Johnny Hallyday biopic: “Raphaël Quenard knows how to embody the difference, the mystery” [exclu]

What period will the film tackle? And will Quenard sing? Director Cédric Jimenez reveals his ambitions for this film obviously, much awaited.

In a month will come out Chien 51Cédric Jimenez’s dystopian thriller (La French, Bac Nord, November…). A Maousse film that will plunge Gilles Lellouche and Adèle Exarchopoulos into a futuristic Paris, cut into three areas and monitored by ALMA. But this adaptation of Laurent Gaudé’s novel will not be the only major project for the Marseille director/screenwriter, who is already working on the biopic of Johnny Hallyday, scheduled in theaters on December 8, 2027, with Raphaël Quenard in the role of the singer. Cédric Jimenez delivers to First His ambitions for this necessarily extraordinary film. “” Raphaël, I know him well and I filmed with him on November. So I know he has this potential to embody the difference, the mystery … It is the kind of character who can escape us, but at the same time fascinates us. We always wonder who this guy is, if he is brilliant or a little crazy … Raphaël has a Rockstar side which is natural at home, and it is not so frequent. »

However, the resemblance between the actor and Johnny is not so striking … which does not overly worry the filmmaker: “Physically, we will not try to stick exactly to Johnny Hallyday because it would be absurd. His face is far too well known to try to create a double. Besides, in The kidMarion Cotillard does not look like Edith Piaf and in Walk the LineJoaquin Phoenix is ​​extremely far from Johnny Cash. Just like Val Kilmer in Jim Morrison in The Doors.”

“But he is tall, Raphaël, he has his blue eyes, this big smile … So we will obviously work to approach Johnny. Afterwards, it remains a biopic: Raphaël will interpret the character. He will also work a lot, a lot, a lot. He still has nine months of full -time intensive preparation that awaits him.”

And big question: will Quenard sing in the film? “” He’s going to sing on the set. I can’t tell you everything (laughs.) But in any case he will sing, for sure. You will have to find tips, because if everyone could sing like Johnny Hallyday, it would be known! If I had a biopic on Zidane to turn, I would not ask anyone to play football like him. But he would play football in the film. As well as Zidane, not sure, but he would play (laughs.) We are at the start of the project, so I don’t have all the keys yet. But we’re going to work to bring Raphaël Queard as close to Johnny’s voice.

“And above all, the idea is that we live through its interpretation the story of Hallyday, which starts over 80 years ago now. We must not forget that Johnny, it is not only the one we remember today, there is also the whole start. Who will also be the start of the film, since it will be chronological.”

So we will see the whole life of Johnny, from start to finish? « No, not necessarily. We also want to tell the arrival of rock in France, an era when youth was uninhibited and did not worry about the future. It is a question of giving hope, of showing these people who wanted to live thoroughly and who saw the future as something very beautiful. This Johnny biopic will be a positive film because it was a positive character and the public loved deeply. There is bound to be a vertigo to tell this absolute legend. But the stake must not take over the desire, on the desire to want, if I dare say (laughs.). So I have to go even if it fucks the pressure: the desire and the excitement prevail. »