A piece of happy news, whether you know him from the name of “Black Mozart” of 18th-century France or as “Chevalier de Saint-Georges“, you are going to see his Biopic soon.
Chevalier de Saint-Georges was a brilliant violinist, conductor of Paris's best symphony orchestra, and a famous champion fencer in French classical music. He was born in the then-French province of Guadeloupe, the son of Georges de Bologne Saint-Georges, a rich married farmer, and Anne, dite (called) Nanon, his wife's African slave.
When he was a youngster, his father sent him to France to be educated. The younger Saint-Georges was a colonel in Europe's first all-black regiment, the Légion St.-Georges; during the French Revolution, he fought on the side of the Republic.
The Chevalier de Saint-Georges is well recognised today as the first classical composer of African descent. He wrote operas, as well as string quartets and other instrumental works.
About the Biopic of Chevalier de Saint-Georges
Stefani Robinson, the Emmy-nominated and WGA Award-winning writer of Atlanta and “What We Do in the Shadows”, came up with the concept for the Biopic. Robinson's feature writing debut will be Chevalier. Variety has announced that Stephen Williams will helm the film in their exclusive revelation (Westworld).
Searchlight Pictures, a Disney-owned studio, will finance and distribute the film.
The actual story of Chevalier de Saint-Georges, musician, colonel, and polymath, has been told previously in a book (The Other Mozart) and a play (The Chevalier), but never on this magnitude.
Boulogne directed one of Europe's best orchestras, Le Concert des Amateurs, in addition to creating several symphonies, sonatas, concertos, operas, and string quartets. He was also the French army's first black colonel, commanding an all-black force of 800 infantrymen and 200 cavalries against France's adversaries.
He was dubbed “the most successful man in Europe” by former US president John Adams.
His impact on the arts and culture was enormous. Boulogne reached the pinnacle of his reputation as one of Marie Antoinette's music professors at her court. The Queen is said to have loved openly playing with him, and Boulogne was finally sacked because they grew “too close.”
Who Will Play the Role?
Kelvin Harrison Jr. will portray the main role, an illegitimate son of an African slave and a French plantation owner known historically as the Black Mozart. The artist climbed to incredible heights in French society as a world-renowned fencer and famed violinist-composer, only to experience a precipitous fall following an ill-fated love affair and a falling out with Marie Antoinette and her court.
Harrison Jr. was nominated for a BAFTA for his performance in “Luce,” a stunning and dramatic racially tinged family drama co-starring Naomi Watts, Octavia Spencer, and Tim Roth. In 2020, he co-starred in “The Photograph” with Issa Rae and Lakeith Stanfield, and he was the male lead in “The High Note” with Tracee Ellis Ross and Dakota Johnson. He also plays Fred Hampton in Aaron Sorkin's Oscar-nominated drama “The Trial Of The Chicago 7.”
Wrapping Up
So what do you think about this Biopic? I think you are interested in watching it, right? If you are, then you have to wait for it to release. Till then, don’t forget to comment your thoughts and check out other series and movies on the website.
