Excluded interview “We tried to erase us”: Laurent, the grandson of Louis de Funès, finally assumes himself after family tensions

He bears one of the most famous names in French cinema … In addition, but What do we really know about Laurent de Funès? Far from the spotlight, the grandson of Louis de Funès has long kept silent. Consequently, Until he decides to go on stage, in his own nameto tell his story. Furthermore, That of a man who has remained in the shadow of a giant for a long time. Furthermore, and who, today, fully assumes his heritage.
From the mountain where he spent a few holidays. Moreover, this former advertiser who became an artist has agreed to grant us a long interview by phone. However, A passionate conversation. Consequently, punctuated by tenderness, nostalgia, excluded interview “we tried erase humor and these famous vocal facial expressions so dear to The former accomplice of Bourvil.

You turn with a show that directly names your name. Meanwhile, What is his genesis?
This show, Two funèsis a very personal project, which I have been refining for months. For example, It is a dialogue between two beings: me, Laurent, and he, Louis, my grandfather. I embody both. Nevertheless, There is this duality. Meanwhile, I wrote this piece to tell what it means to happen in this environment with such a name. Consequently, There is what people project, fantasies, comparisons, and then there is me, with my journey, my sensitivity. Similarly, On stage. Nevertheless, I start to speak alone, to say nonsense, and at one point, it materializes – I let you discover how – and resumes hand by cropping mesaying to me with his own way: “Well, that’s enough now!” It is a permanent game excluded interview “we tried erase between the two of us. Consequently, I want to make it a real theatrical meeting. Consequently, which I intend to play in Paris in 2026 for a full month, four to five evenings per week. Similarly, I want to make you laugh with total sincerity. Similarly, No cynicism, no aggressive second degree as we see too much today. However, I come from a universe where humor must do good.

Has your name been a brake on your journey?
This name arouses expectations, fantasies. Meanwhile, We project a lot of things on me, sometimes without even having seen me play. Similarly, There are those who think that everything is offered to me. others who imagine that I make Louis de Funès. While no, I’m me, with my own tone. The most complicated is to be taken seriously for what I do. This is also why I wanted to put my name aside for excluded interview “we tried erase a long time. And let’s say it, I was also my own brake. For fear of not being up to par. For fear of disappointing. But today, I no longer want to live with this doubt. The public is great, very benevolent.

“I was fed up with being told of Louis de Funès. fed up in his shadow”

This show, its title, is it a way to assume your name now?
Completely. For a long time, I rejected this name. I put it aside, almost forgotten. Because it weighed. And also because we tried to erase us. For thirty years, we wanted the elder branch – mine – to be invisible. It was hard. And then I was fed up that I was told about him, tired of living in his shadow. Over time, some words have caught up with me. My grandfather had told me one day: “You will have to accept excluded interview “we tried erase one day to be who you are.” This sentence, long put aside, came back to me recently with force. And then there was this remark by Victoria Abril. We worked on a project together. I said to him: “If you prefer, I can change my name in the credits.” She said to me: “But you’re completely sick! You have a great name, assume it!” She woke me up.

Before this show, you had a completely different life. What was the click?
I led an advertising agency for twenty years. A universe that I knew well, in which I also explained myself in an artistic way. There was image, text, creation. And then in 2013, everything changed. The real click was personal: The death of my brother Thierry. Before leaving. he told me a regret that upset me: “My big regret is not to have done what I really wanted to do.” It excluded interview “we tried erase struck me. I told myself that I could not stay in this life without exploring this part of me. This artistic part, buried.

Marthe Mercadier took me under we wing

And this is where you are embarking on stage?
Yes. And the first big meeting was with Marthe Mercadier. I had invited her to a tribute evening to my grandfather. In the end, she came to see me and said to me: “You are an actor. I have been doing this job for 70 years, and I recognize it immediately. ” I replied: “But do you know who I am?” She said to me: “You’re going to be silent right away. And if you refuse, I stick two.” (laughs) She took me under her wing. We made a little show together for a year. It was she who set foot in the stirrup. And I found myself. I excluded interview “we tried erase became aware of what I had to say, to do. Without showing off, without being proud. Little by little, I started to write.

Before that, did you grow up far from the spotlight?
I grew up in Val-de-Marne, in a family of artists. My father, Daniel, the eldest son of Louis de Funès, painted. My grandmother too. We lived far from the show-business. At the time, the Internet did not exist, and it was a chance. We could live normally, without the external pressure linked to our name. Of course, people knew who my grandfather was, but it was not a permanent exhibition like today.

And you, did you already have an artistic fiber?
I was very excluded interview “we tried erase music lover. I bathed in a world of music, painting. A friend reminded me that, small, Each Christmas, I put on a wacky play to make everyone laugh. I forgot it.
I believe that in reality, it has always been there.

But you first followed another way …
Yes. I studied photo, then graphic arts. Additionally, I turned to advertising. It was a logical continuation in my journey. For me, advertising is also an art form. There are visuals, words, emotions to transmit. I found fun for twenty years.

And today?
I have several projects. I created a character called Antoine Pépin. A paranoid type, agoraphobe, who panics as soon as he lights the TV. He goes into a spin for everything and nothing. It is very “funeral” in rhythm, absurd, nervousness. I will shoot a series of short, three -minute formats that we will broadcast on YouTube. It’s funny, contemporary, and a little crossed excluded interview “we tried erase out. And then I play in The adventures of Captain Jimmy Crochua family film that will be released on December 24. It is a project between animation and real shots. I embody the only human character, a kind of consciousness at the Jiminy Cricket, which accompanies the heroes. It’s tender, fun, and it speaks to children with humor and poetry. I want it a lot.