It’s one of the most famous lines from City of Fear, and 30 years later an interpreter still can’t pronounce it.

“When I’m happy, I get it.” “Get lost you fool!” “Get the gum, Emil.” No, I’m papi and I’m waiting for my sister.

Directed in 1994 by Alain Berberian, Alain Shabat and a whole group of Zeros, City of Fear is a veritable festival of mythic lines (“All That Pressure”). Expressions that movie lovers are happy to express among friends even after 30 years.

Lovingly crafted by the hilarious pen of Alain Chabat and inspired by the absurdist humor of ZAZ (especially known for Is There a Pilot in a Plane?), these multiple hits keep hitting the screen for 100 minutes. The feature film is a real reference for many fans.

Among these innumerable little sentences, one of the most famous undoubtedly remains the one (attempts) to be uttered by the projectionist Emile Gravier, played by Sam Carman, when he finds himself face to face with Odile Derey and recalls the meeting – you. failed with him.

“You can fool a thousand people once, but you can’t fool one person a thousand times…”

This memorable and funny line, which the character ultimately never gets to say correctly, and which reappears as a common theme throughout the film, is among the most frequently identified by die-hard Dummies fans.

So yesterday, while he was on the Croisette, actor Sam Carman tried to claim it again At Brut’s microphoneRecalling his fun memories of the shoot:

unspoken answer

“You can fool once… you can fool one person once. But you can’t fool 1,000 people 1,000 times. Right? You can fool once, but… no, it’s not like that. See? It’s my character, I can’t explain it.”

always At Brut’s microphoneEmile’s interpreter also recalled filming the famous foot chase scene on the Croisette. A particularly physical sequence, as for each take the actors (Alain Chabat and himself) had to run at least 500 meters without warming up. Enough to give them terrible pain the next day.

What is your favorite scene from City of Fear?

(Re)discover our top 5 French movies we see lines from most often…