Gilles Lellouche confides for the first time on his hesitation to take on the role of Obelix in “Asterix & Obelix: The Middle Empire” and confides his “fear” to go after Gérard Depardieu who played the hero in the previous sections.
It’s a new XXL challenge that promises to be for Gilles Lellouche! As we know, he will be the next actor to don the Obelix costume for Asterix and Obelix: The Middle Empire, the filming of which ended 10 days ago under the direction of Guillaume Canet.
For the care of this new opus, the two heroes will be camped by a new duo, Gilles Lellouche in Obélix, and Guillaume Canet in Asterix. If the performers of Asterix have often changed (Christian Clavier, Clovis Cornillac, Edouard Baer …), this is not the case for the role of Obélix, faithfully played by Gérard Depardieu since 1999 and the first part “live action “directed by Claude Zidi.
It was therefore with a certain pressure that Gilles Lellouche was entrusted with this mission and therefore accepted with hesitation. He even confides in JDD this Sunday have “hesitated a lot“.
“It’s very inhibiting to get behind Gérard Depardieu“, he specifies.”Depardieu, it’s Obélix even before he puts on the costume“.
“I was also scared to attack this character that everyone knows and who is not easy to play, between his permanent candor and his anger“, he continues, indicating that it is thanks to his daughter that he accepted.”It was my daughter who told me I had to go.“
To successfully complete this challenge, the actor says more about his preparation: “I worked a lot, not just physically even if that’s what you see the most: I gained 20 kilos, eating four times a day and doing weight lifting. Now I have my work cut out for me to lose weight!“
For the record, Asterix and Obelix: The Middle Empire will be an original screenplay, and not adapted from one or more comics already published. This is the first time, excluding animation, that an Asterix film is based on a completely new story, imagined by Philippe Mechelen and Julien Hervé. The initial idea was launched by the producer Yohan Baiada, which interested the Editions Albert René (owners of the work of Uderzo and Goscinny).
The pitch is as follows: A cart arrives in the Gallic village with the Chinese princess Fu Yi who came to ask for help after the coup d’etat of a certain Deng Tsin Qin, who overthrew the empress. The reputation of the irreducible Gauls is known as far as Shanghai.
The release of Asterix and Obelix: The Middle Empire is scheduled for 2022.
By then, Gilles Lellouche will be one of the headliners of Bac Nord, at the cinema this Wednesday:
