DE WINTER IS COMING

THE THREE MUSKETEERS: MILADY Martin Bourboulon on his two-part, swashbuckling epic.

‘For the last time, stop telling people this is a remake of Dogtanian and the Three Muskehounds!’

You wait decades for a French-language version of Alexandre Dumas’ sprawling classic The Three Musketeers, and along comes director Martin Bourboulon to deliver his lavish two-part adaptation in the space of just eight months. This spring saw the release of the rollicking D’Artagnan, in which the handsome youngster (François Civil, right) travels to Paris in 1627 to enlist in the King’s Guard, where he teams up with swordsmen Athos (Vincent Cassel), Porthos (Pio Marmaï) and Aramis (Romain Duris) as the country teeters on the brink of civil war. This December sees the arrival of the second instalment, Milady, where Eva Green, hitherto playing a supporting character in the story, takes centre stage as a treacherous spy in the pay of Cardinal Richelieu.

D’Artagnan proved a resounding success at the French box office, attracting some 3.3 million ticket sales, which makes it the third highestgrossing domestic release so far in 2023. ‘It showed that in France and abroad we could continue to make great spectacle films for the cinema,’ explains Bourboulon (Eiffel), during a break from post-production on Milady.

What, though, inspired him to take on the challenge of adapting such a well-known novel? ‘Like other works by Dumas, there’s a timeless quality to The Three Musketeers,’ is his answer.

‘In France it’s been 60 years since the book has been adapted for cinema. We thought it was a good time to offer audiences a great historical fresco, with strong values such as loyalty, fraternity, a sense of honour and community, whilst at the same time trying to make the story both very epic and intimate by delving into the many characters that make up this project.’

The logistical challenges of assembling two films with a combined running time of nearly four hours were considerable. Filming across multiple locations lasted for 150 days, and required 9,000 extras, 930 technicians and 650 horses. Bourboulon admits that it was challenging ‘to stay focused and alert for months, whilst trying to be precise and ambitious, and to tell two different stories while shooting everything at the same time.’

‘Few actors have such a powerful way of capturing the camera lens as Eva Green does’

MARTIN BOURBOULON

And what can viewers expect from the forthcoming concluding chapter, Milady? ‘We’re going to see the same characters again,’ he says, ‘but this time it’s more centred around Eva Green’s character of Milady. There’s a different visual approach and a different mood to this second part. We’re going to have more outdoor shots and more diverse landscapes… And I was really impressed by Eva’s physical commitment to the fight scenes, which we shot without understudies. Few actors and actresses have such a powerful way of capturing the camera lens as she does.’ En garde!

THE THREE MUSKETEERS: MILADY OPENS IN CINEMAS ON 15 DECEMBER.