After the success of his "Count of Monte-Cristo", the actor attacks a monument of French literature (on TF1 September 13 and 20).  A successful bet. 
 
An excessive body, a desire to devour life to the hilt, the same attraction for business (on that point, the actor understands even better than the writer) and, more anecdotally, a road accident . . . Between Honoré de Balzac and Gérard Depardieu, the likeness is strange. Is it sufficient to make of our national Gégé the incarnation of one of the monuments of French literature? Since the first pictures of Balzac, for the event of his return on TFl (September 20th), the evidence has become clear: the actor fades away before the writer. And the team responsible for the Count of Monte-Cristo (Josée Dayan directing, Didier Decoin script-writing, Jean-Pierre Guérin producing) succeeded in their goal. Balzac takes us into the intimate life of a literary genius. With titanic means (a budget of 62 million francs, sixty-five actors, one thousand five hundred extras. a filming at the scene "balzaciens" and in Czech Republic, etc.), the movie perfectly fits its main character, thanks to a subtle work of adaptation. 
 
Where did the idea come from? It all began during the filming of Monte-Cristo, the enormous success of TF1, distributed last September. Spellbound by the body of work and animated life of Balzac, Depardieu debates an adaptation with Josée Dayan and Didier Decoin. "The desire to make Balzac came from Depardieu," explains the script-writer. "It fit his conception of television: to put the spotlight on the big characters of French culture."