We speak to ChevalierMovie writer and producer Stefani Robinson on bringing Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges, to life and on what it's like to transition to film writing after working on Atlanta and WhatWeDointheShadows:
The film Chevalier is a much-needed exploration into the life of Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges. Bologne was a prodigious fencer, violinist, and composer, and rose in the court of Marie Antoinette after being born to a 16-year-old enslaved woman and taken to France. Bologne’s story is an incredible one, but after an attempt by none other than Napoleon Bonaparte to destroy the Chevalier’s work, much of it has been lost to history.
I'm pretty sure it was John Adams [who] said that Joseph Bologne was one of the most accomplished men in Europe, and it was true. This guy was a master fencer, he was a master horseback rider, [he] knew multiple languages, [and he] was a bit of a romancer. Obviously, [he] was incredibly gifted with a violin, and with composition, and with writing operas. He popularized the quartet. Then, later in life, [he] went and became a soldier in a revolution.
I think the thing while looking at his life [was] wanting to access the story from a personal perspective. Because so much of it is so incredibly amazing, I wanted to tell the story from a perspective that also felt personal to me. That's probably the way that I felt like I could do it the most justice.
[In] walking into this experience, I think the expectation from some people was that maybe I wouldn't be so involved because I [was] just the writer and I was going pass it off. Luckily Stephen comes from TV as well. We were two people who are coming from TV; we only know collaboration. That's just the only way we know how to work.
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