On November 14, 2022, the Unknowns will reform in Tous Inconnus, a fiction inspired by the most cult sketches of the comic trio formed by Didier Boudon, Bernard Campan and Pascal Légitimus. Directed by Nicolas Hourès, the fiction will be broadcast in the first part of the evening, at 9:10 p.m., on TF1. If the three actors have made their return to television, they should also soon return to the big screen. Eight years after the release of the film The Three Brothers: the return.
In January 2022, Bernard Campan revealed to AFP that the trio had been invited “to participate in a film”. It is “not a film of the Unknowns”, he specified. “On this occasion, the group will reform but it is not, as I have read or heard: ‘The group will reform on stage or…’. No, it is for the occasion of “a film in which we are going to participate and I am delighted. I am delighted to find my companions and accomplices and friends”, he explained. In the Boxoffice Pro broadcast on May 12 on YouTube, Renaud Davy, head of programming at Pan Distribution, revealed the name of the director who will direct the Unknowns in their next film. This is Riad Sattouf, known for being the author of the comic strips Les Pauvres Aventures de Jérémie, Pascal Brutal and L’Arabe du futur, as well as for his feature film Les Beaux Gosses. The film’s release date is scheduled “at the end of 2023, beginning of 2024”, announced Renaud Davy.
During the presentation of Tous Inconnus at the premises of TF1 at the end of October, Bernard Campan enthusiastically spoke of Riad Sattouf’s film project: “He proposed a synopsis, we agreed. It’s poetic This is not the touch of the Unknowns, however, we can find it inside. In the fact of embodying several characters, for example. We will have the pleasure of meeting to play without having to worry about the realization or writing”. Nevertheless, Didier Bourdon expressed some fears. “I’m afraid that the fans of Sattouf will be disappointed and that the fans of the Inconnus too,” he confessed.
Les Inconnus know the world of the seventh art well. In 1985, they made their first foray on the big screen with The Telephone Always Rings Twice. At that time, the comic group had five members with Smaïn and Seymour Brussel. Following the failure of the film, Smaïn and Seymour Brussel left the band. In 1995, the film Les Trois Frères, on the other hand, was a real hit, attracting more than 7 million spectators and winning a César for best first film. Then, Didier Bourdon and Bernard Campan find themselves respectively in Le Pari (1997) and L’Extraterrestre (2000) on the big screen. The two accomplices turn again with Pascal Légitimus in Les Rois Mages (2001) then The Three Brothers: the return (2014), two films which are a great success with the public. The first registered more than 2.3 million entries and the second, more than 2.2 million entries. And since then, the three actors have no longer made a joint project, leading their careers each on their side.
