Inspired by true events, The Connection tells the story of real-life Marseilles magistrate Pierre Michel (played by Jean Dujardin from The Artist) and his relentless crusade to dismantle the most notorious drug smuggling operation in history: the French Connection. In his crosshairs is charismatic and wealthy kingpin, Gatean “Tany” Zampa (aka La French), who runs the largest underground heroin trade into the States. Shot entirely on 35mm, Cédric Jimenez’s The Connection is a throwback to a time when 70s Italian and American crime dramas reigned supreme.
Director Biography
CÉDRIC JIMENEZ
Formerly a model for world class fashion brands including Ralph Lauren, Cédric Jimenez began his filmmaking career in 2003 with the documentary Who's the Boss: Boss of Scandalz Strategyz, which explored the famous hip-hop label and its musicians. In 2007, he wrote Scorpion, directed by Julien Seri, a narrative feature set in the world of Thai boxing. Aux Yeux de Tous (Paris Under Watch), co-directed with Arnaud Duprey in 2012, marked Jimenez’s first turn as director.
Cast Biographies
JEAN DUJARDIN
Jean Dujardin first garnered international acclaim for his performance as George Valentin in The Artist, Michel Hazanavicius’ tribute to Hollywood’s silent era that went on to win five Academy Awards® in 2012, including Best Picture and a Best Actor nod for the French star. That same year, Dujardin was also awarded a Golden Globe for Best Performance by an Actor in a Comedy or Musical, a BAFTA award, a Screen Actors Guild Award and an Independent Spirit Award, amongst other prizes. The amazing journey of The Artist started at the Cannes Film Festival in May 2011, where, following the film’s premiere, Dujardin received a Best Actor trophy from jury president Robert De Niro.
Dujardin began his career in the early 1990s doing stand-up with his comedy troupe Nous C Nous, who eventually got their own special on French national television. In 1999, he got his big break, starring in the hit sitcom Un gars, une fille with Alexandra Lamy. After supporting roles in Mariages! and Le Convoyeur (2004), he got his first leading role in Brice de Nice (2005), based on a character Dujardin had created on stage. The film became the most successful French movie of that year. Dujardin had another hit the following year with the spy comedy OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies, which spawned the sequel OSS 117: Lost in Rio in 2009. Both were directed by Michel Hazanavicius, who teamed up again with Dujardin in 2011 for The Artist.
After winning the Oscar®, Dujardin made his American debut in Martin Scorsese’s The Wolf of Wall Street, playing Swiss banker Jean-Jacques Saurel opposite Leonardo DiCaprio. Additional credits include 99 Francs (2007), Ca$h (2008), Lucky Luke (2009), The Clink of Ice (2010), Little White Lies (2010), A View of Love (2010) and Möbius (2013).
GILLES LELLOUCHE
Gilles Lellouche has appeared in more than fifty films since 1995 and has been nominated twice for a César Award: in 2006 for Most Promising Actor and in 2011 for Best Supporting actor for his performance in Guillaume Canet’s Little White Lies.
A graduate of the Cours Florent, Lellouche began his career in film as a director of short films and music videos. He also took a number of smaller onscreen roles until meeting Guillaume Canet, for whom he acted in My Idol (2002) and Tell No One (2006). Lellouche has acted in a broad range of genres, from romantic comedies like It Had to be You (2007) to dramas like My Place in the Sun (2007) and Paris (2008) to French crime films like The Last Gang (2007), The Easy Way (2008), and Mesrine Part 1: Killer Instinct (2008), and has also lent his voice to a number of animated films. In 2010 he acted for Luc Besson in The Extraordinary Adventures of Adèle Blanc-Sec and Guillaume Canet in Little White Lies, and has become one of the most popular actors in French cinema. Having previously acted together in Little White Lies, Lellouche and Dujardin are reunited again in The Connection.
CÉLINE SALLETTE
Celine Sallette pursued Theatre Studies at the University Michel de Montaigne - Bordeaux III, where she acted with the Petit Théâtre de Pain company. In 2002, she took a course under the direction of Ariane Mnouchkine at the Théâtre du Soleil and joined the National Conservatory of Dramatic Art in Paris. Upon leaving the Conservatory in 2006, she appeared in Sofia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette. Other notable films in which Sallette has acted include A Burning Hot Summer (2011), House of Tolerance and Rust and Bone (2012), and The Connection (2014).
She was nominated for the César Award for Most Promising Actress for her performance in House of Tolerance in 2012, and was awarded the Prix Romy Schneider in 2013.
MÉLANIE DOUTEY
Mélanie Doutey is the daughter of filmmaker Alain Doutey and actress Arielle Séménoff. In 2002, she graduated from the National Conservatory of Dramatic Art in Paris. Doutey has appeared in Claude Chabrol's The Flower of Evil (2003), Wolf (2004), the true story of a mole within the Basque separatist group ETA, Président (2006) alongside Marion Cotillard and Benoît Magimel, among numerous other films. Prior to The Connection (2014), she acted for Cédric Jimenez in his first feature film, Aux Yeux de Tous (Paris Under Watch).
Doutey received the Prix Suzanne Bianchetti in 2003 and was nominated for a César Award for Most Promising Actress in 2006 for her performance in Il ne faut jurer...de rien! (2005), a film adaptation of an Alfred de Musset play.
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