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CANNES 2006 Market / France

Pacino may play Napoléon in Chéreau’s next film

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The subject of French director Patrice Chéreau’s next film has been announced at Cannes. The director, who will go back in time once again after his latest success, Gabrielle, will this time concentrate on the character of Napoléon.

Under the working title The Monster of Longwood, this adaptation of Staton Rabin’s book Betsy and the Emperor could have Al Pacino heading the bill in the role of the tyrant during his exile in Sainte-Hélène.

According to Chéreau, the film will illustrate the schizophrenia of the famous historical character who was “on the one hand, the strategist playing with blood on the battlefield – seen through flashbacks – and, on the other, the libertine who strove to disobey morals, as we too often forget that Napoléon was a born revolutionary”.

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Produced by Azor Films, the director’s company, The Monster of Longwood has a €20m budget from Paris-based Back Up Films and is a French/UK/German co-production. Shooting is planned to begin next winter.

(Translated from French)

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