Did you know that a giant of French comedy contributed to the screenplay of Luc Besson’s “The Big Blue”? We reveal who it was!
From “La Chèvre” to “Le Dîner de Cons,” director and screenwriter Francis Veber, whose hilarious tales of François Pignon/Perrin have amused millions (with the exception of one real François Pignon who actually insulted the filmmaker!), is one of the undisputed masters of mainstream French comedy. But did you know he also had a hand in writing “The Big Blue” by Luc Besson?
In an interview with the newspaper L’Équipe in September 2022, around the time he returned to theater with his play “Le Tourbillon,” Francis Veber discussed his connection to sports. It was then that he spoke about his role as a script doctor on “The Big Blue.”
“Besson’s script was like a cheese without a box. It was overflowing everywhere,” Veber, who was not credited in the film’s titles, explained. “I created the rivalry between Jean Reno (Enzo Molinari) and Jean-Marc Barr (Jacques Mayol). Initially, there was no competition between the two.”
“I swear, when they’re free diving, I won’t put in any dialogue…”
Recommended as a script doctor to Luc Besson by Patrice Ledoux, then CEO of Gaumont, Francis Veber even worked on the underwater diving scenes of the film. “Besson was so terrified that the old vaudevillian in me would interfere with everything that I promised him, ‘I swear, when they’re free diving, I won’t put in any dialogue…’ Otherwise, it’s ‘Aquaman’,” he joked.
Thus, Jacques Veber contributed to enhancing the screenplay of “The Big Blue,” even though the world of free diving was completely foreign to him. “Below two meters deep, my ears hurt,” he confessed. “But what they call doctoring, or script consulting, entering a world unknown to me, that was my job. I had done it on ‘Le Professionnel’ (1981) for Belmondo, in Oury’s films… Or on ‘La Cage aux Folles’ (1978).”
Released in theaters in 1988, “The Big Blue” is inspired by the lives of free diving champions Jacques Mayol and Enzo Maiorca, as well as by Luc Besson’s own childhood. A massive public success, this generational masterpiece drew nearly 9.2 million viewers to French cinemas.
The trailer for “The Big Blue”:
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A passionate journalist, Iris Lennox covers social and cultural news across the U.S.