With a budget of 16.5 million franc ($17.8 million), the film is about the history of football’s World Cup, the ATS news service reported.
Scenes will be shot in Zurich, Lucerne, Winterthur and Cham (in the canton of Zug).
Dépardieu visited Switzerland in January for the Ballon d’Or awards ceremony organized by FIFA, the Zurich-based governing body of world football.
In Auburtin’s film, he is set to play the role of Jules Rimet, the French football administrator credited with inventing the World Cup in 1930.
Rimet, who founded the French football team Red Star Saint-Ouen, was FIFA’s longest serving president from 1921 to 1954.
Distributor Vega Film announced in Zurich on Tuesday that the movie will be released in Switzerland before the World Cup begins in Brazil next year.
The film makers are looking for “European, African and Asian” men over the age of 25 as extras, according to a news release issued by the distributor.
Shooting is scheduled to wrap up in the Swiss locations by mid-September.
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