  The D1 family of parametrizations of the Gogny interaction commonly suffers
from a rather soft neutron matter equation of state that leads to maximal
masses of neutron stars well below the observational value of two solar masses.
We propose a reparametrization scheme that preserves the good properties of the
Gogny force but allows one to tune the density dependence of the symmetry
energy, which, in turn, modifies the predictions for the maximum stellar mass.
The scheme works well for D1M, and leads to a new parameter set, dubbed D1M*.
In the neutron-star domain, D1M* predicts a maximal mass of two solar masses
and global properties of the star in harmony with those obtained with the SLy4
Skyrme interaction. By means of a set of selected calculations in finite
nuclei, we check that D1M* performs comparably well to D1M in several aspects
of nuclear structure in nuclei.
