22/03/2012 - Filming will start soon on Sylvain White’s thriller, an adaptation of the best-seller by Jean-Christophe Grangé.

Sparks will probably fly on the film set of Miserere by Franco-Americain director Sylvain White next Monday in Paris, when filming will start with two spectacular actors in the cast: Gérard Depardieu (who has just finished filming L’homme qui rit (lit. “The man who laughs”) and who we will see this autumn in Astérix et Obélix: On Her Majesty’s Secret Service) and Joey Starr (nominated for a 2012 César for best supporting actor in Polisse [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Maïwenn
film profile]). The film will also feature Thierry Lhermitte, Belgian actress Helena Noguerra, and Swiss actress Marthe Keller.

Après The Crimson Rivers in 2000, Empire of the Wolves in 2005, The Stone Council [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] in 2006, and the mini-series still in post-production, Le vol de cigognes (lit. “The flight of the storks”) by Jan Kounen, Miserere will be Jean-Christophe Grangé’s fifth novel to be adapted for the silver screen.

Written by Laurent Turner, the screenplay starts with the mysterious assassination of a choir leader in a Parisian church. Lionel Kasdan, a policeman about to retire and a member of the congregation, immediately starts to track down the killer on the margins of the official investigation. Frank Salek, from Interpol, is also interested in the case, that seems to involve children. Together, they will try to uncover the secret of an international organisation and decipher a case in which all seems to gravitate around the human voice.

Produced by Stéphane Sperry for Liaison Films, Miserere has a €15m budget, notably from co-production with TF1 Films Productions, Brio Films, and Pathé Films, but also from pre-sales by Canal + and Ciné+. The film will be shot over 11 weeks until the end of June in Paris and in Belgium (where a co-production is under negociation) with Denis Rouden as director of photography. Pathé will be in charge of distribution in France and international sales.

(Translated from French)