‘The Big War’ First Look: Iconic French WWII Graphic Novel Gets a Big-Budget Adaptation From Mathieu Kassovitz (EXCLUSIVE)
variety.comJamie Lang “The Big War,” one of Europe’s most ambitious feature projects brought to market at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, is heading the AFM with some incredible new graphics for its CG animal cast.
Inspired by the iconic two-part graphic novel “La Bête Est Morte,” written by Edmond-François Calvo during the Nazi occupation of France during World War II and published just after the liberation of Paris, “The Big War” is helmed by “La Haine” director Mathieu Kassovitz and produced by leading French producer Aton Soumache, whose recent credits include Annecy winner “Little Nicholas – Happy as Can Be” and Netflix’s mega-hit “Miraculous: Ladybug & Cat Noir, the Movie.” Given that the original book has very little by way of narrative, longtime Tim Burton collaborator Caroline Thompson, the award-winning screenwriter of “Edward Scissorhands” and “The Nightmare Before Christmas,” was recruited to adapt the screenplay.
Former Cannes Film Festival president and Canal+ co-founder Pierre Lescure serves as the film’s associate producer. “The Big War” will be shot over five weeks next summer before animators take over to produce the film’s characters.
The film should be finished in late 2026 or early 2027. Ahead of this year’s AFM, Kassovitrz and Soumache sat down with Variety to discuss the project’s origins, telling a story the whole family can share and why their ambitions far outweigh the film’s eye-catching €30 million budget.
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