SERIES MAT. A trailer for the Netflix series “Tapie” with Laurent Laffite, yet criticized by the family of Bernard Tapie, was unveiled on Netflix, two months before its release.
The series on Bernard Tapie will indeed see the light of day, despite the criticisms formulated by the family. Netflix has unveiled the first trailer for Tapie, a seven-episode mini-series to watch on Netflix from September 13, 2023. It is a “free biopic” about businessman Bernard Tapie and above all his professional career, from the 1960s to the 1980s.
In the casting, the series brings together Laurent Laffite in the title role, but also Joséphine Japy, Camille Champoux and Ophelia Kolb. Bernard Tapie’s family had reacted strongly to the series, particularly when Netflix used the term “scammer” to refer to the former OM boss who died of cancer on October 3, 2021 in its communication (today now amended). According to his relatives, the businessman had himself opposed the project of the series, the trailer of which can be seen below.
If on paper, the project makes you want, it is far from unanimous. The first images of Laurent Laffite in the role of the former businessman and politician were shared on Friday April 14, 2023 on Instagram by the streaming platform. And as much to say that the family of Bernard Tapie, who died in 2021 following cancer, is far from approving the project, since it had not given its agreement for such a project.
On social networks, Sophie Tapie, the daughter of the former boss of Olympique de Marseille, did not hide her anger at the upcoming release of the series, and in particular the qualifier “scammer” which was used in first by Netflix in its promotional post on Instagram (this one was later modified): “‘Clap the scammer’. Knowing that he had verbalized before his death that he was against this series… Like what disrespect has no limit”, she was irritated on her Instagram account. “It’s pathetic”, also estimated Rodolphe Tapie, his grandson, evoking the use of the qualifier “scammer” to speak of Bernard Tapie.
Sophie Tapie was also shocked that this is the series “is on the initiative of Tristan Séguéla, a family ‘friend’ of the Tapies for 40 years.” Bernard Tapie’s widow, Dominique, also told RTL last March that her husband was against the project. He had also explained, during his lifetime, in 2021 in the columns of Var Matin, that he “was against”. “He’s the son of a friend [Tristan Séguéla, son of advertiser Jacques Séguéla, editor’s note]. Doing it without asking me for my agreement in principle is not very good. There are things that we don’t Don’t. That there are documentaries is another thing, but borrowing my name is a bit heavy.”
The Tapie series was presented this Sunday, April 16 during the CannesSéries Festival. Asked about the controversy surrounding the project, Laurent Laffite responded to critics at the festival microphone: “He’s a very, very complex character. And he’s interesting precisely because he’s complex. It’s not about to make him a saint. And it’s not a question of burdening him either. But of trying to be as objective as possible to tell his incredible journey.”
