Assumed clichés which mark your return to comedy.
“I’m happy to return to a real frank comedy. I have a bit of a mania for mixing emotion with laughter. I’m even currently filming a film with Christophe Barratier, which is close to Mr Batignolewhich is an adaptation of the comic Children of the Resistance in which I play a resistant priest with Artus. It’s going to be a very beautiful film, but not at all funny. Here, it’s really an unbridled, very simple, family comedy. Recomposed families, who ultimately recompose themselves thanks to everything that happens to them in terms of troubles, madness and addictions.”
The film hits the generation gap head on. Do you feel boomer?
“Quite frankly, I have the impression that I am more eco-friendly than a lot of young people. Because I can afford to buy organic. I am quite surprised, because there is a whole section of young people who are very Greta Thunberg… even a little too much. And then there’s a whole other branch that gorges itself on McDonald’s, etc. It’s insane! I have the app to know what we’re eating. the amount of crap you can get into just in the biscuits. It’s not mediocre or too sweet, it’s dangerous. that we have the impression that that’s it, it’s ruined. The overconsumption saddens me. These cheap clothes made by people paid by slingshots. It’s true that we wanted to give smoked salmon to. everyone, at every meal. But it was better to only eat it on Sunday. Intensive marine farms are atrocious.
In “We should have gone to Greece”, you give the answer to our compatriot Virginie Hocq for the first time.
“There are a lot of good Belgian actors between Damiens, Poelvoorde, De Groodt and Virginie. There are still a lot of people who steal our work in France (smile)! But who have a lot of talent. There are more Belgians who come to France than French people who work in Belgium First, because there are fewer films Then, there are French people who come to settle with you (Christian Clavier, Dany Boon, Editor’s note). but for other reasons… I like the south, I have difficulty with the flat country, but hey, at the same time, there is a wonderful way of life here. nice house, much cheaper than in Paris and it runs better!”
“I have trouble with the flat country, I like the south”
Speaking of Benoit Poelvoorde, he confessed to us having arrived at a certain age where it must have been difficult to continue making films… Is this your case at 73?
“Me, I have all my quarters. I am already retired. I have an active retirement (smile)! No, for me, it will be life that will stop me. Or the job. As long as I can do it or having fun, I don’t see myself stopping. Besides, I’m always overwhelmed with activities. I was making films, I was writing. The Big Heads. So I do radio, cinema, theater. Afterwards, it’s a health problem. It takes effort, energy, maybe one day… but I don’t wish it on myself. My wife, younger than me, does not envisage this. When I tell her that I might be unwell, she says to me: ‘are you crazy? You’d be unbearable if you stopped working!’ (smile). For us, retirement means retirement to succeed. It’s a debacle.”
Back to Big heads after the Bouvard era, here you are with Laurent Ruquier. Is it different?
“He changed things, yes. But he also had the great intelligence to have opened the panel with lots of intelligent people. He’s a star maker, between JeanFi, Plaza, etc. For me, it’s an anti-Alzheimer’s exercise You have to exercise your brain: find stupid things, find answers, come back to names, stirring your brain a little is not bad!
With this feeling that, sometimes, we can no longer say/laugh anything?
“There are jokes that you can say in private but not in public… But here, we go very far. It’s one of the only places where you can laugh about lots of things with lots of different people. He There are still some subjects that are a bit touchy.”
When we see the transformist character in the film, does censorship not yet exist in cinema?
“No. The real thing at the moment is religion. We could laugh at the priests. But now, it’s difficult to laugh at religion with people who can cut your throat if you’re not from OK. That’s true, it’s a problem. But apart from that… No. Afterwards, it has to be funny. I don’t like laughing at it, but I like laughing with it.”
“Michel’s disappearance was a big blow to us”
Gérard Jugnot, who unveils their latest project with Splendid, confesses about the unexpected death of his friend Michel Blanc. Next to the radio (The Big Heads), cinema (We should have gone to Greece, which comes out this Wednesday) and the theater (Le Jour du Kiwi avec son Arthur), the 73-year-old actor does not intend to return to the stage. “I’m coming out of 6 months of theater, but doing a one-man show again… no. I made one a long time ago. There are some very strong guys and you need health. You are all alone. We really need to get them on board. Besides, I’m bored alone. I like the peloton. Even if, afterwards, we make little escapes from time to time.”
“A blow from a club”: Gérard Jugnot moved to tears during a tribute to Michel Blanc (VIDEO)
A reformation of Splendid had often been mentioned. What about it?
“It’s less and less on the agenda with what happened (the disappearance of Michel Blanc, Editor’s note). There was someone who wanted to do that, but it’s not not a script that we had written. We no longer have the time to write. Nor the desire. The last thing we did together is this book which is going to be released: ‘The Splendid by the Splendid, we had so much fun’. Everyone found photos and talked about them. It was done with a journalist who interviewed us. We couldn’t even get together. The last time we got together was for Paris Match. And we laughed like idiots! Michel’s disappearance was a big blow to us… But the boat didn’t sink. That’s the most important thing.”
“The Splendid boat did not sink. That’s the most important thing”
Were you surprised by the popular emotion it aroused?
“Yes, absolutely. In addition, it’s an emotion that was on him and on us too. I received quantities of touching messages. It’s even a little difficult. More than a month ago now, but the number of people in the street who said to me: ‘My condolences’ even though it’s not my family. Each time, it got us back into it… We forgot a little, and then, boom, we were told about it again. I was quite surprised by the general emotion. It was incredible. And it still is. It’s quite nice to know that we left a little trace and that our films continue to exist. While many films from the same era have fallen into oblivion. It’s quite satisfying. A little satisfaction from the devastating criticism received at the time, like a little scent of revenge. No one remembers these people, but we are still here. It’s a little joy. And a source of pride.”
Gérard Jugnot talks about the death of his friend Michel Blanc: “There is a little thing that bothered me”
And you are one of those who have not sunk into the dark side of show business…
“We weren’t idiots. We did some studies. That helps. Then, we were a group and we never had any addictions in the group. Very little. We’re simple. Which amuses me in the profession, it’s acting, making films Selfies and autographs, that’s not what amuse me the most, it’s saying that I’m going to be famous. have followers. But to be followed, you have to have things to say And often, influencers… Even young TV actors, we choose them because they have a lot of followers. That’s nonsense. had nothing to do with it!”
