SAM CLAFLIN STARS AS THE ICONIC EDMOND DANTES IN THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO DIRECTED BY OSCAR® WINNER BILLE AUGUST
Roma, Paris, October 11, 2023 - PALOMAR (Italy) in collaboration with DEMD Productions (France) and in association with RAI FICTION, FRANCE TELEVISIONS, MEDIAWAN RIGHTS and ENTOURAGE VENTURES are proud to announce the shooting of the 8X52’ series THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO.
The European team of partners fully financed the independent show and the shooting will take place until mid-December in France, Italy and Malta.
At the helm of this series is none other than visionary Danish director Bille August (Pelle the Conqueror, Palme d’or at the Cannes Film Festival and Oscar for Best Foreign Film, The Best Intentions, Palme d’or at the Cannes Film Festival, The House of the Spirits, Les Misérables, 55 Steps).
A prestigious cast breathes new life into the beloved and timeless French most popular novels of all time The Count of Monte Cristo.
British actor Sam Claflin (Pirates ofthe Caribbean: On StrangerTides, Hunger Games, Peaky Blinders, Daisy Jones and the Six) embodies the novel’s hero, the iconic Edmond Dantes.
The cast includes, among others, Ana Girardot, Mikkel Boe Følsgaard, Blake Ritson, Karla- Simone Spence, Michele Riondino, Lino Guanciale, Gabriella Pession and Nicolas Maupas.
Paying homage to the past while embracing a modern and sensitive perspective, the director and producers of this project aim to preserve the original richness of the story as a tribute to Alexandre Dumas’ literary legacy while also crafting a profoundly immersive experience, delving into the characters’ psychological depths, emotions and motivations.
A brand-new point of view on the female characters, one for all the young Haydée, will give a new twist to the tale: no longer a frightened slave, but a brave and empowered woman.
Carlo Degli Esposti - Palomar: “The Count of Monte Cristo is one of the novels that means the most to me, and to make a series from this novel is a great professional achievement, especially having a great director like Bille August, able to bring modernity in the greatest of tradition, and a first class actor like Sam Claflin. It is, moreover, a great honor to make this series with DEMD and Mediawan, esteemed French colleagues. The challenge we want to overcome is to transpose a great classic of European literature into a TV fiction for new generations.”
Sébastien Pavard - DEMD Productions: “
It’s an amazing opportunity and a tremendous challenge to be an active part on a series of this magnitude, taking up a novel published in 1844 by a French author as prolific as Alexandre Dumas, adapted so many times for cinema and television, and to renew the approach with a European collaboration, international famous actors, alongside our Italian cousins of Palomar.”
Elisabeth d’Arvieu - Mediawan Pictures and Valérie Vleeschhouwer - Mediawan Rights: “
The Monte Cristo project is extremely exciting because it embodies what Mediawan is capable of imagining and building around an iconic IP carried by a prestigious cast. It is the fruit of the collaboration of two of the group’s most prolific production companies - Palomar in Italy and DEMD in France - whose expertise and know-how are supported by our distribution arm Mediawan Rights and our partner Entourage Ventures. It’s a reflection of everything we do to nurture talent and bring audiences the most creative and ambitious international projects.”
Maria Pia Ammirati - Rai Fiction: “Alexandre Dumas is a master of stories that have within them the engine of seriality. Bringing the archetypal tale of The Count of Monte Cristo back to the TV screen 57 years after the historic 1966’ adaptation starring Andrea Giordana is not only consistent with Rai Fiction’s editorial line but also exciting: it gives us the opportunity to collaborate on a new international co-production of the European Alliance with Palomar, Demd Productions and France Télévisions to offer today’s audiences - youngsters in particular - a great classic in a contemporary reinterpretation. We are delighted to be able to do this achieving the highest quality with an influential director like Bille August and an international cast led by Sam Claflin.”
Manuel Alduy - France televisions: “Monte Cristo brings together all the ingredients of a great international series that will delight our French audience: the adaptation of a mythical story from our national literary heritage, an ambitious production by Palomar and DEMD, a formidable cast led by a very great author Bille August. At France Televisions, we are very proud to partner with RAI in this new coproduction that will count as our twelfth international series coproduced by the European Alliance.”