How the film “The Professional” was filmed with Belmondo: footage from the filming and 18 interesting facts about the film (23 photos + 1 video)

The film is based on the novel Death of the Thin-Skinned Beast by British writer Patrick Alexander. The spy thriller was released in 1976 and immediately became a bestseller, largely because it dealt with the dirty politics of some European heads of state.





1. The film “The Professional” is based on the book “Death of the thin skinned animal” by British writer Patrick Alexander, published in 1976.

Naturally, since they decided to film the book in France, the plot itself was transferred to France, and the main character from a Briton became a Frenchman. Georges Lautner sat in the director's chair.



2. No actors were considered for the role of the main character Josselin Beaumont, since the role was originally intended for 47-year-old Jean Paul Belmondo. As the actor himself said, he was very lucky that someone decided to film this book.





3. In his youth, Jean Paul Belmondo was a very good boxer, and this was useful to him on the set of many films with his participation. "Professional" was no exception.



Moreover, absolutely all the stunts in the film (even those that were difficult to perform) were performed by Belmondo himself. Even in the scene when Josse is pumped with something by driving a needle, there was no stunt double, since Belmondo insisted that the injection be real. And during the filming of the chase scene, Belmondo himself was behind the wheel.



4. Initially, the film was supposed to mention some real African country, but the producers killed this idea because they did not want to run into an international scandal. Therefore, in the film we are told about a certain fictional country of Malagawi.



But President N'Jala was essentially based on the real-life brutal dictator of the Central African Republic, Jean Bedel Bokasso, who bore the nickname "The Cannibal Emperor."

And if you look at the flag of the fictional country of Malagawi, you will notice that it has the same colors as the flag of the Central African Republic (blue, red, green, yellow). Coincidence? Don't think.

5. Those very first scenes of the film, which supposedly take place in Africa, were actually filmed in the south of France. The company did not have any extra money for flights and filming in Africa, so they had to save a little.



Well, the role of African soldiers was also played not by Africans, but by ordinary French students.



6. In the scene when Josse Beaumont attacked the warden at the beginning of the film, Jean Paul was so carried away by the fight that he almost broke the poor actor’s spine.



7. The mayor's office flatly refused to allow the filming of a chase scene on Trocadéro Square in Paris. Then Jean Paul Belmondo decided to connect connections in the form of his father, Paul Belmondo.



His father was a famous sculptor who constantly moved in bureaucratic circles. Jean Paul asked his father to talk to the officials. And after dad talked to government officials, the film crew was allowed to film in the square.



Unfortunately, The Professional was the last film starring Jean Paul Belmondo that his father saw. In January 1982, Paul Belmondo passed away.

8. An interesting situation arose with the actor Bernard-Pierre Donaldier, who played Farge. Surely you remember that during a conversation in a bar, Josse punched Farge in the face with all his might, after which he flew towards the billiard table.



The shooting of this scene went well, but the director was not happy with something, so he decided to reshoot it. And during the second take, Donalde overdid it a little, which is why hestupidly hit his nose on the billiard table, breaking his nose.



Yes, no broken nose was planned in the script, but due to the fact that the actor actually damaged his face, some unplanned adjustments had to be made. Therefore, when we see Farge with a broken nose, this is not makeup at all, but a real injury in the name of art.

Later, Donaldier recalled with a smile the filming of that moment, and even laughed it off, saying that he did not need to act out the pain, since everything was for real.

9. In several scenes we can see a certain agent who, together with other agents, is hunting Beaumont. This role was played by the Yugoslav Yugo Jovanovic, who was once Belmondo’s bodyguard, and, in fact, thanks to him, he ended up in this film.



But as it turned out later, Yugo Jovanovic turned out to be a wanted criminal who made a living by robbing jewelry stores. The police could not catch the criminal for 10 years, and were simply taken aback when they saw the robber they were looking for in the movies.

The filmmakers, like Belmondo himself, strongly denied that they knew what this man was really doing. And after the scandal that occurred, his name was crossed out from the credits.

Apparently, the same gold watch that we see on the agent in one scene was also not bought by Yovanovic.



By the way, three years after the release of the film "The Professional", Yugo Jovanovic was shot by government agents when he tried to organize his friend's escape from prison. And the most interesting thing is that he tried to organize an escape using a helicopter.

10. Today, the composition “Chi Mai” by the famous Italian composer Ennio Morricone is associated exclusively with the film “The Professional,” but in fact it was written 10 years earlier specifically for the Italian melodrama “Maddalena” (1971).

But it was thanks to Belmondo that this composition ended up in the film “The Professional”, making it mega popular. As Belmondo himself said, he heard this composition on the radio completely by accident, but it sank into his soul so much that he asked the director to include it in the film.



But we associate this melody with the film “The Professional”, and many French people, when listening to “Chi mai”, remember the annoying advertisement for Royal Canin dog food, which was constantly shown on TV. Yes, yes, it was precisely this tune that the dog ran to in the advertisement.

Later, a parody of this advertisement was made in the film "Asterix and Obelix: Mission Cleopatra" with music by Marricone.

And yes, this very composition was played during the funeral ceremony of Jean Paul Belmondo in 2021.

11. We all remember the tragic ending of this film, which left a strong impression. But in fact, two of them were filmed. If in the first ending Josse was killed, then in the second he simply got into a helicopter and flew away.



The producers wanted to leave a second happy ending in the film, but director Georges Lautner and Belmondo himself were strongly against this, saying that the film should end with the death of the main character. Therefore, it was the tragic ending that was ultimately included in the film.



12. In the scenes on the street, it was not extras who took part, but the most ordinary people and random passers-by. The director asked them not to look at the camera or the actors. And for this they will get into the film. Almost everyone played their role perfectly, but some still did not miss the opportunity to gawk at Jean Paul Belmondo.



13. The film A Professional was supposed to be released in the Soviet Union in the first half of the 80s.

But officials did not like the fact that this French film contained a lot of fights, murders, nude scenes, etc. Moreover, the African country was shown in a negative light. As a result, the film was shelved. And later the dubbed version was completely lost.



In the mid-80s, the film "The Professional" was even shown in some cinemas in the original, that is, in French. At that time, a simultaneous interpreter was sitting in the hall, who translated the film through a microphone so that the viewerand could understand what it was all about.

And only in 1990 the film “Professional” was released in the Soviet Union in the same dubbing from the Mosfilm studio that we are all accustomed to. Although, many claim that this is a lie, and they went to see the dubbed film in the cinema in the mid-80s. Well I do not know. I was born in 1986, so I didn’t go to the cinema. Perhaps these people visited video stores and not cinemas?



14. In the scene when Inspector Farge hit Beaumont's wife, actress Elisabeth Margoney injured her hand. Fortunately, there were no consequences.

15. Michel Bon, who played Captain Valera, was a friend of Belmondo. They were the same age and starred together in 13 films. Michel Bon asked the writers to change his character's character so that he would not betray his friend. But they refused such a request.



16. Hotel filming took place in the real-life Hilton international Paris hotel.

17. A separate nude scene was filmed with Cyrielle Claire, who played Beaumont's mistress named Alice. But in the end, this scene was not included in the final version of the film.



18. The film's budget was 20 million francs. I can’t say exactly how much it is in dollars, but open sources say that this amount is equivalent to 500,000 euros. But there was no euro at that time, so I decided to do a little calculation in dollars. In 1981, the dollar floated strongly against the French franc, ranging from 4.6 to 5.7 francs per dollar. And if we take the average value of 5 francs per 1 dollar, then the budget was 4 million dollars. Correct me if I'm wrong.

"The Professional" became one of Belmondo's best films. Of course, if you take the film apart, it will seem naive and full of mistakes. for example, when Beaumont falls, struck by bullets, his shirt is pristinely clean - the squibs were hidden only in his jacket, the alarm clock that was broken by the policeman turns out to be intact in the trash can, and Beaumont himself had absolutely no need to put on a show with the homeless and attract attention to himself, he could have waited until the police wanted to drink coffee and entered the house without all these tricks. But an idea! The idea makes up for all the flaws. Sacrifice, courage, thirst for justice, punishment of dishonest political players - these are the main things in this film.

When the actor was seen off on his last journey on September 10, 2021, this piercing melody resounded over the square, and many who came to say goodbye to their beloved artist, who had become a legend of French cinema, could not hold back their tears; both women and men cried. Watch this video. Goosebumps.