Our happy days: the beginning of Omar Sy’s success story

M6 is rebroadcasting this successful summer comedy, just before the school holidays and the start of summer camps.

Tonight, the sixth channel is already preparing us for the summer with the programming of the film our happy daysreleased in 2006 and directed by the tandem Eric Toledano/Olivier Nakache.

One year after their first production I prefer that we remain friendsthe duo found Jean-Paul Rouvé to adapt their own short film produced in 2002 and inspired by their common past as summer camp monitors (it is moreover in this context that they met). those happy days become our happy daysand even though most of the cast is completely redesigned (Lorant Deutsch held for example the role of the head of the camp), one of the actors of the original short is finally retained: Omar Sythe teaser host of the band.

Omar Sy: “I only have good memories of the filming of Our Happy Days”

The short and the feature film will then mark the beginning not only of a privileged artistic relationship between the actor and the two directors, but also that of an incredible series of successes. Toledano and Nakache then discover the one who has become their favorite actor, a few years after having turned his friend from the Trappes band Jamel Debbouze in their short film The little shoes.

our happy days will experience real popular success in theaters: where I prefer that we remain friends gathered just over 300,000 entries, our happy days will collect more than 1.4 million.

Driven by critics who were on the whole conquered (Christophe Narbonne wrote at the time in First : “Between formatting and light authorism, our happy days is a popular comedy in the noble sense of the term“), the film above all makes the talent and the natural charisma ofOmar Sy to the image, for the one who had above all shone so far in the cinema for his cameos for other French comedians (in The infernal Montparnasse Tower, The Raid Or The Beuze), and remained half of the duo Omar and Fred, who were a hit in The Big Newspaper with the After-sales service.

Three years later, for their next film so closeToledano and Nakache again appeal to Omar Sy to embody Bruno, medical intern and work colleague of Roxane (Josephine de Meauxalso memorable in our happy days). If once again, his role in the casting is secondary, he still contributes greatly to the semi-success of the film, which reaches 800,000 admissions.

The consecration will of course come with Untouchables in 2011, adapted from the true story of quadriplegic businessman Philippe Bozzo di Borgo and his home helper Abdel Yasmin Sellou. Finally placed in the skin of the leading role alongside François Cluzet, Omar Sy becomes the spearhead of a comedy that will defy all predictions and become the third biggest success in the history of French cinema, ending its run with nearly 19.5 million admissions in France and more than 52 million worldwide. Grossing $445 million, the film is still the highest-grossing non-English language film in history.

Overall acclaimed by critics, the film won numerous awards, culminating in a nomination for the Golden Globe for best foreign film and above all a César for best actor for Omar Syswept up in the nose and beard of the future Oscar winner Jean Dujardin.

Omar Sy’s dance in Intouchables: “It’s a real climax!”

Thanks to the film by Toledano and Nakache, Omar Sy became a star on an international scale, chaining projects in Hollywood in particular (X-Men, Jurassic World…), focusing on dramatic and independent productions that are close to his heart, in the image of Skirmishersin cinemas in early 2023, and a hit on Netflix thanks to the series Lupine.

He does not forget those who made him a superstar by reuniting with them in 2014 in Samba. Now the only main character in the film – although surrounded among others by Charlotte Gainsbourg And Tahar Rahim– he delivers a remarkable performance in a film which will once again establish itself as a big popular success with 3.1 million admissions.

Having become a safe bet at the box office and regularly cited among the favorite personalities of the French, Omar Sy owes a lot to this little holiday comedy that launched a real popular phenomenon.

Omar Sy: “Samba is the furthest character I’ve ever played”

The film’s story : For the first time at the head of a camp, Vincent Rousseau finds himself for three weeks confronted with the eventful life of the camp, its more or less professional animators and teenagers who are not always easy to manage.

Trailer :

Lupine part 3: Omar Sy is on the run in this tense first extract