Cyril and David.  And at the same time intimidated by the challenge of having to play a credible head of state. "It's too easy to make a caricature of the president, especially in an action flick.  This president is a good man but he's swamped, he's too busy.  He delegates a lot but he's not well surrounded. He doesn't take the time to study every situation and when he's faced with a challenge like blowing up the district or not, it's already too late."

A CERTAIN REALISM
Patrick Alessandrin completed his casting with extras who came from the projects.  He met 400 people. "In this movie, I have one third real actors and two thirds are real people from the hood.  Real characters.  It was extremely motivating to see all these people giving it their all and each bringing forth their world.  They brought a richness to the dialogue that no actor could have added.  I really wanted to make this movie with Luc this story about District 13, but when I discovered these guys, it made me want to go even deeper, to see who they were, to give them a real role. And then, I didn't want a comic book type of film. I wanted the movie to be anchored in a certain realism." "What we're fighting for every day, you have it here in this movie," confirms MC Jean Gab'1. "District 13-Ultimatum mirrors our society but more elaborately."  "It's an action movie for the younger generation, with a certain comedic twist but in reality it gets down to a certain truth," admits Philippe Torreton.  "It's a future we don't hope to see in our neighborhoods.  There is however a certain sense of reality when you see the ghettoization, the no-man's land and this rule of the gangs.  Luc Besson didn't invent any of this.  The basis for this story is anchored in a reality." 

FIVE NEIGHBORHOODS, FIVE GANGS
THE ARAB GANG: The Arab neighborhood is a medina but an armed medina.  Between the spice shelves and the rug vendors, people smoke hookahs and have green tea in one hand and an AK-47 in the other.  The older men in djellabas make kebabs while the young in Nike sweatpants make bombs.  Veiled women hide Kalashnikovs under their robes.  Here, people smuggle mostly jewels, fake and real.
Heading the gang is Ali-K.  He is barely thirty, and has as many scars on his face as years to his name. He is a real tough guy, the type who kills as easily as he breathes.  He's got a quick mouth and is just as quick with the spittle.
THE BLACK GANG: It's a bit like a military camp with Rastafarian influences and skulls, a small Mogadishu.  A zone off limits to the cops, where everyone has his gun ready.  One would feel naked without a weapon, a machine gun is advised.  Between two trips to the armory, the black warriors take over the gyms and the smoking rooms.  Here, they deal everything: drugs, arms, explosives….
Heading the gang is Molko. He is in his early forties and all muscle. He's got a face like a bull covered in scars, each one representing a kill.  He stopped counting them.  He's a specialist with machetes and also really likes rocket launchers.
THE CHINESE GANG: The Chinese neighborhood is a modern 21st century place with oriental roots.  The red and gold shopping center houses computer and kitchen supply stores.   There's always a bowl of rice for the next visitor rounding the corner.  Here they smuggle drugs to the illegal labs of the 13th arrondissement in Paris and hack into computers between eating two servings of chicken nems. Heading the gang is Tao.  She is almost 30 and tattooed from head to toe in honor of her "triad".  She is always sexily clad in either Mongolian silk dresses or black leather.  She fights to the beat of her iPod.  Her secret arm:  a sharp blade hidden at the end of her braid.   
THE GYPSY GANG The gypsy neighborhood is full of exposed pipes, tubs of oil, suspended pigs, garbage, cardboard shacks and tons of explosives underground.   It's all in good fun, family fun.   They have knives around their waists and toothpicks between their lips.  Here, drug trafficking is what they do.  They organize cock, dog, iguana and snake fights and bet a lot on races.  Heading the gang is Little Montana.  He's a mix of Al Pacino in Scarface and Joe Pesci in Lethal Weapon 2.  He is of a nervous nature and hyperactive.  He has a gun where his heart should be.
THE SKINHEAD GANG The Skinheads' neighborhood is full of blue and white flags and lively skinheads.  They laze around on their couches, walk their Rottweilers and Pitbulls and shave their heads whilst preserving just enough hair to "draw" "SS" on their scalps.  They beat each other up instead of training properly.   Here they "push" hate. Heading the gang is Karl.  He is the stereotypical skinhead: Doc Martens, leather pants, wife beater, suspenders, "white power" and swastika tattoos, shaved head, menacing gaze.  He says very little, preferring physical violence as his main means of communicating.  Sieg aie!

PATRICK ALESSANDRIN (Director)
When he was accepted to both la Femis and as a production assistant on the set of Surexposé by James Toback, Patrick Alessandrin chose playing with the big guys to school.  He then worked on the set of The Last Battle where he met Luc Besson.  Pre-production problems catapulted him to the role of first assistant to the director.  The two continued collaborating, first on a 12-minute film pitch about bullfighting and then on the making of The Big Blue: the adventure of the Big Blue in 1988.  For four or five years, he also worked with Jean-Baptiste Mondino on various music videos and commercials while still writing scripts for himself and others.  He wrote and directed his first movie, Ainsi soient-elles in 1995, a comedic drama about three womens' love and sex lives.  Then, in 15 août, he focused his attention on the lives of three men who must face their responsibilities as family men.  In 2003, he directed Mauvais Esprit where an aggressive businessman is reincarnated as his rival's newborn.  District 13-Ultimatum is Patrick Alessandrin's first action movie.

Luc Besson (Screenwriter) was born in Paris on March 18, 1959, and spent most of his childhood living in the idyllic settings of various Mediterranean hideaways where his parents worked as diving instructors. With Besson's surroundings and family influences, it seemed assured that he would embark on a similar maritime career. From the age of 10, after an encounter with a friendly dolphin, Besson was determined to become a marine biologist, specialising in the study of the species. Besson studied for this life plan throughout his teens until, at 17, a diving accident prevented him from ever diving again. His long-held dream cut short, Besson redirected his sights, deciding that he would become a filmmaker. Besson dropped out of school to seek work in the French film industry, and started making his own experimental films in super-8. At the age of 19, he moved to Los Angeles, where he lived for three months working in the American film industryBesson's "La Femme Nikita" was the director's first global sensation, a film that inspired remakes in both the U.S. and Hong Kong. In 1991, Besson's "Atlantis," hailed by U.S. critics as an undersea Fantasia and an aquatic dream, was filmed in 16 months all around the world. An exercise in pure film imagery, "Atlantis" dispensed with dialogue and narrative in order to wed Eric Serra's wall-to-wall score to undersea images - a cinematic translation of the filmmaker's own love for the world hidden beneath the ocean. In 1993, Besson began pre-production on "The Fifth Element," working for over a year refining the script from his own story, and with an international team of artists visualizing its 23rd century setting and characters. When the project came to a halt, Besson turned his hand to another original screenplay, "The Professional." In 1997, Besson's sci-fi opus "The Fifth Element" was released to critical acclaim and box office success. Besson's eighth directorial effort was the historical epic "The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc," released in 1999.  He is also the man behind Transporter.

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