BIG DEAL FOR CINEFLIX: ELEPHANT TO ADAPT “MARCELLA” FOR TF1

Elephant is going to produce “Rebecca,” a French adaptation of the international hit thriller “Marcella,” for TF1 in a deal with Cineflix Rights which also sees the distributor taking exclusive worldwide rights to the new series. “Rebecca” will be directed by Didier Le Pêcheur and co-written by Le Pêcheur and Delphine Labouret. The eight-part series begins shooting this month around Paris.

Hans Rosenfeldt’s “Marcella” was produced by Buccaneer Media and stars Anna Friel in a role which brought her an International Emmy Award for outstanding performance. A global success across 24 episodes, the third season is available now on Netflix and will premiere on ITV in the UK in Autumn 2020.

In this fast-paced paranoid thriller, Anne Marivin takes on the titular role. Six years after abandoning the hunt for a serial killer and quitting the police force, Rebecca decides to return to work to escape the depression eating away at her, which has distanced her from her husband and her children.

During her investigations into a series of brutal murders, Rebecca becomes convinced that the killer is the same individual who had previously eluded her. But her attempts to track down the murderer are hampered by a series of blackouts and memory loss. When one of the victims turns out to be her husband’s mistress, Rebecca is forced to question her own role in the killings and confront her past to discover the terrifying event that triggered her blackouts and may have led her to kill.

“'Marcella' has been a huge success in the UK and internationally, a testimony to the strength of the characters and story created by Hans Rosenfeldt and Buccaneer Media. We’re all really looking forward to seeing how the creative team at Elephant develops ‘Rebecca’ for French viewers and - through our distribution deal –a global audience,”  said James Durie, Head of Scripted at Cineflix Rights.

Meanwhile, Sandra Ouaiss, Managing Director at Elephant International and co-producer of the French remake along with Gaëlle Cholet, Managing Director at Elephant Story, commented: “We are very excited to work on the French adaptation of this acclaimed, female-led crime drama, now named ‘Rebecca,’ as we team up with TF1 and Cineflix Rights. In this French remake, we are diving even deeper into Rebecca’s personal journey, turning the first two seasons into one, to bring another edge to this heroine”.

Lastly, Anne Viau, Artistic Director of French Drama at TF1, added: “We were immediately seduced by the character of Rebecca, which is both extremely endearing, but also mysterious and complex. The role offers a terrific range for an actress like Anne Marivin. All the ingredients of an addictive ‘thriller noir’ are there to seduce our audience”.