Nothing to declare: return to an XXL shoot

Dany Boon's film is rebroadcast this evening on TF1. Filmed two years after Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis, this contemporary fable about racism benefited from very significant resources.

Nothing to declarereleased in 2011 at the cinema, follows the forced cohabitation between a Belgian customs officer who hates the French and a French customs officer in love with the former's sister. “ The idea germinated in my mind during the Ch'tis preview tourexplain Dany Boon. I visited Belgium several times and was very surprised to see that the border area had become a no man's land. When I was a fine arts student in Belgium in the 1980s, I often went through customs with my drawing board and was often stopped. ! »

By choosing to anchor the story of Nothing to declare At a time when Europe is no longer becoming a single space where goods and people circulate freely, Dany Boon de facto falls into the “period film” category. On the set, the men and women wear shirts with large prints, they drive Simca and Peugeot… The first thing that strikes you when you enter the set of Nothing to declareit's the strange feeling of taking a leap backwards. The action takes place mainly during winter, just before the borders open. “ It seems like it was yesterdaybreathes Dany Boon. There is information technology coming, the internet, cell phones. »

All this has a cost: 20 million euros, almost double the Ch'tis. Jérôme Seydoux, the producer and big boss of Pathé, who came to the set, delighted in the show. “ After the Ch'tishe confesses, it was obvious to continue the journey with Dany. Everyone dreamed of making the next film by the man who had 20 million admissions! We had to budget for a period film shot on location. There's a lot of work on the decor! »

It is mainly between Belgium and France that the film was shot. In Macquenoise, a section of the Belgian commune of Momignies, located in the Walloon Region in the province of Hainaut, an entire street was requisitioned and “aged” by decorator Alain Veyssier. It's like an open-air studio. This street links two villages invented by Dany Boon, Courquain the French and Koorkin, the Walloon. The team built a Belgian chocolate shop, a greengrocer, a bar and a restaurant, Le No Man's Land, run by an unusual couple, Karin Viard and François Damiens (who has not yet inherited a daughter who dreams to sing). A line of vehicles is blocking the main artery of the town because a fussy customs officer has decided to be overzealous. It's Ruben Vandervoorde, a Belgian customs officer who hates the French. “ My character is worse than francophobicconfides Benoît Poelvoorde. We would have to invent a definition of anti-French racism for him. Don't try to make excuses for him, he's an idiot! To play it, it's not complicated, you just have to look around, there are plenty of them. » For this man, the end of borders is a tragedy. The film also begins with his cry of distress. It takes no less than two cranes and a Steadicam to follow the action. In the street, the first assistant, Nicolas Guy (a devotee of Dany Boon since his first film, like most of the members of the team who all worked for the success of Ch'tis), manages one hundred and thirty extras, fifteen cars, a caravan, two fifteen tons, and… a chip truck. Dany Boon even indulged in a childhood dream for his opening sequence: a shot seen from a helicopter. “ I like comedies where there is not only text, but also visual gags. I use short focal lengths where you can see the decor clearly. »

As with Welcome to the Ch'tisthe director plows his furrow: making people laugh with difference to better promote it. The story of Nothing to declare is also inspired by his life. “My character, Mathias Ducatelspecifies Dany Boon, is motivated by love. He is in love with a Belgian woman whose brother is the racist Vandervoorde. This is more or less what I knew through my parents because my father was from Kabylia and part of my French maternal family somewhat rejected mixed marriage. » The film will attract more than 8 million spectators upon its release.

Trailer:

The next François Ozon will bring together Dany Boon and Isabelle Huppert