CLASS ACT
Tapie
Season 1
Special Screening | TV Series | France | 2023 | Biopic, Drama | 7 x 52 min | Episodes 1&2 | In French with English subtitles
Directed by: Tristan Séguéla
Written by: Olivier Demangel, Tristan Séguéla, Thomas Finkielkraut, Jean-Baptiste Delafon, Clémence Madeleine-Perdrillat, Alix Delaporte
Produced by: Bruno Nahon (Unité), Netflix France
Cinematography: Hichame Alaouie
Film Editing: Jean-Baptiste Baudouin
Original Score: Amine Bouhafa
Cast: Laurent Lafitte (Bernard Tapie), Joséphine Japy (Dominique), Ophelia Kolb (Michèle), Camille Chamoux (Nicole Le Carré), Samuel Labarthe (François Mitterrand), Roberto Calvet (Jean-Jacques Eydelie), David Talbot (Eric de Montgolfier), Patrick D’Assumçao (Jean-Baptiste Tapie), Stéphane Pézérat (Serge Picot), Fabrice Luchini (Marcel Loiseau)
International Sales: Netflix
Original Broadcast: Netflix (September 13, 2023)
Consummate stage and screen actor, and member of the prestigious Comédie-Française, Laurent Lafitte brings controversial French businessman Bernard Tapie to delectable life in this seven-part highly-fictionalized biopic miniseries, recounting a blow-by-blow account of a colorful tycoon’s rise and fall. The relentlessly ambitious son of a plumber, Tapie’s enormous drive ultimately leads him to amass a fortune through numerous business interests, own a Tour de France cycling team and a major French football club, enter politics, become a successful actor and television personality, and hold a major stake in Adidas… before being convicted of tax fraud and serving time in prison. Despite the heavy measure of fiction, which led Tapie’s widow to decry the series, the result is a diverting rags-to-riches tale of an infamous figure brimming with charm, smarm and a heaping dose of chutzpah.
Tristan Séguéla began his career directing several music videos. He has written and directed two miniseries, Pierre 41 (2007) and Destination One (2006). His feature films include The Adulteen (2013), Rattrapage (2017), A Good Doctor (2019), and Un homme heureux (2023). Olivier Demangel has written two novels, 111 (2015) and Station service (2018). His numerous screenwriting credits include Séguéla’s Rattrapage (2017), Mati Diop’s Atlantics (2019), Aurélien Vernhes-Lermusiaux’s Toward the Battle (2019), the Canal+ hit series Baron noir (2018-20, COLCOA 2018), Mathieu Vadepied’s Father & Soldier (2022), Cédric Jimenez’s November (2022), Angela Terrail’s Paula (2023), Alix Delaporte’s Vivants (2023) and Delphine Deloget’s All to Play For (TAFFF 2023). Class Act premiered on Netflix on September 13, 2023.
