This is the tenth adaptation of this classic of French literature by Jules Verne. Pierce Brosnan played Phileas Fogg in 1989, in a three-part series. There was the 1950s movie starring David Niven as the perfect mustached British gentleman.
This time, Around the world in 80 days becomes a current series, in eight parts, brilliantly embodied by the ex Doctor Who, David Tennant, perfect gentleman with a little self-consciousness.
She always tells of the senseless bet taken by a Lord in 1872, in London, who out of loving spite decides to travel the world in a limited space of time. But this blockbuster adds a touch of modernity through the character of Passepartout, Phileas Fogg’s valet, played by the black French actor, Ibrahim Koma: “Reading the script, it was obvious that you needed a black actor to play this character. It’s also that we wanted to do something new. The themes of racism are really very present in the series.”
Ibrahim Koma did not want to read the Jules Verne classic before shooting the series. For his character Passepartout, he was rather inspired by manga and One piece specifically :
“I was thinking of Luffy, the main character of ‘One Piece’. He’s a pirate, he has traveled a lot, he has a fighting spirit. For me Passepartout is a young Parisian in his thirties very solar, a resourceful and at the same time a brawler. And also a runaway, because he is afraid to make decisions. “
Ibrahim Komato franceinfo
The series written by the British Ashley Pharoah and Caleb Ranson modernizes the subject. It is a female journalist who follows Phileas Fogg on his journey, instead of a police officer who suspected the hero of having robbed the Bank of England.
The series shot in South Africa and Romania offers some sumptuous landscapes, and speaks of tolerance and open-mindedness. Ibrahim Koma had not read the Jules Verne … And now? “Yes, that makes me want to read it, although eventually I know what’s going on.”
Around the world in 80 days, 8 episodes from Monday, December 20 on France 2.