Bruno Moynot alias Monsieur Preskovic: "The Splendid deserves its César"

In the famous troop of the Splendid, he was first of all the handyman of the troop.

Then Bruno Moynot went from the shadows to the light by agreeing to don the threadbare costume of Mr. Preskovic, the neighbor as embarrassing as generous of

Santa Claus is a garbage

.

In a few short lines ("

doubitchous rolled by hand under the armpits

"), the actor returned from his first films in the legend of comedy.

Read alsoCésar of Honor of the Splendid: the son of Anemone deplores the lack of homage to his mother

At the start of 2021, the most anonymous - but also the most loyal - member of Splendid came to receive with Josiane Balasko, Michel Blanc, Christian, Marie-Anne Chazel, Thierry Lhermitte and Gérard Jugnot a César for the 40th anniversary of their theater.

And, miraculously, a few days ago Bruno Moynot received a Césarion at the Ayrault film festival in Cap d'Agde.

He took the opportunity to tell

Le Figaro

that his “

happy and offbeat

”

adventure

in the world of acrobats is far from over.

To read also Gérard Jugnot: "

I

cure

myself with laughter!"

"

LE FIGARO - When we give you a Caesar and then today a Caesarion, is it Bruno Moynot or Mr. Preskovic that we honor?

Bruno Moynot -

I don't have an ego problem.

I'm glad people liked the burlesque characters I played.

With my friends from Splendid, at the time, we put together pieces that above all amused us.

And we were far from thinking that the replicas of

Santa Claus is junk

or

Bronzes would

become classics.

Were your Splendid companions as happy as you to receive a Caesar in 2021?

Their humor has remained intact forty years later because we all said, with a smile on our lips, that we had obtained it in the seniority (laughter).

But deep down, this college trophy makes sense.

He proclaims that comedy, even commercial, is not that vulgar.

The theater of Splendid and its history, is it ultimately a bit of your life?

Yes of course.

You know, this is the story of my meeting with Josiane Balasko.

I was studying engineering which bore me prodigiously and she offered to come and work for her band of acrobats.

As I was very manual, a kind of handyman, I helped them with work in the theater.

Then as Michel Blanc and Christian Clavier were not at all attracted by management, they ended up entrusting it to me.

The roles, the writing of the plays, it also came naturally afterwards.

This story is well worth a Caesar, right?

How was the cult character of Mr. Preskovic born?

Over the water like the rest.

My Splendid comrades told me: "

What if we wrote you a role ...

".

They invented Preskovic because Josiane Balasko was of Yugoslav origin.

At the time, she would go to see her grandmother and bring back improbable local specialties.

We laughed at her nicely.

Mr. Preskovic was born from these slices of laughs.

Moreover, I would like to add, that our comedies have always been inspired by reality.

A reality that has been hijacked, made burlesque.

It is that, I believe, which pleased the public.

Today you are in a way the guardian of the temple of this troop since you still manage the theater of the Splendid ...

I have always tried to keep the spirit that animated the historical troupe.

Today I work with Arthur Jugnot, Gérard's son, and Morgan Spillemaecker.

They are young and energetic and offer a program that is very much in tune with the times.

At the start of the school year, at 7

p.m. Alexis Michalik's

circle of illusionists

and at 9 p.m.

Saint-Exupéry, the mystery of the aviator

by Arthur Jugnot and Flavie Péan.

It's good, no ?

What are your short or medium term projects?

As I am starting to get older, I take a step back to have time to do things that make me happy.

I wrote a thriller that I titled after a joke with some friends,

Un roman de m ...

I mix all genres in it.

We find there San-Antonio, James Bond, romance novels, all written with a spelling that I qualify as mono-arbitrary.

That is to say that each protagonist expresses himself with his vocabulary and his conjugations.

All this is offbeat, but answers the secret of my recipe for life: having fun.

I could have called my book,

The Adventures of Karl and Carter,

it's true, but it's not my style.

And do you think you will be back on stage soon?

I am writing an autobiographical farce with two friends:

Bruno Moynot imitates humans badly

.

We rack our brains to invent characters that are a little offbeat, to my liking.

But for now, I can't tell you more.

All my confused!

* The Théâtre du Splendid, 48 rue du Faubourg Saint Martin, Paris: program

Monsieur Preskovic alias Bruno Moynot in

Father Christmas is a junk

: a scene that has become classic