In January 2015, Laura Smet poses at the César Revelations dinner in Paris. Her direct gaze creates a portrait of the actress now chosen to portray Huguette Clerc. Credits: Georges Biard, CC BY-SA 3.0.
Scenes with Laura Smet were announced for Thursday, August 13. The day before, the actress linked her entrance into the role of Huguette Clerc to the solar eclipse. This casting choice places family lineage at the heart of Johnny. In this Cédric Jimenez film, Benjamin Voisin plays the singer. Beyond the Instagram confession, the project aims to rebuild a family and cultural memory.
A Story Before The First Scenes
Laura Smet was due to join the filming of Johnny this Thursday, August 13, to play Huguette Clerc. She is Johnny Hallyday’s paternal grandmother and mother. Filming on the movie as a whole began on June 1. However, the location and schedule of the actress’s scenes were not made public.
The day before, she mentioned this step in an Instagram Story. According to screenshots published by Paris Match, Voici, and Purepeople, the post showed a black-and-white photograph. Johnny Hallyday appeared there with his mother. Laura Smet wrote: “Tomorrow I’m playing my grandmother in my father’s story.” She then linked the moment to the solar eclipse of August 12: “At this point it’s no longer just a sign, it’s a certainty.”
This Story was temporary and could not be viewed directly. Its text is therefore based on matching reproductions, not on a post still accessible on the actress’s account. At the time of writing, no public statement confirmed the actual start of her scenes. Neither Laura Smet, nor the director, nor the production had commented.
This caution does not change the central fact: Johnny Hallyday’s daughter is not playing herself. She goes back one generation and lends her features to the woman who gave birth, in 1943, to Jean-Philippe Smet. The move goes beyond the family wink that sometimes accompanies a biopic.
A Family Line Turned Into A Filmmaking Choice
The casting creates an immediate mise en abyme. In the story, a daughter plays her father’s mother. Laura Smet brings to the film a resemblance the public already knows. Her family history also accompanies a character set before her own birth. The presence of a descendant therefore replaces neither the biographical investigation nor the acting work.
This gap is essential. An appearance by Laura Smet as herself would have anchored the film in testimony or a cameo. The role of Huguette Clerc, by contrast, forces her to go through fiction in order to restore an ancestry. It creates a real closeness to the subject while maintaining the distance that belongs to acting.
The rest of the cast extends this family dynamic. Nina Meurisse plays Nathalie Baye, Laura Smet’s mother, while Noée Abita plays Sylvie Vartan and Marie Colomb plays singer Nanette Workman. The film thus recreates several of Johnny Hallyday’s personal relationships with actresses who are not, themselves, part of his family.
This contrast will define Laura Smet’s choice. Her family tie may heighten the viewer’s emotion, but it alone does not guarantee the accuracy of the portrait. That accuracy will depend on Olivier Demangel and Cédric Jimenez’s writing. It will also depend on the place given to Huguette Clerc and on the distinction between family memory and dramatic reconstruction.
Benjamin Voisin Plays Johnny Hallyday
The actor chosen for the Johnny Hallyday biopic is Benjamin Voisin. An BFMTV article based on an AFP report confirmed the title role in May. It also confirmed Cédric Jimenez as director and the screenplay written with Olivier Demangel. The project, produced by Hugo Sélignac, relies on casting organized around several periods in the singer’s career.
Benjamin Voisin replaced Raphaël Quenard. Quenard announced his withdrawal on January 22, 2026, on Instagram, according to TF1 Info and AFP. He cited a lack of time to prepare. This replacement marks two stages in the project. Raphaël Quenard remains associated with its first version. Benjamin Voisin is the actor in the film now in production.
Around him, William Lebghil plays Michel Berger. Along with Noée Abita, Marie Colomb, and Nina Meurisse, these roles suggest a story that goes beyond musical hits. It also moves through the collaborations and relationships that accompanied the singer’s artistic evolution.
This approach places Benjamin Voisin at the center of an ensemble rather than in a standalone imitation act. In an interview with Paris Match, the actor said he was not trying “to imitate” Johnny Hallyday. His goal was “to approach a truth of the man he was, to try to be carried through by him.” The performance will have to bring together the public icon and the private journey. It will also have to move through the changing eras covered by the screenplay.
A Story Ending At Parc Des Princes In 1993
Johnny is not being presented as a full-life biography of the singer. The film listing published by AlloCiné specifies the period. The story will run from Jean-Philippe Smet’s early days to his 50th-birthday concerts at Parc des Princes in 1993. This cutoff notably excludes the last two decades of his career and his death in 2017.
The choice narrows the story around a trajectory. A young man becomes a central figure in French popular culture. Then the artist reinvents himself for more than 30 years. Sylvie Vartan, Nanette Workman, Michel Berger, and Nathalie Baye serve as markers in that timeline. The film thus avoids becoming a catalog of encounters.
Huguette Clerc occupies a different place. She stands at the origin of the story, before the stage name, the records, and the stadium concerts. Giving this role to Laura Smet symbolically links the beginning of the story to one of its descendants. The August 12 Story gives this choice immediate visibility. The film will still have to show what it does with it in the narrative.
This difference keeps the news from being reduced to an emotional message. The coincidence described by the actress is part of her personal interpretation. It does not explain the casting and proves nothing about the film’s content. The cultural news lies in the movement from this private memory to a work intended for the general public.
A Release Set For December 8, 2027
The release date for the Johnny biopic is currently listed as December 8, 2027, on AlloCiné, which presents StudioCanal as distributor. This information replaces, among the available details, the one communicated in May, when the AFP report still mentioned the first half of 2027. It should therefore be preferred, while remaining subject to change as long as the production schedule is not finalized.
Paris Match suggests a wrap in October and a budget close to 50 million euros. The magazine also cites filming in Paris, Camargue, Marseille, and Spain. These elements have not received direct confirmation from the production in the available sources. The most solid fact remains unchanged. The film is in production with Benjamin Voisin in the lead role and Laura Smet as Huguette Clerc.
Laura Smet’s first scene is therefore not only expected as an intimate moment. It will test the announced ambition of Johnny. The film wants to tell the story of a major figure in French popular culture through the people who shaped his path. It also gives a member of his family the responsibility of portraying one of his origins.