Shaving your head can sometimes change the course of a life. This is what Legrand Bemba did-Debert in 2007 to appear for the audition of the musical comedy adapted from the famous film Kirikou and the witch by Michel Ocelot. Well he took it. Ocelot restrained him ; Legrand’s career was launched.
Several years later, the actor decidese to adapt for the stage another tale by Michel Ocelot, Princes and Princesses. A success. The showplays more than 600 times conquered nearly 800,000 spectators around the world. After ten years of touring, the show ended in 2018. Two years later, Legrand BembaDebert settles in Cantal. It was there that he decided to adapt the tale for the cinema. Until November 6, itis therefore a special widescreen version which is broadcast on movie theater Le Cristal in Aurillac and in the halls of the Mycinewest group.
Born in Brazzaville in Congo, Legrand Bemba-Debert grew up in Meaux in Seine-et-Marne. A hip-hop dancer for fifteen years in Bordeaux, he created a dance school with the dual role of director and choreographer. His silhouette of a dancer, you could see it in the clip of Björk, Earth Intruders where we see him moving in Chinese shadows. A presence that owes nothing to chance because it was Michel Ocelot who directed this clip.
In 2006, Legrand redirected his career towards the audiovisual sector and trained in editing and directing. He is then embarked on the Kirikou adventure. A real dive into the unique universe of filmmaker Michel Ocelot. By attacking Princes and Princesseshe sets the bar high.
Released in 2000, this shadow theater animated film is made up of six different tales. Legrand chose to keep four landscapes: Japan (The old lady and the thief), Egypt (The Fig Boy), Persia (The Prince of Jewels) and Africa (The dancing African). We had to imagine a show that can be easily assembled and disassembled with an ingenious staging: a cinema canvas, a projector, digital sets, a soundtrack but also musicians who play live, and of course eight actors passing in front of or behind the canvas to bring the Chinese shadows to life.
As for the cinema-show, it was born in Auvergne where Legrand came to settle with his family after confinement. It was there, after meeting Benoit Galand, the director of the Le Cristal d’Aurillac cinema, that he decided to adapt his show for the big screen. He once again brought together the actors who had brought the tale to the stage, rented the Casino de Paris and devoted a day to filming Princes and Princesses cinema version. The project, which began on September 20, is delivered on October 17 in all the cinemas of the Mycinéwest group, which has ten multiplexes in France.
And when Legrand Bemba-Debert is not a director, director, choreographer, he also passes in front of the camera. Since the beginning of 2021, he has played Doctor Blake in the series The mysteries of love, broadcast every weekend at 7:50 p.m. on TMC with Hélène Rolles. Previously, we saw it in the series Black gold on WA (role: Mercenary Ekho) and in Gear on Canal + (role: Policeman PJ)
Next December, we will also see it on Netflix in Murder Mystery 2 with Jennifer Aniston and Adam Sandler. where Legrand plays the role of an Interpol policeman Dany Boon is also in the cast.