Zlatan Ibrahimovic To Make Movie Debut In ‘Asterix & Obelix’ With Guillaume Canet, Gilles Lellouche, Marion Cotillard, Vincent Cassel; Netflix Boards Some Rights
Pathé has finalized cast for Asterix & Obelix: The Middle Kingdom (previously known as Asterix & Obelix: Silk Road), the upcoming fifth live action film from the beloved children’s franchise.
Cameras are set to roll this spring, with cast including Guillaume Canet as Asterix, Gilles Lellouche as Obelix (it’s the first time in the five-film French-language franchise that Gerard Depardieu won’t portray Obelix), Vincent Cassel as Cesar, Marion Cotillard as Cleopatra and Jonathan Cohen as Finalthesis. Also starring are Ramzy Bedia, Julie Chen, Linh-Dan Pham, Pierre Richard, and in his feature debut, soccer star Zlatan Ibrahimovic as Oneofus.
Philippe Mechelen and Julien Hervé wrote the screenplay, and Guillaume Canet is also directing. Project is produced by Trésor Films, Pathé Films and Les Enfants Terribles. The score will come from French musician Matthieu Chedid. The initial plan was to shoot in China but production will take place in France and Morocco.
Distributors include Pathé in France and Switzerland, Leonine in Germany, Kinoswiat in Poland, Unicorn in CIS and Baltics, Blitz for Ex-Yugoslavia, Rosebud for Greece and Netflix in a handful of unnamed markets.
Netflix is separately developing a series based on the popular kids story.
AC Milan star Ibrahimovic, one of football’s most iconic and decorated contemporary players, has played at clubs including Barcelona, PSG, LA Galaxy and Manchester United.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic to make movie debut in Asterix & Obelix
AC Milan striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic will make his acting debut in the new Asterix and Obelix film.
Deadline reported on Thursday that film production company Pathe has finalised the cast for Asterix & Obelix: The Middle Kingdom, with Ibrahimovic to star alongside the likes of Guillaume Canet, Gilles Lellouche, Marion Cotillard and Vincent Cassel.
It will be Ibrahimovic’s silver screen debut, although the 39-year-old is no stranger to performing and sang a duet with the Bologna coach Sinisa Mihajlovict at Italy’s Sanremo festival in March.
Ibrahimovic is also enjoying a successful year on the pitch. He is AC Milan’s top scorer this season and recently came out of international retirement for Sweden.
Pathe Relocates ‘Asterix & Obelix’ Movie From China to France
Pathe is relocating Guillaume Canet’s live-action movie “Asterix & Obelix” to France, instead of China where it was initially planned to shoot last year, and couldn’t do so due to the pandemic. Swedish soccer star Zlatan Ibrahimovic has joined the cast.
Now titled “Asterix & Obelix, the Middle Kingdom,” the movie is budgeted at 60 million Euros and marks the next installment of the blockbuster French comic book franchise. The pic is being produced by the French banners Les Enfants Terribles and Tresor Films, with Pathe co-producing and handling French distribution rights and international sales.
Pathe has already enlisted a flurry of buyers, including Netflix for several undisclosed territories, Leonine in Germany, Unicorn for CSI and Baltics, Blitz for ex Yugoslavia, Kinoswiat for Poland, and Rosebud 21 for Greece. Pathe will distribute in France and Switzerland.
The shoot will start April 12 with a stellar cast. Alongside Ibrahimovic, the cast includes Marion Cotillard, who will play Cleopatra, Canet and Gilles Lellouche, who will play Asterix and Obelix, respectively, as well as Vincent Cassel, Jonathan Cohen and Ramzy Bedia, among others.
The movie’s new plot is under wraps. Philippe Mechelen and Julien Herve penned the original screenplay based on the comicbook collection created by René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo, and published by Les Editions Albert-René. Canet also teamed with Mechelen and Herve on the movie’s dialogue and adaptation.
The “Asterix and Obelix” franchise has produced a number of hits in France. The installment directed by Alain Chabat in 2002, “Asterix and Obelix: Meet Cleopatra,” was the most successful so far. Pathé co-produced and handled all but one of the installments.
The movie will boast an original score by Matthieu Chedid, the popular French singer. It’s the highest-budgeted French-language movie in the pipeline for 2022.
Canet previously helmed some of France’s biggest B.O. hits in recent years. These include “Little White Lies,” the highest-grossing French film of 2010, and “Nous finirons ensemble,” which sold more than 2.6 million tickets earlier this year. Both movies also starred Lellouche.
Pictured: “Asterix and Obelix Take on Caesar.”