Studiocanal is on board “A Prophet,” a new television adaptation of Jacques Audiard’s critically acclaimed 2009 film. The eight-episode limited series began shooting July 3 with “Django” director Enrico Maria Artale and a diverse new cast led by Mamadou Sidibé.
The French-language series brings back the award-winning team behind the original film, including creators and writers Abdel Raouf Dafri (“Mesrine”, “Braquo”) and Nicolas Peufaillit (“The Returned”), as well as producer Marco Cherqui (“Savages”), in according to the producers of “A Prophet” Why Not Productions and Page 114.
The show, which will be filmed in Marseille and Apulia, Italy, is produced by Cherqui and Sebastien Janin, former Apple exec and co-founder of Media Musketeers, and co-produced by UGC, Orange Studio and Savon Noir, with participation from OCS. The main crew consists of “Gomorra” cinematographer Ferran Paredes Rubio. Veteran Italian producer Fabio Conversi (“Youth”) produces the series.
The original film won the Grand Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival, along with nine Cesar Awards, a BAFTA Award, and nominations for the Oscars and Golden Globes. It starred Tahar Rahim (“The Mauritanian”) as a 19-year-old French-Algerian who becomes involved with an organized crime gang in Paris after being sentenced to six years in prison.
Set in present-day Marseille, the new series stars Sidibé as Malik El Djebenna, a drug mule incarcerated in the infamous Baumettes Prison. There he crosses paths with a man from a rather bourgeois segment of the local Franco-Arab community, played by Sami Bouajila (“Days of Glory”, “A Son”), who unexpectedly becomes his mentor. Studiocanal has described the “series noir” as a “criminal among criminals” story, saying it will “weave complex subplots with a surreal domino effect of repercussions.”
The cast is completed by Ouassini Embarek (“Athena,” “The Eddy”), Matthieu Lucci (“Oussekine”), Nailia Harzoune (“Placés”), Faued Nabba aka Kofs (“The Stronghold”) and Moussa Maaskri (“Stillwater”) ”).
Cherqui argues that Dafri and Peufaillit modernized the story of “A Prophet” by placing it in contemporary French society while preserving its DNA.
“We reimagined Malik as a character of African descent and, as our characters exchange and transform as society evolves, our themes remain the same,” says Cherqui, noting that “A Prophet” explores the power dynamics and racial tensions within a prison, just like the original movie. The series will chart the journey of Malik, an underdog who rises through the ranks by using his intelligence rather than resorting to violence, Cherqui continued. “A Prophet” explores the racial tensions between the Corsicans and the Arabs.
Janin continues, “Working with our partners and the creative powerhouse behind the project allows us to bring this powerful story to the widest possible audience.” He adds that the show “has all the hallmarks of a major international hit.”
Cherqui’s credits include “Savages” by Rebecca Zlotowski and Sabri Louatah, a gripping political saga that broke new ground in France with its predominantly Franco-Arab cast.
Nick Vivarelli contributed to this report.