This summer, the French were fans of “Camping,” with more than 3.7 million tickets sold! A prestigious performance!
This winter, the Camping des Flots Bleus is coming to your home! You’ll go partying at the Shogun, sunbathe on the sandy beach of Arcachon, and if you have a car breakdown: head to the Mendès garage.
But by the way, which spot do you choose at the “Camping”? Number 18 with Jacky and Laurette, number 37 with Gaby and Christy, Paul’s tent, or Sophie’s camper van?
We are betting on the Maréchal tent: “4 adult places, 2 children’s places, side fan, waterproof stitching, double roof, polyethylene groundsheet.” “It’s just a tent!” according to Gérard Lanvin. Yes, but a tent with benco! Isn’t that right, Patrick?
On Saturday, December 2nd, Nice-Première pitched its tent at the Fnac in Nice, where admirers of this great seducer came in great numbers: “Chase away the fan, and they’ll come right back!”
Nice-Première: Welcome to the Camping of Nice-Première, a tour to present the film “Camping,” a tour for the film’s DVD, but also for the DVD “Pour toi, Public 2.” Fnac in Rouen, Paris, Lille, yesterday that in Bordeaux, today that in Nice, tomorrow Fnac in Lyon, then Saint Etienne. What do these encounters with people who appreciate you represent for you?
Franck Dubosc: It’s essential. The “Pour toi Public 2” is almost an excuse to come back one last time and see people a bit before disappearing for several months, before my new show. Even when we made the film, I had a hard time not going to see them. I could have sufficed to just do the premieres, but it’s inconceivable for me not to see the public who will come to see the film. Of course, we can’t see everyone, but at least to have a sample. I started having success on stage, I enjoyed it, and I genuinely enjoy knowing who the people are who give me all this happiness. I have to see them, touch a few… Uh… touch them with my eyes, my hands, or my mouth (Smiles). I need that.
N-P: You are very close to your audience. I read on your website that you respond to everyone’s emails.
F.D.: Practically all. In any case, I read everything; I don’t necessarily respond to all. When some write to me 3-4-5 times, sometimes I don’t answer everything. I would reply later. I send a little kiss, a little response. It’s me!
N-P: Now, I address Patrick Chirac and wish to hear what he thinks of Franck Dubosc.
F.D.: Well… I, Patrick Chirac, am somewhat Franck Dubosc’s puppet; he’s the one who puts his hand inside my body… I like it when he washes his hands. (Laughs)
N-P: But again
F.D.: Patrick Chirac thinks he has a better life than Franck Dubosc because he can still go camping. Well, he used to. Now, he can’t go anymore. He sold the car, the R21. Patrick Chirac envies nothing from Franck Dubosc except his car. Oh yes! Patrick Chirac would like to have Franck Dubosc’s car, but it’s not reciprocal. By the way, Patrick Chirac’s car is dead…
N-P: That’s sad.
F.D.: Yeah. It went to the scrapyard. It’s in a car cemetery.
N-P: And what about Gérard Lanvin’s?
F.D.: Oh, that one was already dead. It had undergone 50 facelifts. (Smiles) Very honestly, the R21, mine in the film, is easier to drive than the other; the other was a clunker! It was an old car! The R21, it was classy!!!
N-P: I prefer the other.
F.D.: But you haven’t driven it. I would have taken you to the end of the world with it. Well, not too far because it would have broken. I found out it was dead through the Internet. The guy who rented it to us for the film sent me an email with the car’s photo, telling me it had passed away. It died of heartbreak… (Laughs)
N-P: Franck Dubosc, is he more of a tent or camping fan?
F.D.: Franck Dubosc has become bourgeois. He prefers grand palaces over camping. My only way of seeing him is to reinvent new stories and possibly a “Camping 2.” Otherwise, Franck Dubosc no longer sleeps in tents. Alas… He sleeps in palaces. Alas. He would like to come on vacation with me from time to time. It’s funny to say what Patrick Chirac thinks of Franck Dubosc. When we shot the film, some Saturdays, we went partying and got drunk. I’d see Fabien Onteniente and say to him: “Hi, it’s Patrick!”, which meant I was going drinking, and the next morning, if I woke up hungover, I’d say, “Damn! Patrick hasn’t left yet!” (Laughs) So, Patrick was somewhat crazy, and Franck was the reasonable one. Franck is the one who works, and Patrick, he came as a tourist to Arcachon.
N-P: Two characters in Franck Dubosc!
F.D.: Yes, which we’ll find in Disco. He won’t be called Patrick Chirac, but he’s a bit of the same.
N-P: Aren’t you ashamed of playing the “kéké des plages”?
F.D.: Yes, but no. I am very modest, and when I do it, it is a way to exorcise it, and then when I get home, I’m not like that at all, it’s not me. It’s a way to let off steam; it exorcises a lot of things. It’s a release. I never fart. I’m not the type to burp, fart, all that, I hate it. I don’t like it, so maybe I miss it somewhere and it allows me to let off some steam. It’s schoolboy humor. I bottle everything up and then let it go.
N-P: What is the ideal spot?
F.D.: Not too far from the toilets but not too close either (Laughs). The right balance: Close enough for an urgent need to avoid having to run and not too close to avoid the smell. After the beach, we don’t care; we have all the time to go there. The toilets are the most important thing when camping.
N-P: And which spot does Franck Dubosc prefer?
F.D.: I like large and small venues alike. I love playing in the Zenith because there is still intimacy. It’s easier to move around the aisles. The people at the back are much closer than in small venues of 2,000. (Laughs)
N-P: What does a day for Franck Dubosc look like?
F.D.: Up by 11 am, leisurely, I start working around 2-3 pm, well, working, when I work. I finish by 5 pm, I go grocery shopping, I get home, play a bit on the PlayStation, then I go clubbing.
N-P: Really?
F.D.: No. (Laughs) A day for Franck Dubosc depends when. Right now, I’m doing promotions. I get up at 6:30 am because I’m doing radio shows, the 6-9 as they call it. I have a sandwich for lunch and continue until about 8:30 pm. I go home, handle my mail. And during all these days, I am on the phone with Fabien Onteniente, for my notes on the script we’re writing, “Disco,” and it starts again. It’s a lot of work, and when I’m not on tour, I get up quite early, try to exercise, then head to production to write “Disco.” I get home by 7:30 pm, arrive at 8:30 pm, and wait for my girlfriend, we make dinner. I take a bath, watch TV, and when I’m not tired, I make love (Smiles)
N-P: And your novel? What page are you on?
F.D.: Ah! “The Little Boy Who Broke the Bus Stop” (Smiles). I haven’t added many pages. I pace myself. It will be for later. It progresses slowly. I think in my next show, I’m going to take some things I’ve written there because it’s the story of my life, my novel.
N-P: Adaptable to the cinema?
F.D.: No, I’m not sure it’s adaptable to cinema. The story of my life isn’t very interesting. A book for fun, as I don’t know how to sing.
N-P: What’s the favorite spot in a campsite?
F.D.: The dishwashing area for encounters: combining the useful with the pleasant. It’s the place where all the guys who don’t like doing the dishes go.
(His phone rings. It’s the music of a well-known slow song)
F.D.: Care to dance? (Dubosc, ever the charmer) (Laughs)
N-P: Teenager?
F.D.: No, I’m a bit crazy in my head. No, I’m not a teenager because I think if I were, I wouldn’t have a teenage audience. I have enough perspective. Teens like me because I’m a bit crazy for my age. That’s what makes them laugh.
N-P: It’s a gap.
F.D.: Right, if I were a teenager, I wouldn’t be interesting.
N-P: In love?
F.D.: mmmm (Smiles) a bit… We don’t know each other well enough, I’m sorry. I can’t tell you that just yet. I find you a little pushy (Smiles)
N-P: Hypocritical?
F.D.: Proof! No, I’m not hypocritical.
N-P: Annoying?
F.D.: Yes, very annoying sometimes… No, no, I’m more boring… “Tianch” (Laughs)
N-P: A slap-worthy face?
F.D.: No
N-P: Who would you slap?
F.D.: No, there’s not many people I want to slap. The slaps I want to give are more verbal. To whom? All those who are in bad faith, they annoy me.
N-P: And a verbal one, what would it be?
F.D.: Shhh… Or I’d punch them in the face.
N-P: Can I continue?
F.D.: Yes (Smiles)
N-P: Camping or St Tropez?
F.D.: Today, more St Tropez, but in my heart, I’m more camping. But inevitably, as time goes by, it’s more St Tropez. But very honestly, I’m not very St Tropez. I’m not peaceful there because St Tropez isn’t peaceful when you’re known. It’s heavy. You can’t move. It’s not a place I like much. A beautiful beach in Mexico… there, yes.
N-P: Marrakech or St Tropez?
F.D.: Marrakech because it’s nice. In Marrakech, poufs are just for sitting on. (Laughs)
N-P: There you have it, this is the end, the Camping of Nice-Première is closing. Was the stay pleasant?
F.D.: Very pleasant. Shall we write to each other? (Smiles)
N-P: Will you come back?
F.D.: Yes, because I often return to the same place when I liked it.
N-P: To Nice?
F.D.: Yes, of course.
N-P: To the Fnac?
F.D.: Yes, never 2 without 3 (Smiles)
N-P: What do you like about our region?
F.D.: The women
N-P: Seriously.
F.D.: In your region, anytime of the year, when you come, it’s always milder than back home. Even if the weather is gray, with the palm trees, it looks nicer (Smiles).
N-P: Now, what’s your next destination?
F.D.: “Disco,” the film we’re writing with Fabien Onteniente.
N-P: “Asterix at the Olympic Games” too?
F.D.: Asterix, that’s done, it comes out in 2008, we shoot it in January 2008, but by then, there will be “Disco” which I think will be released before Asterix. Then my next show in 2008 too, and then a DVD with Elie “les petites annonces,” new ones! But currently, I’m going to enter a period where I am less visible for a while. That’s why there’s “Pour toi public 2.” It’s a way to say goodbye, to spend one last moment, it’s a way for me to do my last clowning before the major works, let’s say. I have some fun, I enjoy myself with friends.
N-P: And to conclude, we want to thank you. Thank you for the happiness you bring to people who aren’t very happy at home. They put on a Dubosc DVD and, oops, a moment of pleasure.
F.D.: Thank you. That’s why I do this job. When I was little, I wanted to do a job that was useful. Then, I thought, “Darn, I’m heading into acting, it serves nothing.” Then when I did theater, when I saw people, these people who light up for an hour or two, or when I read the mail. We say to ourselves: “I was useful.” It’s short, but I was useful. I don’t make much, it won’t leave much for the future, I don’t invent anything. But at the moment, it’s needed. It’s the troubadours! (Smiles) While the soldiers were on crusades back in the day, the troubadours took the place of these soldiers and started to “troubadourize” the princesses, that’s in “Disco,” while the knights were away warring. We need troubadours; we need entertainment. It’s a big happiness!
Official website of Franck Dubosc: https://www.franck-dubosc.com/
Discover three excerpts from the DVD “Pour toi Public 2”:
La Chipie
La Tête à claque
Le kéké des plages
Where to get it? Fnac
