“Farewell, My Queen” director Benoit Jacquot is preparing “Mr. Casanova,” a film about the life of Giacomo Casanova, the famed Italian libertine, adventurer and author, who will be played by French star Vincent Lindon.
Lindon, who won a prize in Cannes for his role in Stephane Brize’s “The Measure of a Man” and served on Cannes’ jury last year, last worked with Jacquot on “Diary of a Chambermaid,” which competed in Berlin in 2015.
Kristina Larsen is producing “Mr. Casanova” via her thriving Paris-based banner Films du Lendemain whose current slate include a trio of anticipated pics: Gilles Bourdos (“Renoir”)’s “Espèces menacées,” Alexandros Avranas (“Miss Violence”)’s “Love Me Not” and “Rodin,” Jacques Doillon’s biopic of the legendary sculptor Auguste Rodin, starring Lindon. All three pics are expected to premiere at prestigious festivals. Jean-Pierre Guerin’s JPG Films is producing the film with Les Films du Lendemain. The two banners teamed on Jacquot’s “Diary of a Chambermaid” and “Farewell, My Queen,”
Written by Jacquot, Chantal Thomas and Jerome Beaujour (“The Nun”), the film centers on Casanova’s life in exile in London at the age of 45 and will shed light on his unrequited passion for a 25 year-old woman, the first and only who ever resisted him, Larsen said.
Thomas, an expert on Casanova, wrote the novel “Casanova, Un voyage libertin” in the 1980s. Her book “Farewell, My Queen” served as a basis for Jacquot’s movie.
“Mr. Casanova” will start shooting in January 2018. Jacquot is about to start shooting “Eva,” a psychological thriller with Isabelle Huppert (“Elle”).
Larsen’s development slate includes “Le Siege du palais” by Argentine up-and-comer Pablo Aguero (“Salamander”), which chronicles a courtroom hostage situation sparked by a high-profile criminal, Georges Courtois, in 1985 in Nantes. The film is written by Aguero, Thomas Bidegain (“A Prophet,” “Deepan”) and Patricia Tourancheu (“L’affaire SK1”). Shooting is set to start in October.
Aguero won the jury prize in Cannes for his short “First Snow” and had his directorial debut “Salamander” play at Cannes’s Directors Fortnight.
Another interesting title on Larsen’s roster is Abd Al Malik’s “Braqueur,” a thriller based on the life of high-profile French gangster Redoine Faid, who last made headlines in 2013 when he escaped a high-security prison in France and became Interpol’s most wanted.
