Will the Sun King usher in the dawn of a French television golden age? The makers of the new historical drama Versailles hope so.
Based on King Louis XIV, the series has a budget of $30 million (R362m) – making it the most expensive show France has produced. And the biggest surprise for a nation known for Gallic pride: the show will be in English.
The ambition is to put France on the international television map. French TV had already been making global strides with the zombie series The Returned bagging the 2013 International Emmy Award and Netflix launching in France with a new French political thriller, Marseille. With Versailles, the goal is to compete head-to-head in the US with the likes of Britain’s Downton Abbey and the US fantasy smash hit Game of Thrones.
The show will be broadcast from November in France. The plan is then to bring it to the US, Britain and beyond.
To give it international appeal, Versailles was filmed entirely in English, from a script by British and US writers. That’s tantamount to sacrilege in a nation that fiercely defends its language and where intellectuals rail against Hollywood domination.
The producers are unapologetic.
“I’m not sure what the French Academy would say. We’re going to get a lot of flak,” said co-producer Claude Chelli. “It’s realpolitik – if you want to be heard and seen everywhere in the world, you have to go through English.”
When Versailles airs at home, it will be subtitled or dubbed into French.
The show’s plot has been shrouded in secrecy. All that is known is that the series explores the life of Louis XIV and features George Blagden from Vikings as the womanising king; Lizzie Brochere from American Horror Story; and Amira Casar as a trouble-ridden courtesan.
The cast has relished every moment in the fabulous costumes of Madeleine Fontaine, who is known for her work on the award-winning 2001 Amelie.
“Louis XIV had fabulous taste, invented fashions and high society, and this show has it all,” said Casar, who was able to cope with the ordeal of wearing a corset for days on end thanks to “old school” drama training.
Blagden felt slightly less at ease when the clothes came off – in the season’s many torrid scenes.
“Sex scenes are always awkward. Anyone who’s ever done a sex scene in our industry knows that they are the most embarrassing and really awkward as they’re really technical, difficult to shoot,” he said.
For him, the best part was playing one of the most colourful figures in history.
“It’s a bit of a big undertaking. But it’s the role of a lifetime,” he said.
There’s also the added job security of playing a character whom you know can’t be killed off – since Louis XIV’s reign of 72 years and 110 days is the longest of any monarch of a major European country. – AP