Like everyone else, Dany Boon was strongly marked by the pandemic and the very strict confinement to which the French had to submit last year. He made a film from it, the title of which echoes the humanistic qualities of a group of tenants in a Parisian building. Maintenance.
Dany Boon is a bit distressed by nature. For someone who has already written and directed a comedy titled Supercondriac, a global pandemic caused by the arrival last year of a virus of which scientists did not yet know anything was necessarily very anxiety-provoking. Confined then at home with his family, the actor was however able to observe the bonds of solidarity which were created in his neighborhood.
PHOTO PROVIDED BY NETFLIX
This scene from 8 Rue de l’Humanité echoes the ritual that Parisians took during confinement by going out every evening on their balcony to applaud the frontline workers.
“At first, we were flabbergasted by what was happening and, like everyone else, we were hooked on news channels to try to find answers that no one could give,” says Dany Boon during an interview with The Press. Everything was very dark, but we gradually looked for ways to reassure ourselves a little. Then, I was taught that the insurance could no longer cover the film I was due to shoot in August 2020 and I had to warn my entire team. This is where I turned to Laurence [Arné, comédienne, coscénariste et compagne] telling him that instead of going through this situation, maybe it would be better to write something. ”
Revealer of human nature
Recognized thanks to his tender comedies, whose emblematic title remains Welcome to the Ch’tis (still the greatest success in the history of French cinema), Dany Boon had to find a way to draw humorous lines from this very dramatic chapter in the history of humanity. Beginning with the “declaration of war” of President Emmanuel Macron, the account of 8 Rue de l’Humanité thus follows the lives of different tenants of a Parisian building now having to deal with the new rules of distancing, the curfew, the permits required to travel outside the prescribed hours, these elements acting as so many indicators of human nature.
The humor that I love is the one that conveys humanity by taking its source in things that are often desperate. It is a way of responding to despair, to the inevitable, to the inevitable.
Dany boon
“This movie is not really about COVID or containment, but rather about a situation where the characters have to reveal their true nature and connect with their humanity, even if initially they are not. gone to do that at all! “
A background of truth
Starring, in addition to the author and filmmaker himself, François Damiens, Laurence Arné, Tom Leeb, Liliane Rovère and Yvan Attal, the latter embodying a kind of mad scientist, obsessed with the search for a vaccine, 8 Rue de l’Humanité thus explores the sometimes conflicting relationships between tenants who, paradoxically, must now interact whereas previously, in a pre-pandemic world, everyone ignored each other. Of course, the line is often magnified, but the story nonetheless draws on a fund of truth. The character played by Dany Boon, very intense, is directly inspired by his own obsessions.
I was one of those who took everyone’s temperature all the time. It pissed off Laurence a lot, by the way. But instead of stopping, I took off the beep and took the children’s temperature when they were sleeping!
Dany boon
“At that time, we didn’t even know if there would be a vaccine one day. The character of scientist played by Yvan Attal is a bit the result of all the specialists we have seen on TV, forced by the news channels to make all kinds of assumptions and to put forward hypotheses. It was enough for one of them to say that the virus lasts 4 hours on cardboard, 12 hours on plastic and 15 hours on metal for us to spend our time disinfecting everything! ”
PHOTO DENIS CHARLET, FRANCE-PRESS AGENCY
Laurence Arné and Dany Boon, photographed during a preview of their film in Vitry-en-Artois, together wrote the screenplay for 8 Rue de l’Humanité.
Unlike several French feature films which hit theaters in France and are then purchased by Netflix for worldwide distribution (DNA by Maïwenn, for example), 8 Rue de l’Humanité is a production of the online broadcasting giant.
“My connection to Netflix was first established through Murder Mystery, an English-language film in which I acted with Jennifer Aniston and Adam Sandler, says Dany Boon. My last show was also broadcast on Netflix. I found the subject suited to a platform. In my eyes, the cohabitation between the big screen and online broadcasters is not incompatible, even if it is not yet permitted in France. It will undoubtedly come one day. The question is no longer to see filmmakers working for years on series which, suddenly, no longer have time for cinema. ”
IMAGE PROVIDED BY NETFLIX
In the courtyard of a building located at 8 rue de l’Humanité …
Even if he has often been offered to write and direct series, especially on Ch’tis, Dany Boon prefers to concentrate on cinema.
“I like the idea of having the opportunity to work a little differently and take more time to tell a story, but for now, I prefer the cinema format, with a beginning and an end in two. time. Having said that, I’m interested in the playoffs too. I watch them anyway! ”
A man loved by the French
Regularly appearing on the list of the most beloved personalities of the French, Dany Boon had to learn to deal with notoriety – especially in the wake of Welcome to the Ch’tis –, but still quickly found a balance between public and private life.
“I am very happy to be loved by the French, first of all because I did not try to be loved,” he says. Maybe that’s why it happened. The affection people have for me is benevolent. Having said that, I try to protect my children and my family as well. Because in counterpoint to this notoriety, I became a product that fed a certain press, especially at the time of the Ch’tis. Suddenly, every little thing became an event and I had to be very careful about everything I said, everything I did, what I reacted to. However, I was not aware of it at the time. I don’t put anything personal on my social networks, because I try to keep some mystery! ”
8 Rue de l’Humanité is available on Netflix.