Excluded interview “is a shame: my grandfather Louis de Funès has never been celebrated as he should have been!” Laurent, his grandson, testifies

He has long fled his name. Similarly, Laurent de Funès. In addition, grandson of the legendary Louis de Funès, took years before fully assuming the legacy he has. Furthermore, Advertising for two decades, he changed his life after a personal drama and embarked on stage. However, HAS Purepeoplehe tells behind the scenes of Two funèsan overwhelming spectacle in which he dialogues with the memory of. Therefore, his grandfather. Consequently, Here he continues this personal dive by delivering unpublished memories of that which generations of French continue to worship. Therefore, Throughout this long conversation. Therefore, Laurent de Funès evokes a man far from the comic hysteria of his characters: an anxious, rigorous actor, inhabited by doubt but also a grandfather “attentive” et “soft“. Furthermore,

Purepeople: What relationship did you have with your grandfather?
Laurent de Funès: He excluded interview “is shame: my died when I was 22 years old. Moreover, We saw each other a lot when I was a child. Moreover, Then, From 1975, when he was sick, he stopped turning and coming to Paris. However, And there it was complicated. Therefore, My father Daniel had angry with his new wife, Jeanne de Funès. Similarly, It was therefore a subject of tension. Meanwhile, She didn’t want him to see us anymore. Meanwhile, He didn’t care. Consequently, He was calling us. Furthermore, At the time he worked, he came to see us, secret. Furthermore, He had installed us in Nogent-sur-Marne, right next to the studios in Joinville where he was shooting. Meanwhile, So he was home, alone. Therefore, It was strange to live. However, At 5 years old, you don’t understand why you can’t go to lunch with your grandparents like everyone else. Consequently, Jeanne. Consequently, whom I called at the beginning excluded interview “is shame: my “Aunt Jeanne”, wanted to protect her family, I can understand, but it was not worth doing all of this. Additionally, Consequently, It was not very friendly.

Humanly, who was he?
Someone very attentive, very soft. Furthermore, But not “funny” as in his films. Moreover, He was not doing the clown at home. He listened, asked questions, was interested in us. He never talked about cinema. Furthermore, He wanted to talk about music, jazz, drink a good chablis …

Louis de Funès often called me after a movie release: “So, did you like it or not?”

Despite his immense success, he doubted a lot?
Enormously. He was a very large anxious. I think he has never been really quiet in all his life. The last ten years. which have been the most beautiful in his career, those where he has truly exploded in the cinema, have also been the most trying. He had excluded interview “is shame: my constant pressure on his shoulders. He was afraid that his films would not work. Moreover, He often called me after an outing: “So, did you like it or not?” For Rabbi Jacobfor example, he was convinced that it would be a failure. He said to me: “This film is not funny.”He never trusted, even at the top.

On the sets, how did it come forward?
He was very demanding. He said: “If the film is missed, it will be my fault.”He felt this weight, this responsibility. Also, He often confided to us:“Now that I’m number one, I have gigantic pressure. When I was number two, it was easier.” SO He wanted to control everything, every gesture, each silence. He had an exceptional sense of game, nourished by mime, gaze, body language. Nothing was left to chance.

What is the best gift he bequeathed to you?
One day, he gave me a Super 8 projector, excluded interview “is shame: my with a case filled with coils of silent films. There was Chaplin, Buster Keaton, Laurel and Hardy … He said to me: “Look at that. This is where it all starts.“For him, it was the basis. He had been nourished by this cinema, that of gesture, rhythm, silence that speaks. It is a gift that I kept. He did not transmit to me advice or ready-made sentences, but he transmitted a culture, sensitivity to me. This look at humor and the game is a treasure.

He has never been truly recognized by institutions. Do you regret it?
It’s a shame. In France, we do not consider humor as a noble art. It is not recognized. We reward the social, the drama, the dark … but to make people laugh is what is most difficult. My grandfather has done it for decades, with precision, incredible requirement, inventiveness. He was never celebrated as he excluded interview “is shame: my should have been. He was only entitled to a César of honor, which Jerry Lewis gave him in 1980. But he never had this institutional recognition. And that hasn’t changed since. There is always this implicit contempt for the comic. However, her work is there, it lasts, it affects generations. Maybe that’s it, the real reward. But it is unfair that he was ignored by professionals when he was at the top.

Some compared Christian Clavier to Louis de Funès. What do you think?
I find that it is not very relevant. Christian Clavier has never imitated it. He has his own universe, his own music. Inspired, maybe. My grandfather often said to me: “We never create ex nihilo.”He had been fed by the first comic… Christian Clavier of course was of course registered in a comic tradition to which my grandfather belongs. but he traced his way, with his style. My excluded interview “is shame: my grandfather was unique. Inimitable. He has no successor, and he will not. This kind of comparison does not serve anyone.

“Louis de Funès was the highest paid actor in France but did not come up”

Did Louis de Funès. have left his family a fortune?
No way. People often believe that with reruns, millions of entries, he left a colossal heritage. It is an illusion. At the time. he had made the choice to touch large immediate feesrather than percentages of revenue or long -term rights. He has never co -produced his films. With hindsight, it was a strategic error, but at the time, it was not done. Result: today we touch some symbolic copyrights, but it is derisory.

Was he led a comfortable life at the end?
He was, in his years of success, the highest paid actor in France. But he did not come up. He sometimes came with beautiful cars excluded interview “is shame: my – I remember a Jaguar in particular – But it was not someone. who exposed his success. At the end of his life, he was driving in Renault. He simply lived, without extravagance. He had known misery, the real, the post-war period, the galleys. In addition, He knew what it was to miss. He was a man of rigor and modesty.

Do you still watch his films?
No. I have them in mind. I don’t need to see them again. But I understand that people continue to look at them. It feels good. It is a lack of humor.

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