EXCLUSIVE: Filming wraps on Vincent Maël Cardona’s Le Roi Soleil
- Pio Marmaï, Lucie Zhang, Sofiane Zermani, Panayotis Pascot, Maria De Medeiros and Joseph Olivennes star in the cast of this SRAB Film and Easy Tiger production sold by StudioCanal
The final clapperboard slammed today on Le Roi Soleil, the second feature film by Vincent Maël Cardona after Magnetic Beats [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Vincent Maël Cardona
film profile] (awarded the SACD Prize at the 2021 Directors’ Fortnight, the 2022 César for Best First Film and the Male Acting Revelation Lumière that same year). Eye-catching names in the cast include Pio Marmaï (nominated for the 2019 and 2022 Best Actor Césars via The Trouble With You [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Pierre Salvadori
film profile] and The Divide [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Catherine Corsini
film profile], selected in the category of Best Supporting Actor in 2023 and 2024 for Rise [+see also:
trailer
film profile] and Yannick [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], and hitting screens this year in L’Attachement), Lucie Zhang (nominated in 2022 for the Best New Hope César and Acting Revelation Lumière thanks to Paris, 13th District [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], and recently seen in A Real Job [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Thomas Lilti
film profile]) and Sofiane Zermani (known under his rapper name Fianso, at his best in last year’s After the Fire [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] and Spirit of Ecstasy [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Héléna Klotz
film profile], and soon to grace Le salaire de la peur, Reine mère and Barbès d’or). The cast further includes Panayotis Pascot (who turned heads in Deerskin [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Quentin Dupieux
film profile] and My Stupid Dog [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], and was recently well-received in the series Grace of Heaven), Portugal’s Maria De Medeiros (notably named Best Actress in Venice 1994 and recently seen in Moral Order [+see also:
trailer
film profile]), Joseph Olivennes (who previously worked with the director on Magnetic Beats and is soon to feature in La vallée de fous) and Némo Schiffman (Promise at Dawn [+see also:
trailer
film profile]).
Written by Olivier Demangel (Atlantics [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Mati Diop
film profile], Towards the Battle [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], Father & Soldier [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile]) and Vincent Maël Cardona, the story takes us to a shabby OTB pub in the early hours of the morning where one of the regulars wins the lottery worth 244 million euros. Another customer holds up the shop after stealing a gun from a police officer. A shot is fired, leaving the winning ticket ownerless. The remaining customers see it as an opportunity and the curtains are drawn: they may as well make the most of the situation and come to an arrangement. Locked inside the bar, they pass the point of no return. Who will come out of it alive?
Le Roi Soleil is produced by Christophe Barral and Toufik Ayadi on behalf of SRAB Films and by Marc-Benoît Créancier for Easy Tiger, in co-production with France 2 Cinéma and Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Cinéma. Also pre-purchased by Canal+ and Ciné+, the film was shot over the course of eight weeks with Brice Pancot heading up photography. Set design comes courtesy of Marion Burger and editing is entrusted to Flora Volpelière (awarded the 2020 César in her speciality for Les Misérables [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Ladj Ly
film profile]). Distribution in France and international sales will be steered by StudioCanal.
For the record, SRAB Films are currently overseeing post-production on Dao by Alain Gomis (produced alongside Les Film du Worso – read our article) and Les Règles de l’art by Dominique Baumard (article). Easy Tiger, for their part, are finalising post-production on Houda Benyamina’s Toutes pour unes (Mousquetaires).
(Translated from French)
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