For more than fifteen years, Dany Boon and Line Renaud have lived a friendly idyll. The two French stars have forged an almost filial friendship which is particularly remarkable in their latest film, A great race. The director of Merry Christmas Christophe Carion filmed the artist duo for this road movie that is as funny as it is moving, displaying the strength of their ties on the big screen. Paris Match went to the set and told more about this emblematic and endearing duo, which alone represents the France of yesterday and today that we love.
It all started between Dany Boon and Line Renaud in 2005. The comedian-star had chosen him to play in his production The House of happiness. Delighted with this collaboration, he called on her again to Welcome to the Ch’tis, three years later. The phenomenal success of this comedy with 20 million admissions only strengthens the friendship between the two personalities. The relationship becomes even more intimate, Line Renaud is part of Dany Boon’s family and becomes friends with the filmmaker’s mother. For The Ch’tite family, impossible not to run his dear Line again. Their new collaboration, A great raceof which he is the co-producer, is then obvious.
Presented at the opening of the Angoulême Francophone Film Festival, the film A great race made a splash. The public was touched by this duo born of a simple taxi ride. Indeed, the film tells the story of a lady who is about to enter a retirement home in the Ile-de-France region and decides to ask her gruff taxi driver to take her to the places that have counted in her life. . A journey full of emotions that brings back happiness as well as wounds.
“When I read the script, I knew it was just me to take Line’s character to her final resting place.“, confides Dany Boon. Their chemistry is also “mind-boggling” according to director Christophe Carion, calling his actor “Bourvil of his time“. He does not hide having been on edge during the filming, giving the reply to this great 93-year-old lady who we have rarely seen so touching. Because this past is also a bit his, she who has been through so much. But she qualifies: “I have known the joys and pains of life, without ever encountering violence. I had this chance“, confided Line Renaud. If the film returns to the domestic violence suffered by its heroine, the French artist had a beautiful story with the man of her life, Loulou Gasté, who died in 1995. She also confided memories about her husband during the filming with Dany Boon, in front of a camera left on to capture these precious moments…