20/02/2023 - Entrusted to Belgian director, filming has begun in Bulgaria on the third chapter of the hero’s adventures

(l-r) Actor Tomer Sisley, director Olivier Masset-Depasse and actor James Franco on the set of The Price of Money: A Largo Winch Adventure (© Guillaume Van Laethem/Versus Prod/Pan Cinéma)

After the first two instalments released in 2008 (Largo Winch [+see also:
trailer
film profile]) and 2011 (Largo Winch II: The Burma Conspiracy [+see also:
trailer
film profile]), both directed by Jérôme Salle, French actor Tomer Sisley is reprising the role of the hero created by Belgian comic book writer Jean Van Hamme, in The Price of Money: A Largo Winch Adventure. Direction of this latest opus is entrusted to Belgian filmmaker Olivier Masset-Depasse, to whom we already owe the feature-length movies Cages [+see also:
trailer
film profile], Illegal [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Olivier Masset-Depasse
film profile], and Mothers’ Instinct [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Olivier Masset-Depasse
film profile] which won no less than 9 Magritte Film Awards and is soon to form the focus of an American adaptation (read our news). Masset-Depasse co-wrote the screenplay together with Giordano Gederlini (director of On the Edge [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Giordano Gederlini
film profile], released in the summer, and co-author of Ladj Ly’s Les Misérables [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Ladj Ly
film profile]) and Domenico La Porta.

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This third cinematographic opus has been adapted from volumes 13 and 14 of the hit series The Price of Money, as previously mentioned, and The Law of the Dollar, which return to their comic book roots by dragging the hero into a complicated investigation against a backdrop of globalisation and other mergers and acquisitions, confronting him with his own contradictions. Devastated by the kidnapping of his 15-year-old son, Largo Winch is trying to hold it together when one of his associates brutally takes his own life in the middle of a press conference. Just as the world seems to be turning against him and his industrial empire folding, he discovers that the two events may be linked: if he finds those responsible for his bankruptcy, maybe he’ll see his son again? Largo doesn’t yet realise that his quest will lead him directly to hell.

Shooting kicked off on 6 February in Bulgaria. As mentioned, Tomer Sisley (recently seen in the TV series Balthazar and Vortex) is slipping back into the suit of the billionaire adventurer, to star alongside American actor James Franco (in his first film appearance since his most recent directorial effort Zeroville, in 2019). Opposite them we’ll see French actress Clotilde Hesme (recently seen in the Netflix hit Lupin, as well as in Alessandro Tonda’s The Shift [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Alessandro Tonda
film profile]), and young actress on the rise Élise Tilloloy.

Olivier Masset-Depasse is delighted to be taking up this exciting challenge: "Like any good little Belgian kid, I grew up with this comic book. Jean Van Hamme, the creator of Largo Winch, has always been a real source of inspiration for me. When my producer suggested I direct the third chapter of his adventures, I accepted without hesitating. I’d be able to combine action, suspense and entertainment in just one film! Making these action scenes and lending them an additional dimension to make sure they’re organic and that they enhance our protagonists, is a real challenge. I also wanted to shoot in a spectacular setting, from the Canadian far North to the jungles of Thailand. My co-writers and I came up with an explosive duo, composed of Largo and Bonnie, a seriously badass young woman."

The film is carried by Belgian producer Jacques-Henri Bronckart on behalf of Versus Production, and Nathalie Gastaldo Godeau for Pan-Européenne (France). Pan Distribution are set to distribute the film in France and O’Brother in the Benelux region. The movie’s release is scheduled for spring 2024, with international sales falling to Wild Bunch. 

(Translated from French)