For Pierre Niney and Laurent Lafitte, it’s “a great spectacle”

CINEMA – Get out your cape, your swords and your trusty steed. Pierre Niney, Anaïs Demoustier, Bastien Bouillon and the entire cast of Count of Monte-Cristo have been on our screens since this Friday, June 28 to dust off the work of Alexandre Dumas in a new adaptation of the cult novel, blockbuster style.

Thanks to its combat scenes and fiery rides filmed in exceptional settings, the film by Matthieu Delaporte and Alexandre De La Patellière wows spectators for almost three hours. “ These are the craziest sets I have ever seen in my life. », confirms Pierre Niney, also amazed by the costumes, authentic period pieces.

An incredible exercise in reconstruction praised by Laurent Lafitte, who plays the prosecutor Gérard de Villefort. “ Arriving on set every morning, I loved wandering around the set, looking at all the details, the work of the prop masters, the materials, the patinashe told us. I really had a blast as a kid. »

Check out the trailer below:

The budget allocated to Count of Monte Cristo (42.9 million euros) is much higher than that of previous adaptations of the book, including that of TF1 with Gérard Depardieu (which at the time had managed to raise 100 million francs, or nearly 23 million euros ). To which is added a five-star cast, made up of the big names in cinema mentioned above and a slew of new figures, including Anamaria Vartolomei, Vassili Schneider and Julien de Saint-Jean.

“The most physical thing” to shoot for Pierre Niney

The pitch is faithful to the best-seller of French literature. It tells the epic story of Edmond Dantès who, after escaping from the Château d’If where he had been wrongly locked up on his wedding day, pretends to be various characters in order to take revenge on the men who tried to eliminate it.

A scenario with some scathing twists and turns that we owe to the genius of Alexandre Dumas. And that we don’t experience every day in an actor’s career. I had never done fight scenesPierre Niney points out to us, with stars in his eyes. And there, it’s one against one. It’s the real duel, with the strengths and weaknesses of each. On the other hand, it’s the most physical thing I’ve ever done in my life. “The scene in question was shot in two days.

More comfortable on horseback than for dueling scenes (for which he says he ” a bit lazy ), Laurent Lafitte remembers the court hunts “ impressive ” Pierre Niney, who learned horse riding for the needs of the film, agrees: ” You have to realize that we were galloping with a hundred dogs running between our legs. I was terrified at the idea of ​​running over one of them. »

With this 2024 version of Count of Monte-Cristo and the success in theaters of both parts of Three Musketeers (more than 3 million admissions for the first; almost 2.6 for the second), big-budget adaptations of our literary classics are carving out a fine place for themselves in the French cinema landscape. We must take advantage of our French heritage and show that we have beautiful things to put on the screen. », remarks Pierre Niney.

Iron Man and Batman, heirs of Monte Cristo

« Cinema is also a great spectacleadds Laurent Lafitte, who recalls the excitement of the public of yesteryear in front of this short film by the Lumière brothers on the arrival of a train at La Ciotat station in 1896. It was like a fairground attraction. »

The rediscovery of cult works with a spectacular twist has its good points, according to him. Especially with “ quite long films ” like this one. “ In this day and age, we watch a lot more things at home on smaller screens. This kind of proposal makes sense. “, he specifies.

Enough to stand up to big American productions, which still eat up the vast majority of places at the French box office every year? Pierre Niney believes in it. With films like Le Comte de Monte Cristo« there is a desire to tell the Hollywood landscape, made up of great directors like Christopher Nolan and a disembodied Marvel machine that is running out of steam, that we have exceptional authors “good at writing stories” entertaining and deep ” he says.

Edmond Dantes, “ it’s someone all the same black and more tormented than some of his heirs in the United States “, he continues, quoting “ his grandchildren » Iron Man et Batman, « vigilantes who want to be above the law ” with ” infinite ways ». « But we have the original character “, he concedes, not a little proud. No more research. The Avengers have found their master.

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