The Bronzed 4? “That would be going against the wall,” insists Michel Blanc
“I am no longer Jean-Claude Dusse,” confides the 71-year-old actor. “Neither physically, nor morally, nor artistically.”
The Bronzed 4 regularly returns to the headlines, but one of the key players in the saga keeps repeating that he doesn’t want to hear about it: Michel Blanc does not intend to star in a new sequel to the cult film released in 1978 at the cinema. The interpreter of Jean-Claude Dusse is now 71 years old, and he judges that at this age, continuing the adventure would be a very bad idea.
Michel Blanc: These 80s that changed everything
If a Tanned 4 was born with Christian Clavier, Marie-Anne Chazel, Josiane Balasko and Thierry Lhermitte, “I will not participate in it, he warns in The Sunday Journal. It’s finish. This is just my opinion, be careful! That would be hitting the wall. First of all, I’m not crazy about three, so four is not possible. At our age, we would seem to be hanging on to the branches. Jean-Claude Dusse, the public has it at will, because the films are constantly on TV. I am no longer him physically, morally or artistically. But I’m happy to be called by his name in the street, it doesn’t bother me.”
The reception of Tanned 3 by the public divided the Splendid team, because concretely, the film did well in 2006: it attracted more than 10 million spectators in France. Difficult to speak of failure in this context, but by observing its box office more closely, we can see that this impressive score was mainly recorded at the very beginning of distribution, proof that the film was particularly anticipated, both The Bronzed And The Bronzed are skiing cult comedies in the eyes of the public. After a few days, entries split, with word of mouth being particularly negative about this subtitled sequel Friends for life.
However, there was talk of shooting a fourth film, which would have taken place in a retirement home, but if Christian Clavier or Thierry Lhermite were able to be enthusiastic about the idea of getting back together one last time in front of Patrice Leconte’s camera, Michel Blanc always made it known that he thought it was a bad idea. He moved on to something else: between two achievements (Kiss whoever you want, See how we dance…), and screenwriting (A job, in 2016), he is featured in eclectic projects. This year, we saw it in The Cadorsby Julien Guetta and Small victoriesby Mélanie Auffret, and it arrives this week in Marie-Line and her judgeby Jean-Pierre Améris, facing Louane Emera.
Christian Clavier is the only actor to have passed 10 million admissions at the box office 4 times
Already, in 2013, when Clavier was back in another comic saga, Visitorsfor n°3, his friend explained to our colleagues from Reviewer : “Honestly, I’m not proud of 3. There are some very good scenes, those of Christian Clavier for example, but I don’t find myself very interesting in them. It’s due to the fact that we didn’t write the way we wrote before. I think we’ve reached the end. Three is a nice number. And then it was fun to see the Bronzés young and old. Now, if it’s to see them at the hospice, I’m not sure that’s relevant. Or we do something else but we’re not doing a comedy. We’re doing something English-style, but I’m not sure it interests my classmates. And in the end that would mean that we are frying ourselves.
At the time, he already explained that he found it complicated to continue playing the unlucky flirt Jean-Claude Dusse: “I realized while playing in The Bronzed 3 that it was complicated for me. It became easier to act in other comedies rather than playing Dusse again. And then it should also be noted that it was a gamble to do one again. It was necessary to take into account the thirty years which separated them from their last adventure. So let’s consider it a reverence, at least that’s how I see it.”
Trailer for Marie-Line and her judgewith Michel Blanc, currently in cinemas:
Les Bronzés 3: “When a film has more than 10 million admissions, do you honestly think it’s not appreciated?”
