The first clapperboard slammed today, Thursday 27 August, on Wake Me Up, the second feature by Laurent Lafitte, after Dear Mother in 2021. Awarded this year’s César for Best Actor for The Richest Woman in the World (following nominations in categories such as Best Supporting Role in 2017, 2018 and 2025, and a number of recent performances in the mini-series Class Act and the feature Alter Ego), the director is also gracing the cast of his movie.

He’s joined by Gilles Lellouche (nominated Best Actor at the César Awards in 2017 and 2022 thanks to In Safe Hands and The Stronghold, and well received in Cannes via Moulin and The Electric Kiss), Chiara Mastroianni (nominated for the 2020 Best Actress César via On A Magical Night, which also won her the Best Actress Prize in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard section; recently at her best in Locarno in Love Lessons and soon to be seen in Venice in One Minute to Midnight), Galatea Bellugi (nominated for the Most Promising Newcomer César in 2019, as well as for Best Supporting Actress in 2024 for Junkyard Dog, highly acclaimed last year in The Girl in the Snow and The Arrangement, and hitting cinemas next year in Le Registre) and D’Johé Kouadio (who turned heads in Dao).

Other names gracing the cast include Laurent Stocker (nominated for the Best Supporting Role and Most Promising Newcomer Césars in 2008, excellent in Comédie-Française and likewise taking centre stage in Venice via A Man’s Skin) and veteran Pierre Arditi (awarded the Best Actor César in 1994, as well as the Best Supporting Actor trophy in 1987).

Adapted by the director in league with François Favrat (The Role of a Lifetime, Boomerang) based on Abel Quentin’s novel Le Voyant d’Étampes, the story follows a passionate literature professor called Jean Roscoff. He’s also a socially engaged man who has always fought against racism and inequality in all its forms. How is it possible, therefore, that his daughter’s new partner sees him as a dominant white man who knows nothing about minority causes? The controversy unleashed by the release of the protagonist’s book on Black poet Robert Willow seems to confirm that view: Jean Roscoff no longer knows a thing about the world around him…

Wake Me Up is being produced by Marine Bergère and Romain Daubeach on behalf of Mamma Roman, in co-production with 2L Productions, and by Pathé (which is distributing the film in French cinemas and steering world sales) and Belgium’s Artémis Productions. Pre-purchased by Canal+ and Amazon Prime, the feature also enjoys support from the Normandy region and the SOFICA companies Sofitvciné, Indéfilms, Cofinova and Cinéaxe. Filming will continue until 10 October, mainly in Ile-de-France with a few days in Normandy and with Maxence Lemonnier (For Night Will Come, Little Jaffna) heading up cinematography.

For the record, Mamma Roman’s back catalogue includes Bloody Oranges and Plastic Guns by Jean-Christophe Meurisse, which were presented at Cannes in 2021 and 2024 respectively (the former in an Official Selection Midnight Screening and the latter in the Directors’ Fortnight).