The second part of the adventures of “OSS 117” sauce Michel Hazanavicius, “OSS 117, Rio no longer responds” was also the first important role of Alex Lutz in the cinema. If thereafter, the actor had a formidable career on the big screen, he was however nervous at the idea of shooting in the cult French comedy.
OSS 117: Jean Dujardin is moving!
Ex-employee of the Canal House in the 90s, Michel Hazanavicius kept the mocking and parodic style by realizing in 2006 OSS 117, Cairo: Nest of Spies. Thus, not only, does he grant himself the services of real comic talent in the person of Jean Dujardin. But in addition, he manages to divert the initial novels of Jean Bruce by making a real pastiche of the first films James Bond. The success is then total: indeed, OSS 117, Cairo: Nest of Spies is a big hit at the box office with more than two million admissions in France. In addition, he obtained 5 César nominations (for a single award).
As a reminder, the film follows the adventures of Hubert Bonisseur de la Bath aka OSS 117, an experienced special agent of the SDECE (the French intelligence service, ancestor of the DGSE). In 1955, he was sent to Egypt by President René Coty himself to update a case that could jeopardize the security of the Middle East, in a Cold War context.
The triumph of the film inevitably leads to a sequel released in 2009.
Big first for Alex Lutz
In this second part, the most macho and xenophobic spy of the French State flies away this time to Brazil for a mission concerning the redemption of microfilm containing a list of former French collaborators during the Second World War. The latter would be held by a former Nazi. During his mission, he is also contacted by Mossad.
Within the cast of OSS 117, Rio is unresponsive to finding Alex Lutz, who plays here his first role of great importance in the cinema (he made a brief appearance in Women in the shadows). The one who received the César for best actor in 2019 for his role in the guy (a film he also directed) returned to some behind the scenes of a feature film, during his visit to Europe 1. And during a Q&A with Nikos Aliagas, he admitted he wasn’t the most confident in the world about starring in the film:
To be honest and to tell the truth, I was super happy, but I was so stalker, so funky, so it was my first somewhat important film role in a long-awaited film.
Fortunately, he was able to count on the support of Jean Dujardin, whom he called “the best godfather in the world”. Indeed, the latter gave him good advice throughout the filming, even giving him a final lesson so that he apprehends his following films much less: “Forgive yourself! »
When we see today the talent as well as the confidence that Alex Lutz puts in his interpretations in the cinema, on television, and in the theater, we can say that this advice was more than valuable to him.
