Bottling of Jean Valjean on French screens? Like Vincent Lindon, actor Grégory Gadebois, from the theater, is preparing to play the hero of “Miserables”, the second recently announced adaptation of Victor Hugo’s masterpiece.
Filming of this film, directed by Éric Besnard (“Cash”, “Louise Violet”) begins Tuesday and should end on February 27, its producers announced in a press release. Entitled “Jean Valjean”, it looks back on “the origin of one of the greatest heroes of French literature”.
In the main role: actor Grégory Gadebois, 48 years old, often confined to supporting roles (from Polanski’s “J’accuse” to “La Syndicaliste”). He shares the poster with Bernard Campan in the costume of a religious, Isabelle Carré playing the latter’s sister and Alexandra Lamy, their servant in the home which takes in the former convict.
After Alexandre Dumas (“The Three Musketeers”, “The Count of Monte Cristo”), it is Victor Hugo’s turn to experience renewed interest on the screen.
Another project to adapt “Les Misérables” is underway, by Fred Cavayé (“The Goats!”, “Adieu Monsieur Haffmann”), with Vincent Lindon in the title role, and whose filming should begin in the summer.
A role already played in the 1950s by Jean Gabin and which the flagship actor of auteur cinema, aged 65, had dreamed of for a very long time, he told AFP on Monday: “Jean Valjean, I “I love this character, it’s like I took them all and put them together.”
“And then, above all, it’s the first time in my life that I’m going to attack a film by telling myself that I’m very sure that the script is good! It’s been verified, it’s a very good script,” said -he joked, about the work of Victor Hugo.
