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PRODUCTION France

Filming wraps on Le Retour du héros by Laurent Tirard

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- Jean Dujardin, Noémie Merlant and Mélanie Laurent star in this Curiosa Films production being sold internationally by StudioCanal

Filming wraps on Le Retour du héros by Laurent Tirard
Actors Jean Dujardin and Mélanie Laurent

The last clapperboard slams on 9 July on the 7th feature film by Laurent Tirard: Return of the Hero [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
. A new opus for a filmmaker who manages to balance his artistic qualities with box office results, as shown by The Story of My Life (743,000 admissions in France in 2004 and winner of the César for Best Supporting Actor in 2005), Molière [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
(1.2 million admissions in France in 2007 and four nominations at the Césars in 2008), Little Nicholas [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
(5.5 million admissions in France in 2009), Asterix and Obelix: God Save Britannia [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
(3.8 million admissions in 2012), Nicholas on Holiday [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
(2.4 million admissions in 2014) and Up for Love [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
(708,000 admissions in 2016).

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The film stars Jean Dujardin (who won the performance award at Cannes in 2011 as well as the Oscar and Golden Globe the following year for The Artist [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Michel Hazanavicius
film profile
]
; has received two nominations for the César for Best Actor, once in 2007 for OSS 117: Le Caire, nid d'espions [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
, and is back working with Laurent Tirard after Up for Love), Noémie Merlant (who was acclaimed for her performance in Once in a Lifetime [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
and nominated for the César and Lumière for Most Promising Actress in 2017 for Heaven Will Wait [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
) and Mélanie Laurent (the European Film Promotion’s Shooting Star of 2007 and the winner of the César for Most Promising Actress the same year for Don’t Worry, I’m Fine [+see also:
trailer
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]
, who was acclaimed for her performance in Inglourious Basterds [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
and Enemy [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
among others, and who we will see in theatres on 20 September in My Boy [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
by Christian Carion). The cast also features Christophe Montenez, Evelyne Buyle, Christian Bujeau, Fabienne Galula, Laurent Bateau, Jean-Michel Lahami and Féodor Atkine.

Written by Laurent Tirard with his usual partner in crime Grégoire Vigneron (a pair that was nominated for the César for Best Original Screenplay in 2008 for Molière along with the César for Best Adaptation in 2010 for Little Nicholas), the screenplay sets the scene in France in 1809. Captain Neuville is a great romancer. He has just asked for the hand of young Pauline in marriage, under the watchful and distrustful eye of Elisabeth, the latter’s sister. But Neuville is called to the front and Pauline receives no news of him. While Pauline slowly but surely wastes away, Elisabeth picks up a pen and starts writing to Pauline pretending to be Neuville, making him into a true war hero. But the captain ends up resurfacing, to the great displeasure of Elisabeth…

Associate produced by JD Prod (the company owned by brothers Marc and Jean Dujardin) and Les Films sur mesure (which is directed by Olivia Tirard-Lagache), Return of the Hero is being co-produced by France 3 Cinéma and StudioCanal (which will release the film in France on 14 February 2018 and is handling international sales). Also pre-purchased by Canal+ and supported by the La Banque Postale Image SOFICA, filming has been going on for two months in the Ile-de-France region with Guillaume Schiffman as director of photography (who was nominated for an Oscar for his work on The Artist in 2012 and received four nominations for the Césars between 2007 and 2013).

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(Translated from French)

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