"It was exceptional": Arthur Jugnot recounts the only time he played with his father

Alexis Patri 2:00 p.m., January 15, 2022

INTERVIEW

They share the same name, the same acting profession, but they did not share the stage.

Except once, when an incredible combination of circumstances brought together the son Arthur Jugnot and the father Gérard Jugnot on the boards for a performance.

The result of a total coincidence that Arthur Jugnot tells on Saturday on Europe 1 at the microphone of Isabelle Morizet, on the occasion of his invitation to the program There is not just one life in life.

>> Find Isabelle Morizet's shows every weekend from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. on Europe 1 as well as in podcast and replay here

The artistic meeting took place when Arthur Jugnot was to play, on the same day, at the Avignon festival at 4 p.m. the show "Magiciens, tout est ecrit", and in a festival near Fréjus at 9 p.m. the play by Feydeau " Chat en poche", with Valérie Mairesse and Gérard Rinaldi.

"At 3.30 p.m., the producer called me to tell me that Gérard Rinaldi had become unwell and that he could not perform the same evening performance. There were two thousand people who had already bought their tickets. It was he 15 years ago, impossible to prevent them”, remembers the actor.

"The only actor I know who is unemployed is Mr. Gérard Jugnot"

"The producer, devastated, tells me that he knows that I am in Avignon, and that I have to look if in the little known people who would agree to come and who would read the text on stage", he continues. .

"We look on the Internet who would have already played this role or this play. I tell myself that it is totally impossible."

Pressed for time, especially since he has to set up a scene for the first time in half an hour, Arthur Jugnot remembers that his father is on vacation in the south, near Fréjus.

"He had seen the show for once twice. He has known Valérie Mairesse well for a long time", he specifies on Europe 1. He calls her and explodes her situation.

"No, I can't do that. Besides, I read like a potato, let it go", replies Gérard Jugnot before hanging up.

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But, a few moments later, his father called him back.

"Listen, if I don't do it myself, I don't see who can do it!", he announces to her, too modest to tell his son that he accepts.

Arthur Jugnot goes on stage in Avignon, then drives two hours and arrives near Fréjus.

"They did a kind of reading without me and they put him in a suit that was a bit small," laughs the son about his father.

The organizer indicates to Arthur Jugnot that it is necessary all the same to warn the spectators of the change.

The actor nods.

The organizer then asks him to do so.

Dazed, Arthur Jugnot goes on stage, before the start of the show.

The audience is surprised.

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"Mr. Rinaldi had a health concern, so he will not be able to perform tonight's presentation", he explains then. "The good news is that we found an actor who is unemployed and who agreed to come today. But it turns out that I, in my entourage, the only actor I know who either unemployed, it's Mr. Gérard Jugnot. He will therefore perform this evening by reading the text."

The reaction of the public is immediate.

"2,000 cameras came out. People started talking and I felt a kind of excitement of people saying to themselves that they were going to experience something exceptional. And they experienced something exceptional", recalls Arthur Jugnot.

"It was an exceptional experience for me and my father too, because we had never played together in the theater."