"Les Misérables" by Robert Hossein is broadcast this afternoon on France 2. On this occasion, back on the reasons why Lino Ventura was so reluctant to play Jean Valjean.
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Lino Ventura
After staging "Wretched" In a musical show with some success, at the Palais des Sports in Paris, Robert Hossein seeks to adapt the famous novel by Victor Hugo on the big screen. Plummeting quickly on a screenplay, which he writes with the help of historians, he sees no one other than Lino Ventura to slip into the skin of the main character, Jean Valjean.
But the actor categorically refuses the proposal for two main reasons: the roles in costumes do not interest him and he does not feel legitimate in the shoes of this character already played by several big stars (like Jean Gabin). The director, disappointed, does not give up and returns to the charge. Lino Ventura declines again, but in a less radical way:
"He feared, given his admiration for Gabin, to take the same role behind him. Decaux and I were able to explain to Lino that the meaning we were going to give to history, the way we were going to treat it made its very different. We would put more emphasis on the mythical side of Jean Valjean, the man of all courage and all sacrifices. "*However, when Lino Ventura explains to his children that he refused the role, they answer him that he should have accepted it and that he would be perfect in Jean Valjean. Faced with this enthusiasm, the actor changes his mind and announces the good news to Robert Hossein. Filled, the director finishes the scenario, finds the financing (seven billion cents, a record for a French film) and assembles his team.
These sportsmen become movie stars
The six-month filming takes place around Sarlat in the Dordogne, and is difficult due to the cold. But Lino Ventura does not complain: he is 100% committed and makes many suggestions to Robert Hossein, who welcomes them with interest. The filmmaker, although faced with several issues related to any major production, is in total admiration for the actor:
"Lino is more like Jean Valjean than Lino Ventura. A completely modern Valjean, with his sensitivity, his kindness and his deep sadness. Because Fantine dies without being torn apart, Valjean now looks astonished. Beyond his convict violence breaking off the bench, there is in him this naivety and this essential light. He is a child, a pure soul. "*Upon its release, Les Misérables met with great critical success and the performance of Lino Ventura was particularly welcomed. The success is also commercial since the film achieves around 3.8 million admissions on French soil.
* Source: "Lino Ventura" by Gilles Durieux, Flammarion.
