Filming of the first episode of Versailles will start in a couple of weeks in France.
Season 1 will consist of 10 episodes (50-60 minutes each), helmed by showrunners Simon Mirren (Without a Trace, Third Watch, Criminal Minds) and David Wolstencroft (creator of Spooks and The Escape Artist), who wrote the bible and five episodes of this historical drama.
Jalil Lespert (24 Mesures, Des Vents Contraires, Yves Saint-Laurent) will direct episodes 1.01 & 1.02.
Katia Wyszkop (Van Gogh, Sous le soleil de Satan, Monsieur Ibrahim et les fleurs du Coran, Crime d'amour, Potiche, Jeune et jolie, Les Adieux à la Reine, and the upcoming Saint-Laurent - a biopic produced at the same time as Jalil Lespert's film released in January 2014) is in charge of production design on season 1.
Synopsis : The show starts in 1660. Since his younger years, Louis XIV has been haunted by the fronde. Resolved to never be put in such a vulnerable position ever again, he will slowly but surely become the greatest King in the History of France, and have his Kingdom become the most powerful in Europe.
Born strategist, mischievous manipulator, Louis will use every resource at his disposal to keep the Noblesse on a short leach, while feeling bitter resentment in his private life, even paranoia. The man is also capable of romantic passion. But how to live them when you're the greatest king in the world?
The first season will see the young King evolve to become the Sun King, the King of the Kings. Characters both real or fictional, from courtisans to humble paysans, will guide us through a world of betrayals and secrecy, political maneuvers and war declarations, revealing Versailles in all of its glory and brutality. A golden cage where arrivists, ready to do anything to get in, will never be able to get out.
Versailles will air on Canal+ in 2015. That show about the French monarchy will mostly be in English, since it's cheaper for Canal+ to produce alongside international partners, which also means a bigger budget. Still, it's disappointing from Canal+, which lately seems to hide under their "international co-productions" (this, Borgia, Tunnel, Spotless) to save money on their "créations originales"... Well, at least it employs a French crew.
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Filming of the first episode of Spotless started in London on July 2, and filming will wrap in November.
Season 1 will consist of 10 episodes (50-60 minutes each), helmed by showrunners Ed McCardie (Shameless, London Burning) and Corinne Marrinan (the CSI franchise), who will produce and write most episodes.
Pascal Chaumeil (Engrenages season 1, Fais pas ci, fais pas ça seasons 1 & 2, L'arnacoeur, Un Plan Parfait, A Long Way Down) will direct episodes 1.01 & 1.02 of the dramedy.
The show will star :
- Denis Ménochet (Inglourious Basterds, La rafle, Pieds nus sur des limaces, Le Skylab, Forces spéciales, Eyjafjallajökull, Dans la maison, Grand Central).
- Marc-André Grondin (C.R.A.Z.Y., Bouquet final, Le premier jour du reste de ta vie, Goon, L'homme qui rit).
Co-stars include Miranda Raison (Spooks, 24), Brendan Coyle (Downton Abbey) and Tanya Fear (Kick-Ass 2).
Synopsis : A dark comedy telling us the story of Jean (Grondin), whose calm life is turned upside down with the arrival of his brother Martin (Ménochet), a low-life pulling them both in the universe of organized crime, with Jean's company as a backdrop, a company specialized in the business of cleaning up crime scenes. The two brothers will have to fight to take back control of their life in a universe where danger is constant.
Spotless will air on Canal+ in 2015. It will be in French and English.
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And finally, Canal+ will produce Sanctuaire, a new original film once again delving in tough subjects in French history: this time it's the GAL/ETA dirty war.
Synopsis : Between 1984 and 1986, the Basque country in France and the city of Bayonne are the centre stage of a series of attacks perpetuated by GAL (Groupes antiterroristes de libération / Grupos Antiterroristas de Liberación). These death squads involving Spanish police officers unofficially financed by high-ranking Spanish politicians targeted known and presumed members of the ETA (Euskadi Ta Askatasuna, a Basque nationalist movement opposed to Spain and France and billed as a terrorist organization). The end of the "sanctuary" of the ETA is depicted in this film. Sanctuaire is centered on two men, two opponents who will learn to know and respect each other despite their differences : Domingo ''Txomin'' Iturbe Abasolo, chief of the ETA military operations, and Grégoire Fortin, adviser to the French President.
Written by Olivier Masset-Depasse, Xabi Molia, Pierre Erwan Guillaume, with Quitterie Duhurt-Gausserès.
Directed by Olivier Masset-Depasse (Illégal).
From the producers of Les revenants (The Returned).
Starring Jérémie Renier (as Grégoire Fortin), Alex Brendemühl (as Txomin), André Marcon, François Marthouret, Juana Acosta, Michel Bompoil, Rubén Ochandiano, Josean Bengoetxea, and Patxi Santamaria.
Sanctuaire will air on Canal+ in 2015. It will be in French and Spanish.
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