"It's the biggest project of my life": Michel Boujenah prepares the adaptation of "The Magnificents" for the cinema

Like a sketch. As soon as Bruno Oger, the two-time Michelin-starred chef at Villa Archange in Le Cannet, appeared, Michel Boujenah couldn't help but ask for his roast chicken recipe, comparing it to a friend's "catastrophic" one, for a pure comedy scene.

A guest at the Cannes radio/Nice-Matin luncheons, the comedian was there to discuss the first Les Remparts du rire festival in Saint-Paul-de-Vence, which combines stand-up and theater from September 12 to 14 on the Place de la Courtine (full program at www.lesrempartsdurire.fr). But with him, even without thinking he's the Nombril du monde (a film that earned him a César nomination for Best Actor in a Drama), the conversation always turns to the thousand and one adventures of his life.

On land at his home in Saint-Paul-de-Vence where he "cleans the shutters" , at sea during his fruitless fishing trips by boat, but also on stage for the tour of Adieu les Magnifiques until November.

Filming on the French Riviera

A misleading title, however. The Tunis native has decided to immortalize the adventures of Maxo, Julot, Guigui, and the inimitable Simone Boutboul on the big screen, for his fourth directorial film.

"It's the biggest project of my life ," he says with rare solemnity. "I've already written two-thirds of the script and the casting isn't finalized yet, although there will probably be an Italian actor to play one of the three Tunisian Jews, but it's no longer a fantasy, it's becoming real."

The director plans to start shooting this feature film on the Côte d'Azur in September 2026. Mainly in Nice (notably with a picnic dinner on the Promenade des Anglais for the opening scene) but also in Antibes "where I will sink a boat in the port" . Without forgetting the hinterland for "snow scenes, but I will probably be attacked by the resorts because we will not see any skiers there, only stretchers and stretchers with a character who says: there is nothing stupider than skiing!" , the troublemaker already laughs. With Les Magnifiques , Michel excels at mixing laughter and emotions through this gallery of colorful antiheroes, all of whom he has played in the theater with his suspenders, his headgear and his red shirt.

A "cult multi-role"! Will he play, won't he play?...

"The production would also like me to play in the film, but that would be strange for me because on Les Magnifiques , I am everything, and when you're a director, you can be everything ," hesitates the actor who won a César for Three Men and a Cradle . But this film will above all allow me to bring to life all these things that I had in mind. Seeing Guigui embodied and speaking will be very moving."

The story? "The confrontation between three old people who are afraid of being forgotten [and will clumsily do everything not to be!, editor's note] and a lost youth. I hope it will be very funny, and at the same time, I talk about the despair shared by two generations."

Although his son Joseph will not be part of it ( "He doesn't feel ready for such a huge project yet" ) because he has called on Guillaume Schiffman, director of photography for The Artist, this cinematographic adventure will nonetheless be intimate for Michel Boujenah. It echoes both his roots and his career as an artist.

"This project will literally free me because I know these are characters who will die if I don't continue to play them. I've always made different versions of the show for that, but making a film about The Magnificents is giving them an eternity ."