Tonight on TV: Louis de Funes and Jean Gabin in one movie, It Existed!

In 1967, producer Maurice Jacquin had two of the biggest stars of the time under contract: Jean Gabin and Louis de Funes. He then plans to bring them together for the first time for a title film that is sure to be a commercial hit.

The two actors had already crossed paths before. In 1955, in Napoleon, Jean Gabin played the role of Marshal Lan, while de Funes appeared as a soldier. The following year, the iconic scene brought them together at La Traversée de Paris. Finally, in 1962, a gentleman from Epsom offered them an opportunity to answer.

Therefore, Maurice Jacquin easily manages to convince them to create a comic duet in Le Tatoué: the story of a second-hand art dealer who is ready to do anything to restore the real Modigliani tattoo on the back of a drawn and angry former legionnaire.

The screenplay was assigned to writer Alphonse Boudar, quite used to heist films, who eventually left the project. To the extent that director Denis de la Patellier feels obliged to shoot, he writes scenes daily with dialogue writer Pascal Jardin.

Despite their friendship and mutual respect, there was some disagreement between Jean Gabin and Louis de Funes during this shoot. “They are two actors of completely different styles– Ando de la Pateliere admitted at the time.This is the charm and complexity of this meeting: their acting techniques are different. Jean Gabin is used to playing very precise, pre-planned things, with a technical breakdown that he has seen and knows very well, reacting to very precise words. (…) De Funes is spontaneity in itself and finds things while playing and even from one transfer to another.“

However, nothing beats the success of Le Tatoué in theaters at the beginning of the 1968 academic year with over 3 million admissions. And, in time, both de Funes and Gabin will have nothing but complimentary things to say about each other. The first one took place in 1981 at the initiative of the Jean-Gabin Prize. Since then named the Patrick-Devaer Prize, it has been awarded annually to the hopefuls of French or French-language cinema.

tattooed By Denis de la Patellier with Louis de Funes, Jean Gabin, Paul Mercy…

Tonight on C8 at 9.10pm.