An ambitious project… Nearly seven years after the death of Johnny Hallyday, his widow, Laeticia, chose Raphaël Quenard to play her husband in a biopic directed by Cédric Jimenez. Thursday June 27, 2024, while he was present on the set of Bonjour, la matinale on TF1 to discuss his new album, Requiem pour un fou, David Hallyday was questioned about this project. “As it’s not done yetit’s difficult, as I am not at the base of this project”he blurted.
A bit curious, Christophe Beaugrand then asked him:
“Does it seem strange to you that your father’s story is being told in the cinema?”To which the father of three replied:
“No, it’s completely normal. he’s an emblematic figure so we take hold of himafter that it depends on how it’s done, we’re still in a democracy we can do what we want afterwards we have to see the result it’s always the same thing”.
Laeticia Hallyday: “I was amazed by her performance”
According to the rocker’s widow, this biopic project was launched thanks to
Raphaël Quenard, whom she discovered in the film Yannick by Quentin Dupieux, while she was taking the plane. While she had declined several proposals, it was for Paris Match that Laeticia Hallyday indicated: “Something didn’t add up, the exchanges were complicated. I felt like I was betraying Johnny by embarking on projects that seemed to me to lack a bit of madness, of rock’n’roll”.
Finally, Raphaël Quenard would have upset him. “I was amazed by his acting, his looks, his way of occupying space, of speaking, his spontaneity, his almost animal charisma… I said to myself that if any actor could play Johnny in the cinema, it was him“she confided before specifying that this film will be “at the height of the rocker and the man I loved madly, sometimes in pain, for 23 years”.
Raphaël Quenard: “It’s going to take a lot of work”
Talking about her first meeting with the actor, Laeticia Hallyday also said: “I felt like I’d known him forever.”. During this interview, director Cédric Jimenez specified: “Raphaël will start by immersing himself, week after week, month after month, eating, drinking and thinking of Johnny to get closer. He doesn’t have to play, he has to be Johnny at the finish. It’s a big journey. He will cover 85% of the way alone. I’ll help him with the remaining 15%. The magic of cinema, the sets, the costumes will further add to this work”.
Finally, the actor who won his first César a few months ago added: “To give life to this being of light, to the paroxysm of the notion of sharing and communion, it will take a lot of work (…) I will devote myself fullywith method, for this preparation, a short year no doubt”.
