Romain Gavras Teaming With ‘Les Miserables’ Filmmaker Ladj Ly on Netflix Film

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Romain Gavras, the French-Greek filmmaker best known for French comedy The World is Yours and music videos for the likes of M.I.A., Jamie xx, Jay-Z and Kanye West, is working on a new feature for Netflix.

The as-yet-untitled production — which has now started shooting in France — was written by Gavras alongside Ladj Ly, who caused a splash with his Oscar-nominated French drama Les Misérables (also winner of Cannes’ Jury Prize in 2019) and Elias Belkeddar (My Days of Glory). Iconclast (Don’t Worry, He Won’t Get Far on Foot, At Eternity’s Gate) is producing).

While Netflix is keeping the plot under wraps, the cast includes Dali Benssalah (No Time To Die), Anthony Bajon (Teddy), Cesar winner Alexis Manenti (Les Misérables), Ouassini Embarek (The Eddy) and newcomer Sami Slimane.

Gavras’ Tarantino-esque crime sage The World is Yours, about a small-time drug dealer who dreams of starting a new life, screened at the Directors’ Fortnight sidebar of Cannes in 2018. It went on to land Cesar Award nominations for best supporting actress for Isabelle Adjani and most promising actor for Karim Leklou.

Les Misérables, Ly’s feature debut and about racially-motivated police violence in Montfermeil in 2018, was a critical smash, earning 12 Cesar nominations and winner four, including best film. It was selected to represent France in the best international feature film category of the 2020 Academy Awards, but lost out to Parasite.

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