A touching reunion between Hugh Hudson and Christophe Lambert

POSTED ON OCTOBER 14, 2018

Day One of the Lumière festival created the perfect opportunity for Christophe Lambert and Hugh Hudson to meet again for the first time in 20 years, for the screening of “Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes” (1984).

An emotional reunion in front of a packed house, where Christophe Lambert recounted how, 34 years ago, he transformed himself to become Tarzan. His slim frame of 58 kg became a fit, muscular 85 kg in just four months, for a role that made him an international star.

Christophe Lambert, a regular presence at the Lumière festival, also took the opportunity to renew his declaration of heartfelt appreciation for this event. According to him, the Lumière festival is made for, and exists thanks to moviegoers. Hugh Hudson, Oscar-winning director (“Chariots of Fire”, 1982), who had already met the public during his master class in 2017, confirmed Lambert’s laudatory remarks, rejoicing at the public's enthusiasm for cinema in France, and especially in Lyon.

Lise Pedersen

© Institut Lumière / Jean-Luc Mège

Want to (re)discover the movie? Charlotte Pavard tells you more below. Two more screenings are scheduled during the festival.

In 1984, Hugh Hudson created, by far, the best cinema adaptation of the myth of Tarzan with “Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes”. When a fable of the wild man questions the ferocity of society (where is the real jungle: in Cameroon or in Scottish castles?), the result is a blockbuster success, thanks to the outstanding, legendary performance of Christophe Lambert. But how many years have Tarzan and Jane chased after each other?

The Tarzan myth

In 1912, Edgar Rice Burroughs brings Tarzan to life with his novel, “Tarzan of the Apes,” which will generate 26 episodes from its adventures. From his real name, John Clayton III, Lord Greystoke according to Tarzan, the lad was born into British aristocracy then perished in the jungle, where he was taken in by the great ‘mangani’ (fictional) apes. Though the story seems trivial, it persists through the century: comics, toys, figurines or dolls, there are countless derived references to the jungle man, who enjoys immense popularity and surfs Robinson wave of man in the midst of nature.

Icon of adventure movies

As the first Tarzan of talkies in 1932, Olympic swimming champion Johnny Weissmüller played one of the most significant Tarzans, 52 years before Christophe Lambert. His cry, the ever-famous Oooohhhohohohoooooooo! immortalized by generations of children, is yelled out for the first time. Twelve episodes reduce the character to his athletic prowess, manipulated by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, which accentuates the cliché of the wild man in the face of civilization. In Edgar Rice Burroughs' book, however, Tarzan is educated and initiated into reading, has filial relations with Cheetah, and a love interest in Jane Parker (young Andie MacDowell in Greystoke); these details are not part of the story.

With “Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes,” Hugh Hudson distances himself from stereotypes, as tantalizing as they are, and chooses to offer a realistic and subtler vision of the protagonist, a sensitive man torn between two worlds. The film took seven months to shoot, including three spent in the Cameroonian rainforest. 

Charlotte Pavard