Jean-Marie Poiré on the death of Michel Blanc: “The Splendid is a family, everyone is devastated”

Jean-Marie Poiré directed Michel Blanc in “Le Père Noël est une ordure” (1982) and “Papy fait de la resistance” (1983). “I am very sad at the passing of Michel, who was a friend and a great actor. I met him at the same time as the rest of the Splendid cast during the filming of Tanned people go skiing in Val d’Isère in 1979. I went there to join Josiane Balasko, with whom I wrote the screenplay for Strong comeback. During the day, I waited for Josiane to finish shooting, I sometimes skied with Thierry Lhermitte or Christian Clavier — never with Michel Blanc (who didn’t know how to ski at the start of filming) — and in the evening, we all met at the restaurant. It was a joy to have dinner with Michel: he was always very friendly, very amusing, very mocking. »