It is Sunday that the director Charles-Olivier Michaud will begin the shooting of Ru, the film adaptation of Kim Thúy’s bestselling novel. The young actress Chloé Djandji will play the main character of the film, alongside Karine Vanasse, Patrice Robitaille and Marie-Thérèse Fortin.
The filming of Ru will take place over thirty days in March and April in Montreal and its surroundings. A few days of filming are also planned in June.
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Young actress Chloé Djandji will play the lead role in the film adaptation of Ru.
Written by Jacques Davidts (Guys), the film will chronicle the journey of young Thin, who must flee Vietnam with her family in the mid-1970s to escape persecution. After a dangerous sea crossing and a stay in a camp in Malaysia, Thin and his family will land in Granby in the middle of winter to start a new life.
The young actress Chloé Djandji will make her screen debut as the character of Thin, the central role of the film inspired by the youth of Kim Thúy. Chantal Thuy and Jean Bui will portray her parents, while Xavier Nguyen and Olivier Dinh will play her brothers.
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Karine Vanasse will camp the mother of the host family.
“I fell in love with these actors,” said Kim Thúy in an interview with the Newspaper, yesterday.
“I saw the video recordings of their auditions, and they already made me cry. I can’t imagine how I’m going to react seeing them in the movie. »
Friendships
Photo Chantal Poirier
Patrice Robitaille is also one of the actors selected for the film.
To give life to the Quebec host family, director Charles-Olivier Michaud called on several faces of Quebec cinema, including Patrice Robitaille (the father), Karine Vanasse (the mother), Mali Corbeil Gauvreau (their daughter), Marie-Thérèse Fortin (the grandmother) and Richard Fréchette (the grandfather).
Kim Thúy does not hide that she ardently wished to see her good friend Karine Vanasse play a role in the film. The actress is one of the first people to have encouraged her to put her story on paper, when she worked as a restorer.
“Karine is at the origin of the text, explains Kim Thúy. She gave me the notebook in which I wrote Ru. And it was she who brought the printer to my house so that I could print a first version of the book. She was there from the beginning of the writing of the novel. I’m so happy that she’s in the movie. »
The film’s producer, André Dupuy, is also a longtime friend of Kim Thúy. A former regular customer of her restaurant, he had even helped her find a publisher at the time. He acquired the adaptation rights to the novel shortly after its publication, in 2009.
“The book may have been published in 2009 and speak of a reality of the late 1970s, its relevance is still there, observes the producer. Even today, we are looking for ways to welcome refugees and there are plenty of values that come into conflict in all of this. I think we need a film like this to remind us of this reality. »
“The film gives a voice to people we don’t often hear, like newcomers, but also to those who welcome them with open arms,” adds Kim Thúy. I think the mission of this film is to highlight this kindness on a daily basis. »
Published in 2009, Ru sold more than 520,000 copies worldwide.