'Chevalier' Trailer Sees Kelvin Harrison Jr.'s Black Musical Savant Outshine Mozart During Pre-Revolutionary France Released
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The trailer for Kelvin Harrison Jr.’s upcoming film Chevalier sees the titular character, underserved by history, outshine Mozart himself.
Harrison stars as Joseph Bologne, also known as Chevalier de Saint-Georges, in the Searchlight Pictures film.
He was not only part of the French upper class due to his French father (his mother was an enslaved woman from Guadeloupe), but he was also a musical savant, colloquially called by modern classical music fans as the "Black Mozart."
But he was a composer and performer in his own right.
The film also stars Samara Weaving, Lucy Boynton, Alex Fitzalan and Minnie Driver.
The film is directed by 'Watchmen' series director/producer Stephen Williams and written by 'Atlanta' writer/producer Stefani Robinson.
During the film’s TIFF debut in September, Williams talked about how Harrison dove deep into the character, especially since Harrison’s father was a classical music teacher.
“We were all familiar with [Harrison’s] work. He’s done so much illustrious work prior to hours but we needed someone who was going to go on that deep dive,” Williams said. “Everyone who saw the movie tonight understands that Kelvin just didn’t do the work traditionally–everything you see in that movie is Kelvin. We needed someone who was going to do that. There was a serious attempt to erase this person from history and we all got together and embarked on this journey to try to honor him. And in resurrecting him, we needed someone like Kelvin.”
Chevalier will be released in Apr. 7, 2023.
Chevalier isn’t Harrison’s first foray into the world of period films; he recently starred in Cyrano opposite Peter Dinklage and Haley Bennett. He is also set to play Jean-Michel Basquiat in a biopic directed by Julius Onah (who also directed Harrison in Luce) and will voice Scar in an upcoming prequel to The Lion King.
