Ladj Ly to Helm New Thomas-Alexandre Dumas Film
Ladj Ly, the filmmaker behind the Oscar-nominated “Les Misérables," will write and direct “Dumas: Black Devil.”
The epic, about Alexandre Dumas' father who was the French army's first Black general, will be produced by "The Count of Monte Cristo" team. https://t.co/1tYUtUfo40
- Variety (@Variety) October 22, 2024
Ladj Ly will write and direct a French film about the life of Thomas-Alexandre Dumas, the first Black general in the French Army. The film is currently titled Dumas: Black Devil. Ly previously directed Les Misérables (OP note: not an adaptation of the Victor Hugo novel) which was nominated for Best International Feature at the Oscars in 2020.
Born in Saint-Domingue (now Haiti) in 1762, Dumas was the son of Alexandre Antoine Davy de la Pailleterie, a French marquis, and Marie-Cessette Dumas, an enslaved Black woman. Dumas came to France with his father in 1776, where he was made a free man by French law. He was educated as the son of an aristocrat, but would later enlist in the army using his mother’s surname. During the French Revolution, he rose through the ranks to become a general - and in the process gained a powerful rival by the name of Napoleon Bonaparte.
The film will be produced by Pathé, which recently adapted the most famous novels written by Dumas’ son (who was also named Alexandre Dumas): The Three Musketeers: D’artagnan (2023), The Three Musketeers: Milady (2023), and The Count of Monte Cristo (2024). Variety suggests Pathé is planning for Dumas: Black Devil to be a big budget epic.
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