Paris (AFP)

Canadian filmmaker and actor Xavier Dolan will create his first series for Canal +, "The night where Laurier Gaudreault woke up", a family psychological thriller adapted from a Quebec play, the French channel announced on Tuesday.

This very first series by Xavier Dolan will develop the story of an eponymous play by Quebec playwright Michel Marc Bouchard, premiered last year at the Théâtre du Nouveau-Monde in Montreal.

"The shooting of the series, which will have five episodes, will begin next March for broadcast on Canal + in 2022," said the pay channel.

This fiction will be produced in association with the Canadian group Quebecor, which will broadcast it in Quebec on its Club illico platform.

The cast of the series will largely take over that of the play: Julie Le Breton, Magalie Lépine-Blondeau, Éric Bruneau and Patrick Hivon "will embody on the small screen the roles they brilliantly played on the boards", specifies Canal +.

They will be joined by Xavier Dolan and Julianne Côté in this "thriller which tackles realities and dramas without restraint".

The director of "Mommy" explained that he immediately wanted to adapt the play, which explores themes that are dear to him, after seeing it in June 2019.

"Beyond the obviousness that imposed itself on me, to write and shoot this story on life and death, on mourning, self-acceptance, family, there was between idea and the realization of the months of waiting caused by the pandemic, and which will have inspired me more than ever, excited, impatient, even, to take action, and to always push my limits ", commented Xavier Dolan, quoted in the Canal + press release.

"Xavier Dolan has a unique imagination, made up of lively and endearing characters, and strong stories. A filmmaker of human relationships, he knows how to make everyday life a spectacle of images and sounds of great beauty. + The night where Laurier Gaudreault + has awakened is part of the continuity of its films ", underlined for his part Fabrice de la Patellière, the boss of the original fictions of Canal +.

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