Dominique Farrugia is the guest of Clique on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of CANAL+. The actor turned producer talks about the beginnings of the encrypted channel, the formation of Les Nuls with Alain Chabat and Chantal Lauby, his total freedom, his time on Comédie+ and the moment when he became president of CANAL+.
CANAL+’s anniversary
The famous channel number 4 was born 40 years ago, in 1984. At the time, Dominique Farrugia returned to live with his father, he was unemployed and applied to CANAL+ with Dominique Cantien at 22 years old. To get hired, the future director of the channel lied by saying that he was exempt from military service. “The cops came to my house and my dad said, 'Dominique Farrugia? I haven't seen him in 6 months.'While I was behind him.”
He recounts his first sketches on set, tinged with absurd humor and atypical clothing. Very quickly, he joined forces with Alain Chabat, Chantal Lauby and Bruno Carette with whom they formed Les Nuls. “These were very formative years for me.” He does not hide his admiration for his colleagues with whom he began to achieve notoriety: “We went from unknown to known in a year.” His humorous advertisements, “That Cartoon”, the fake weather forecasts… Dominique Farrugia marked the beginnings of CANAL+ thanks to his constant humor and good nature.
From actor to president of CANAL+: a unique career
In addition to television, Dominique Farrugia has tackled cinema. In 1994, he played in the film “The City of Fear”, again alongside Alain Chabat. “I was happy to play a bad actor!” On the set of Clique, the actor and producer talks about his love for horror cinema, particularly for American director Sam Raimi. He directed the first parts of the “Evil Dead” saga in the 1980s, before signing the first 3 “Spider-Man” with Tobey Maguire: “He's a huge director.”
At CANAL+, Dominique Farrugia acquired total freedom, which will inspire him for the rest of his life: “It was a house of artists and above all it was a place where people created.” After his very notable appearances on the encrypted channel, the comedian headed to Comédie+ at the end of the 1980s, a new original creation of which he would take the helm. Then came recognition: in 2002, he became president of CANAL+ France. He stayed in this position for a little over a year, which seems not to have been his favorite experience: “I think the suit was too big for me.”
The interview with Dominique Farrugia is available in replay on myCANAL.
