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The Spirou & Fantasio movie (with working title Les Aventures de Spirou et Fantasio, same as the comic) started shooting 16. January, and so there’s now quite a lot more information about it available…
The film has an official webpage on AlloCiné, which offers a blurb describing the premise (a slightly different version appears elsewhere – here they’ve been merged for convenience):
When Spirou, posing as a bellhop in a luxury hotel, runs into Fantasio, a reporter in dire need of a scoop, they hit it off… badly! No chance of these two becoming friends. However, when the Count of Champignac, an inventor and mushroom-hunter as brilliant as he is eccentric, is kidnapped by the henchmen of the nefarious Zorglub, our two heroes immediately go looking for him. Joined by Seccotine, Fantasio’s journalistic rival, and Spip, a mischievous little squirrel, they’re caught up in an unbelievable adventure that takes them from Europe to North Africa, with frenetic chases, twists and turns, and zorg-rays. Spirou and Fantasio will have to work as a team to save Champignac… and the rest of the world with him!
Part of the filming is taking place in Morocco, in numerous locations including Marrakesh, Ouarzazate, Tafilalt, Merzouga, Errachidia, Erfoud and Zagora (according to the Moroccan Libération). Filming is also happening in France, and is expected to last until 27. March.
All the main cast has now been announced; as we knew, it has Thomas Solivérès as Spirou and Alex Lutz as Fantasio, and it turns out that it is Zorglub that Ramzy Bédia will be playing. Christian Clavier (perhaps best known as Asterix in the first two live-action movies) takes the role of the Count of Champignac, posting this picture to Facebook and Twitter:
Finally, Seccotine is being played by Géraldine Nakache, who previously appeared as Pétunia in HOUBA! On the Trail of the Marsupilami. She also co-wrote and -directed the successful 2010 comedy All That Glitters (Tout ce qui brille), and incidentally her brother directed The Intouchables, in which Thomas Solivérès first debuted:
Other cast members include Charlotte Gabris and Vincent Desagnat, though their roles have not yet been revealed.
And let’s round off this update with some pictures posted to Twitter by Thomas Solivérès and by Marc Missonnier, one of the producers:
The last two might be props from the movie; they contain references to a number of Spirou & Fantasio adventures from the Franquin, Fournier and Tome & Janry runs. (Marcel Volène is a rival reporter in Spirou & Fantasio #33: Virus.)
