Remortgaging your home to finance your work is a gamble – but one that paid off for actor Gérard Jugnot. He ended up €5 million better off when his film Les Choristes hit box office gold.

The actor also co-produced the feel good movie.

Set in 1949, the film tells the story of out-of-work music teacher Clément Mathieu (Jugnot) who takes a lesser, supervisory role at a reform school for boys. The headmaster’s methods of controlling the boys – “Action, reaction” – are harsh and fail to bring out the best in the pupils.

Mathieu clashes with him as he transforms his class from rowdy mob into a choir.

Known as The Chorus in English, the film is, essentially, of a remake of a 1945 film called La Cage aux Rossignols.

It proved a massive success in France, with over 8.5 million people seeing it during its ten-week run in cinemas. It became the most popular film of 2004 and one of the most successful French films of all time.

For Jugnot, he was not only able to pay off his mortgage but he also became a household name. His confidence in the film paid off handsomely.

03 Jul This entry was published on Thursday, 3 July 2014 at 07:25. It’s filed under Film and music and tagged French cinema. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post.