Jean Dujardin had an opportunity to choose any number of roles to follow up The Artist, which won multiple Oscars, including Best Actor for Dujardin. Ultimately he decided to star in a crime thriller called La French, which has the movie world buzzing after eight astounding minutes of footage premiered at the Cannes Film Festival. A bidding war for the distribution rights quickly ensued, with Drafthouse Films beating out others for the chance to bring a movie many are calling a milestone in French genre filmmaking to theaters.
See an image from La French below.
Billed as the flip side to one of our all-time favorite crime thrillers, The French Connection, La French follows a young officer of the law who leads a one-man battle against a seemingly untouchable mafia organization. Here's the official plot synopsis:
"Marseille. 1975. Pierre Michel, a young magistrate with a wife and children, has just been transferred to help in the crackdown on organized crime. He decides to take on the French Connection, a mafia-run operation that exports heroin the world over. Paying heed to no one’s warnings, he leads a one-man campaign against mafia kingpin Gaetan Zampa, the most untouchable godfather of them all. "
The coolness doesn't end with the above poster, either. La French is also based on a crazy true story, and was shot--and will be projected--in 35 mm film, for those film geeks out there who dig those sorts of details. After its theatrical premiere Drafthouse Films will also preserve the movie's hip retro vibe by releasing it on VHS in addition to DVD, Blu-ray and digital formats.
Look for La French to arrive in theaters in January of 2015, courtesy of Drafthouse Films. Now who else is in the mood to rewatch The French Connection tonight?
