“Long live this project…” Raphael Quenard leaves the biopic on Johnny Hallyday
The actor cites a scheduling problem preventing him from “devoting himself fully to preparing” for the role.
Raphaël Quenard will not be Cédric Jimenez’s Johnny. The biopic of the legendary French singer has been in preparation for several months. But the actor revealed today, via his Instagram account, that he is no longer part of it.
“It is with regret that I inform you today that I will not play Johnny in his biopic. Film production requirements Mystikwhich I co-direct, as well as promoting the American dream which comes out on February 18, do not allow me, within the allotted time, to devote myself fully to the preparation required for such a role.
I wish the best to the entire team of this film and more generally a long life for this project.”
Last December, Raphaël Quenard was still involved in the biopic, and he spoke openly about it on the set of C to youthe France 5 show. Faced with Eddy Mitchell (very close to Johnny) who was not overflowing with enthusiasm, the actor recognized that the challenge was “difficult” to note:
“What we will focus on trying to transcribe is Johnny’s interiority. Cedric Jimenez said : ‘If we asked an actor to make a biopic on Zinedine Zidane, we could never, ever ask him to act like Zinedine Zidane.'”
It was during an interview given to First for the promotion of Dog 51 that Jimenez had made this parallel between Johnny and Zidane. The filmmaker praised Quenard’s charisma (“He has a rockstar side that is natural“) and brushed aside the question of the lack of resemblance between the actor and the youth idol.
“Physically, we won’t try to match Johnny Hallyday exactly, because that would be absurd. His face is far too famous to try to create a lookalike. Moreover, in The KidMarion Cotillard does not look like Édith Piaf and in Walk the LineJoaquin Phoenix is extremely far from Johnny Cash. Just like Val Kilmer as Jim Morrison in The Doors.”
Cédric Jimenez also spoke of the enormous work that awaited Raphaël Quenard:
“He’s tall, Raphaël, he has blue eyes, this big smile… So we’re obviously going to work to get close to Johnny. Afterwards, it remains a biopic: Raphaël will play the character. He will also work a lot, a lot, a lot. He still has nine months of intensive full-time preparation ahead of him.“
In June 2024, Laetitia Hallyday revealed to Paris Match the development of this biopic, recounting the enlightenment she had upon discovering Raphaël Quenard in Yannick by Quentin Dupieux during a flight from Los Angeles to Paris:
“I was amazed by his acting, his looks, his way of occupying space, of speaking, his spontaneity, his almost animal charisma… I said to myself that if any actor could play Johnny in the cinema, it was him.”
The film is not abandoned, and we are now waiting for the identity of its replacement to be revealed. Which actor will inherit the heavy task of playing icon Johnny Hallyday on screen?
