TF1 (DR) / France TV (DR)
By Elsa Girard-Basset | Web journalist
The second biggest hit in the history of French cinema, “Bienvenue chez les Ch’tis” marked an entire generation, giving rise to several cult scenes. One of them is obviously that of the famous La Poste tour, when Kad Merad and Dany Boon, drunk, end up urinating in the canal. And for the occasion, the two men took the trouble to be credible by drinking… a lot.
Although it was dethroned by “Intouchables” three years later, “Bienvenue chez les Ch’tis” remains and will remain one of the most popular comedies in the history of French cinema. This success certainly surprised everyone, starting with Dany Boon himself, but the authenticity of the protagonists and the positive message conveyed by the film made it possible to convince more than 20 million French people – just that!
Obviously, who says cult film says cult scene, and in this matter, it is impossible not to think of this alcoholic tour, during which the characters played by Boon and Kad Merad end up urinating in a canal, drunk from their excesses. A scene that is all the more comical as the realism of this sequence can be explained by the fact that yes, the two actors did indeed drink before filming it!
Kad Merad and Dany Boon drank a lot for the cult “Ch’tis” scene
At the microphone of TF1, Julia Vignali’s husband explained a few months ago that to compensate for the pump system which was planned and which did not work, he proposed a radical solution:
I told Dany that the only way to pee really fast was to drink beers. I think we each had 4 or 5 beers.
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So far, so good. But the detail given by Kad immediately gives an overview of the particularly high blood alcohol level of the two acolytes:
We didn’t pay attention, it wasn’t a single beer but a triple, so we were drunk! We had to be drunk in the scene anyway, and we pissed for real.
A quick reminder is in order: triple beer generally oscillates between 8 and 10 degrees. So, if Merad and Boon drank 5 cans of 33 centiliters, they consumed approximately 1.6L of strong beer, or a good liter of staining red wine per person. Under these conditions, we understand better why the duo was untenable, which contributed to the cult scene… but which also caused some inconvenience.
Indeed, beer being particularly diuretic, Kad ended up no longer being able to hold back during the scene, which gave rise to an accident which greatly amused the film crews… Without shame, he confided:
I couldn’t stop urinating so I ended up peeing myself!
While it is obviously worth remembering that alcohol should be consumed in moderation, this rather improbable anecdote has contributed to the legend of the film. An episode that never fails to make Dany Boon and Kad Merad laugh, they who are the great architects of this box-office success and the great publicity given to the North. Cheers!
