First grandson of Louis de Funès, Laurent de Funès, a teenager, confessed to his grandfather that he dreamed, like him, of becoming an actor.
The response was immediate, tender and smiling: “
You will need a lot of patience!
".
To read also: Louis de Funès, "Go hop!"
Louis spoke knowingly.
Before becoming a headliner, he experienced the days of lean cows, the race for figuration and supporting roles.
Laurent retains the memory of the end of this difficult time.
Son of Daniel, born from the actor's first marriage, he grew up at the same time as this family rise.
He really measured it after the release of
Corniaud
, and
La Grande Vadrouille
, of which he attended the previews.
He experienced it live when one morning, his grandpa came to pick him up at the end of school, in Nogent-sur-Marne.
When he arrived in his lilac-colored DS, everyone was waiting for him in the yard, including the manager.
Read also: The Louis de Funès Museum in Saint-Raphaël breaks the bank
He also did not forget the affection of a grandfather, so happy with this birth that he announced it to the press, when usually he never spoke of his private life. During the first eighteen years of his life, Laurent de Funès regularly found him. As a child, he spent afternoons of laughter on his knees, during which he was entitled to some of those facial expressions and grimaces of which he had the secret.
The day after the baccalaureate, renouncing to embark on the adventure of the spectacle, Laurent began studies which ended with obtaining a master's degree in advertising.
At 24, he created a communications agency which he led for nearly three decades.
One evening in the early 2010s, in Toulon, he met Marthe Mercadier.
She knew Louis de Funès very well and offered him to create a two-voice show, during which they would evoke his memory.
They exchange anecdotes and thus sign a play that they will perform for two years throughout France, and in Paris, at the Théâtre du Gymnase.
Laurent de Funès also gave the reply to Michel Galabru
Discovering with happiness, a universe in which he had never dared to venture, Laurent de Funès then decides to "
let go of the bridle of the horse which had been locked in his box for too long
". Because he displays a certain physical and vocal resemblance, in the mediums with Louis de Funès, he is immediately offered to shoot a new
Gendarme.
. He refuses without hesitation. He does not want to ensure family succession in this way and wants to devote himself to more personal projects. He began by writing only one on stage, then met a producer-director, Eric Atlan. With him, he shoots a collection of short films. In one of them, he gives the answer to Michel Galabru, with whom he has lunched every Friday for years. On this occasion, which is also his last appearance on the screen, “
Warrant Officer Gerber
” will not follow the planned outline, but improvise one of those crazy numbers he had the secret. This film, which is part of a collection, is still unpublished.
Under Atlan's direction, Laurent de Funès then played the role of Dumpy Toys, the “
good conscience
” of a child, worthy successor to Jiminy Cricket. The Canadian feature film,
The Adventures of Captain Hook
, is scheduled for release in 2022.
In the meantime, he recorded, still under Atlan's direction, a series of children's stories in the form of audiobooks entitled
Raconte-moi *
.
Twelve volumes are planned.
In the first, he celebrates the 400th anniversary of the birth of Jean de La Fontaine by performing some of his fables.
Formerly, his grandfather engaged in the same exercise, but Laurent made a point of not listening to this recording.
“
I wanted to give a personal touch to this version, closer to the cartoon than to traditional imagery.
I don't want to put the children to sleep, but wake them up!
".
*
Tell me
by Laurent de Funès.
Volume 1. Downloadable from the Book d'Oreille website
