11/03/2022 - Joséphine Japy, Fabrice Luchini, Patrick D’Assumçao and Antoine Reinartz star alongside the actor who plays Bernard Tapie in the Unité-produced series, which has now started shooting

Stealing focus among the 25 series and films featuring in Netflix’s 2022 French productions line-up (the streamer recently signed an agreement with the French film industry – read our news – after integrating the audiovisual funding system in December - article), accounting for investments worth somewhere in the region of €200m, is the mini-series Wonderman which kicked off shooting last week.

Using fiction to chart the rise (between the Sixties and the Eighties) of the charismatic and highly mediatised businessman Bernard Tapie (who died in October and was, among the many other twists and turns in his life, head of a professional cycling team which won the Tour de France, president of Marseille’s Olympique football club at the height of its glory – winning the Champions League in 1993 –, a politician and a minister, the buyer of Adidas, a man caught up in various financial scandals, including a corruption case within the very same world of football, a convict and a theatre actor, to name just a few roles), Wonderman is toplined by Laurent Lafitte (recently seen in his first directorial effort The Origin of the World [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Laurent Lafitte
film profile] and soon to be seen in Tout le monde aime Jeanne).

The cast also stars Joséphine Japy (nominated for 2015’s Best New Hope César and the Acting Revelation Lumiere Award via Breathe [+see also:
trailer
interview: Lou de Laâge
film profile], recently at her best in Eugénie Grandet [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] and soon to be seen in Les chemins de pierre), the highly popular Fabrice Luchini (named Best Actor in Venice 2015 by way of Courted [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] and nominated for the Best Actor César six times since 1991, including for Slack Bay [+see also:
film review
trailer
Q&A: Bruno Dumont
film profile] in 2017), Patrick d’Assumçao (nominated for 2014’s Best Supporting Role César via Stranger By The Lake [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Alain Guiraudie
film profile] and currently touring cinemas in Cop Goes Missing [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile]), Antoine Reinartz (awarded 2018’s Best Supporting Role César for BPM (Beats Per Minute) [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Arnaud Valois
interview: Robin Campillo
film profile] ), Sarah Suco, Hakim Jemili and, last but not least, Ophelia Kolb. Written by Tristan Séguéla (who’s also helming the film’s direction) and Olivier Demangel (who notably co-authored Atlantics [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Mati Diop
film profile] and Towards the Battle [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], and sat on the writing team for the Baron noir series), the mini-series Wonderman will be shooting until July, produced by Bruno Nahon on behalf of Unité (who gave us the Mytho and The Churchmen series).

Likewise standing tall in Netflix’s 2022 French series line-up, we find Standing Up by Fanny Herrero (to be released on the platform on 16 March and opening the next Séries Mania Festival – news), which is the sequel currently being shot to the globally successful movie Lupin; Jean-Pascal Zadi and François Uzan’s project En place, which will see the former playing a youth worker who swiftly finds himself a candidate in the presidential elections (notably crossing paths with Benoît Poelvoorde and Éric Judor); and Hervé Hadmar’s movie in post-production Notre-Dame Fire.

Noteworthy Netflix films currently in post-production include Athena [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Romain Gavras
film profile] by Romain Gavras, The Takedown by Louis Leterrier (starring Omar Sy and Laurent Lafitte in a follow-up to On The Other Side of the Tracks [+see also:
trailer
film profile]), Lost Bullet 2 by Guillaume Pierret (with a third instalment already on the horizon) and Dangerous Liaisons by Rachel Suissa (a modern version of Choderlos de Laclos’ classic story, this time revolving around teenagers in Biarritz). Another project well worth a mention is Le Roi des Ombres by Marc Fouchard (Out Of This World [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile]), which is based upon an original idea by rapper Kaaris and is set to begin shooting this year.

(Translated from French)