{"id":1547,"date":"2026-05-13T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-13T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/2026\/05\/13\/why-france-is-making-les-mis-again-and-why-this-time-feels-different\/"},"modified":"2026-05-13T08:00:00","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T08:00:00","slug":"why-france-is-making-les-mis-again-and-why-this-time-feels-different","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/2026\/05\/13\/why-france-is-making-les-mis-again-and-why-this-time-feels-different\/","title":{"rendered":"Why France Is Making\u00a0\u2018Les Mis\u2019\u00a0Again \u2014 and Why This Time Feels Different"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\tThe French are betting audiences want their epics back.<\/p>\n

\tFor much of the 1980s and \u201990s, France regularly mounted sprawling prestige productions on a scale few European industries could match. Films like\u00a0Jean-Paul Rappeneau\u2019s\u00a0Cyrano de Bergerac<\/em>\u00a0(1990),\u00a0<\/strong>Claude Berri\u2019s\u00a0Germinal\u00a0<\/em>(1993), or\u00a0Patrice Ch\u00e9reau\u2019s\u00a0Queen Margot<\/em>\u00a0(1994). But as production costs rose and financing grew more risk-averse, those ambitious historical spectacles gradually disappeared from the big screen, replaced by smaller auteur dramas, comedies and internationally portable genre films. \t<\/p>\n

\tNow, after years in retreat, large-scale French period storytelling is mounting a comeback. Studiocanal<\/a> parent Canal+ has found global audiences for glossy historical series such as\u00a0Versailles<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0Marie Antoinette<\/em>, while\u00a0<\/em>Martin Bourboulon\u2019s two-part\u00a0The Three Musketeers<\/em>\u00a0adaptation and Matthieu Delaporte and Alexandre de la Patelli\u00e8re\u2019s The Count of Monte Cristo<\/a><\/em> demonstrated there was still an appetite, at least in France, for muscular literary adventure made on a blockbuster scale. This year in Cannes,\u00a0Antonin Baudry\u2019s\u00a0De Gaulle: Tilting Iron<\/em>, the first in an epic two-part biopic on the iconic French leader, premieres out of competition, another sign of renewed confidence in prestige French popular cinema.<\/p>\n

\tInto that landscape comes\u00a0Fred Cavay\u00e9\u2019s\u00a0Les Mis\u00e9rables<\/em><\/a>, a new action-skewed adaptation of\u00a0Victor Hugo\u2019s classic about crime, justice and redemption, starring\u00a0Vincent Lindon\u00a0as Jean Valjean and\u00a0Tahar Rahim\u00a0<\/strong>as the relentless Inspector Javert. The film reframes Hugo\u2019s novel \u2014 adapted dozens of times throughout the decades but probably best known to modern audiences from the\u00a0musical and\u00a0Tom Hooper\u2019s 2012 film adaptation<\/a> \u2014 as a propulsive chase thriller. Alongside Lindon and Rahim, and veteran actors\u00a0Camille Cottin\u00a0and\u00a0Benjamin Lavernhe, the film boasts a supporting cast of 20- and 30-something up-and-comers, including\u00a0No\u00e9mie Merlant\u00a0(Portrait of a Lady on Fire<\/em>,\u00a0T\u00e1r<\/em>),\u00a0Megan Northam\u00a0(Rabia<\/em>),\u00a0Vassili Schneider\u00a0(The Count of Monte Cristo<\/em>),\u00a0Marie Colomb\u00a0<\/strong>(The Beasts<\/em>), and\u00a0Louis Peres\u00a0<\/strong>(The Sentinels<\/em>). \t<\/p>\n

\tThe 40 million euro ($47\u202fmillion) production was put together independently by\u00a0Richard Grandpierre\u00a0at Eskwad (The\u00a0Tuche<\/em>\u00a0franchise,\u00a0Brotherhood of the Wolf<\/em>) and\u00a0Olivier Delbosc\u00a0at Curiosa Films (8 Women<\/em>,\u00a0The Wizard of the Kremlin<\/em>) with backing from Canal+\/ Studiocanal<\/a>, which is releasing the film theatrically across its global footprint and handling worldwide sales at the Cannes film market. Additional funding came from TF1 and Netflix in France.<\/p>\n

\tIn an exclusive interview with\u00a0The Hollywood Reporter<\/em>, Grandpierre and Delbosc discuss the high-stakes gamble behind reviving the grand French popular epic, why they believed audiences were ready for another\u00a0Les Mis\u00e9rables<\/em>, and why Victor Hugo\u2019s 19th century classic still feels politically explosive today.<\/p>\n

\tWhy make yet another version of\u00a0Les Mis\u00e9rables<\/em>?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\tRichard Grandpierre<\/strong>\u00a0We were expecting this question. You\u2019re absolutely right. I can speak for myself, but I\u2019m sure Olivier agrees \u2014 in the lifetime of a producer, we all dream of doing something like\u00a0The Three Musketeers<\/em>,\u00a0Monte Cristo<\/em>, the major productions, the major books in French literature.<\/p>\n

\tBut I think what really prompted us to do this movie was our meeting with Fred Cavay\u00e9, the director, and hearing him talk about his idea. And the other reason is that for 35 years, nobody had done a version of\u00a0Les Mis\u00e9rables<\/em>\u00a0in France. The last time was with\u00a0Lino Ventura<\/strong>\u00a0as Jean Valjean [in 1982, directed by\u00a0Robert Hossein<\/strong>]. An entire generation has not experienced watching it onscreen. If you take people under 30, I\u2019m sure most of them haven\u2019t read\u00a0Les Mis\u00e9rables<\/em>. They only know it through [Hooper\u2019s 2012] musical. \t<\/p>\n

\tThe difference with Fred Cavay\u00e9\u2019s vision is that the characters are young. Before, it was just [middle-aged]. We\u2019ve brought in a whole new universe of younger characters, the youth in Victor Hugo\u2019s story, people 15- to 20-year-olds can identify with.<\/p>\n

\tOlivier Delbosc<\/strong>\u00a0We were very quickly convinced that Victor Hugo\u2019s story is completely timeless. It\u2019s a story of inequality and social misery that unfortunately is still very contemporary.<\/p>\n

\tGrandpierre<\/strong>\u00a0The strength of the movie comes from the fact that it resonates in today\u2019s world and in today\u2019s life. You\u2019ve probably heard about the Yellow Vest movement a few years ago, where people went into the streets to protest and demonstrate. It\u2019s the same thing as the barricades Victor Hugo described in the 19th century, when people couldn\u2019t afford bread.<\/p>\n

\tIf you watch the news, unfortunately it\u2019s exactly the same topics that Victor Hugo\u2019s brought up in his book.<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t \t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>

\t \t\t\t\t\t(L to R): Vincent Lindon as Jean Valjean and Tahar Rahim as Javert in \u2018Les Miserables<\/a>\u2018<\/span> \t\t \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tChristophe Brachet \u00a9 2026 Curiosa Films \u2013 Eskwad \u2013 Studiocanal \u2013 TF1 Films<\/cite> \t\t\t\t\t \t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

\tHow does Fred Cavay\u00e9\u2019s approach make this adaptation distinct?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\tDelbosc<\/strong>\u00a0He has done a lot of thrillers and action movies, and he\u2019s using those techniques to create tension. That is what brings modernity to Victor Hugo\u2019s masterpiece.<\/p>\n

\tWe have big films about Charles de Gaulle and the Vichy regime screening in Cannes this year. Why do you think French cinema is returning to large-scale historical and period films at this moment?<\/strong> \t<\/p>\n

\tDelbosc<\/strong>\u00a0In the \u201960s, \u201970s and \u201980s, French cinema was producing a lot of period films, and that kind of disappeared after the \u201980s because they cost a lot of money and take a lot of time to make. Now they are coming back, with a modern twist but with the same themes of social inequality that were described 100 years ago. Because unfortunately history repeats itself and the same problems keep coming back.<\/p>\n

\tGrandpierre<\/strong>\u00a0I think it\u2019s really the desire of producers to make these kind of movies. Olivier and I are about the same generation, and we grew up with these great, popular French period movies. When we were starting in the industry, we watched Claude Berri\u2019s films [like\u00a0Jean de Florette\u00a0<\/em>(1986),\u00a0Uranus<\/em>\u00a0(1990) and\u00a0Germinal\u00a0<\/em>(1993] and loved them. So we had the desire to make a great popular French movie.<\/p>\n

\tAnd I could ask you the same question: Why does American cinema continue to make Westerns? Because they speak to the country\u2019s collective history.<\/p>\n

\tDelbosc<\/strong>\u00a0And audiences around the world love period movies, historical stories, whether in series or cinema.<\/p>\n

\tDo you think historical films allow filmmakers to engage with contemporary political tensions without directly dividing audiences?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\tGrandpierre<\/strong>\u00a0That wasn\u2019t our goal, we simply wanted to make a great, popular French movie.<\/p>\n

\tWhat is true, though, is that there is a resonance between what Victor Hugo wrote in his time and what is happening today. We didn\u2019t look for this political resonance, but it just happens that what Victor Hugo wrote is still current \u2014 not only in France, but in other countries as well. \t<\/p>\n

\tBut once the film is released, won\u2019t audiences inevitably interpret it through today\u2019s political climate?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\tDelbosc<\/strong>\u00a0That\u2019s the idea of art and cinema: to provide audiences with different ways to read and understand a movie. Victor Hugo, by the way, was not only a great writer, he also became a politician. He fought against the death penalty and for women\u2019s voting rights.<\/p>\n

\tCan you talk about the scale of the production and how difficult it was to finance?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\tGrandpierre<\/strong>\u00a0The budget is 40\u202fmillion euros. The shoot took three months. We had four years of preparation between the casting, finding the stunt people and getting the technical team together.<\/p>\n

\tWe had ups and downs with the financing, but what really convinced people to invest was Fred Cavay\u00e9 wrote a 40-page outline that made them see what the film would be and convinced everyone to take the risk. I\u2019d also add that he had a great co-screenwriter in Victor Hugo.<\/p>\n

\tBut it\u2019s a rare experience today in the French system, for independent producers like us to be able to put together such a movie.<\/p>\n

\tDelbosc<\/strong>\u00a0It\u2019s the biggest French production of last year.<\/p>\n

\tCan you break down the financing structure?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\tDelbosc<\/strong>\u00a0It\u2019s a StudioCanal, Canal+, Netflix and TF1 Film Production. Netflix only has French rights. [Canal+ subsidiary] StudioCanal is distributing in eight territories worldwide including France, Germany, Italy and the U.K. and is also handling worldwide sales. \t<\/p>\n

\tWere you thinking about the international<\/a> audience while making the film?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\tGrandpierre<\/strong>\u00a0When you make a French movie, it\u2019s always complicated to sell into the English-speaking market, because there are very few examples of French movies that work, particularly in America. Usually genre films or smaller art house movies. But thanks to the musical, the English-speaking world knows what\u00a0Les Mis\u00e9rables<\/em>\u00a0is.<\/p>\n

\tWhat was the single most difficult sequence to shoot?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\tDelbosc<\/strong>\u00a0The barricades. That was a three-week shoot in Bordeaux in the middle of a heat wave. It was 40 degrees [107 F], with 300 extras. And I should note, nothing was done with AI. We did it the old-fashioned way. The hot, sweaty, old-fashioned way.<\/p>\n

\tGrandpierre<\/strong>\u00a0We use VFX in postproduction of course, but no AI. Look at us, we\u2019re obviously old-generation people. We don\u2019t use AI.<\/p>\n

\tWhere does the film stand now in postproduction, and what are the release plans?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\tGrandpierre<\/strong>\u00a0The film is at the end of the editing process right now. It will be released on October 14 in France. We weren\u2019t ready for Cannes, and StudioCanal, which is selling the movie, will decide whether to show it at a festival before release.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\tFor younger audiences who mainly know\u00a0Les Mis\u00e9rables\u00a0<\/em>through the musical, what will they discover in your version that feels new?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\tGrandpierre<\/strong>\u00a0In France, we have a great asset in Fred Cavay\u00e9 and Victor Hugo, of course, but we also have an incredible modern cast. All generations can identify with someone in the cast \u2014 Vincent Lindon for some people, the younger actors for others: Benjamin Lavernhe, No\u00e9mie Merlant, Megan Northam, Vassili Schneider, Louis Peres. It\u2019s one of the best casts we can have in France today.\u00a0 \t<\/p>\n

\tAs long as you don\u2019t have Russell Crowe singing in it, I\u2019ll be happy.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\tGrandpierre<\/strong>\u00a0No, definitely not.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The French are betting audiences want their epics back. For much of the 1980s and \u201990s, France regularly mounted sprawling prestige productions on a scale few European industries could match. Films like\u00a0Jean-Paul Rappeneau\u2019s\u00a0Cyrano de Bergerac\u00a0(1990),\u00a0Claude Berri\u2019s\u00a0Germinal\u00a0(1993), or\u00a0Patrice Ch\u00e9reau\u2019s\u00a0Queen Margot\u00a0(1994). But as production costs rose and financing grew more risk-averse, those ambitious historical spectacles gradually disappeared from the big screen, replaced by smaller auteur dramas, comedies and internationally portable genre films. Now, after years in retreat, large-scale French period storytelling is mounting a comeback. Studiocanal parent Canal+ has found global audiences for glossy historical series such as\u00a0Versailles\u00a0and\u00a0Marie Antoinette, while\u00a0Martin Bourboulon\u2019s two-part\u00a0The Three Musketeers\u00a0adaptation and Matthieu Delaporte and Alexandre de la Patelli\u00e8re\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1548,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[307,2,116,1003,27,60,1004],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1547","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cannes-2026","category-hollywood","category-international","category-les-miserables","category-movie-news","category-movies","category-studiocanal"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1547","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1547"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1547\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1548"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1547"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1547"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1547"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}