How the film "Toy" was filmed with Pierre Richard: footage from the filming and 11 interesting facts about the film (16 photos)

This film is about a journalist who is “bought” as a toy by the spoiled son of a millionaire.





1. The history of the creation of the film “Toy” began in the mid-60s, because it was then that screenwriter Francis Weber began writing a script (more precisely, not quite a script, but rather a short story).

His story was based on a real story that Weber observed personally. One day, while in a toy store, he saw the son of a rich man, next to whom stood his nannies and guards, in whose hands were bags filled with toys. But the boy was still not happy with something, which is why he was capricious every now and then, promising to tell his father about everything so that he would fire everyone.



Pierre Richard and Francis Weber

Weber wrote a short story on this topic, which he happily forgot about until better times, until he met his friend Pierre Richard, with whom they became friends during the filming of the film “The Tall Blonde in a Black Shoe,” for which Francis Weber wrote the script.

Richard liked this story so much that he literally begged Weber to write a full-fledged script in a comedic vein in order to make a film based on it.

2. When Weber began writing the script, he thought about what kind of character the main character would have. And not having come up with anything better, he decided to write the image of the main character based on himself, since, according to his admission, he had always been a rather clumsy guy.





Pierre Richard himself really liked this image. Moreover, he really liked that the film “Toy” would be not so much a comedy as a satire on the permissiveness of rich people. Therefore, in addition to playing the main role, Richard also became the producer of this film. True, this did not mean at all that Richard was not going to make faces in his style, as he did in other films with his participation.



3. Despite the fact that Richard and Weber were good friends, conflicts often occurred between them during filming. The fact is that Richard was at the peak of his popularity. In addition, as I wrote above, he was the producer of the film. Therefore, he believed that he could make his own adjustments to the filming process and set the tone for the filming. Richard tried to portray his character more comically, while Weber demanded a touch of seriousness.



But most of all, Weber didn’t like the fact that Richard almost always considered the first take to be the most successful. But Weber had his own opinion on this matter. The director had to literally persuade Richard to redo the unsuccessful take, which the actor considered good.

4. The most difficult thing in casting was to find the same boy for the role of Eric, who will cause negativity in the audience during the first half of the film, and whom the audience will love in the second half of the film. But none of the boys who came to audition liked Francis Weber.



After the tedious tests, Francis Weber went outside to get some air, and one of the members of the film crew, Monsieur Greco, came out with him. The two ended up talking and it turned out that Monsieur Greco had an age-appropriate son named Fabrice who was taking acting classes.



Francis Weber invited Greco to bring his son to audition. And as it turned out, young Fabrice Greco was simply perfect for the role of the spoiled son of a millionaire.

Pierre Richard himself was also amazed by the concentration of the young actor. It’s amazing how dedicated an 11-year-old boy was to his work, not showing off, but thoughtfully reading the script.

But despite all this, Fabrice Greco never became an actor. The film "Toy" was essentially his first and only film work. Fabrice decided not to connect his life with the acting profession, but chose the path of a web designer.



Fabrice Greco and Pierre Richard many years later

5. Francis Weber decided to give the main character of the film “Toy” the name François Perrin. This is exactly the name of the hero Richard in the film "The Tall Blonde in a Black Shoe", and this is exactly whatwill be the name of the hero Pierre Richard in the film "Unlucky". But it’s immediately worth noting that these are all different characters.

6. For the role of the president's wife (Madame Ramball-Cochet), Francis Weber decided to take not an actress, but a model, since he needed a beautiful woman who could behave well and act without any emotions.



After going through a bunch of photographs of various models, Francis Weber came across a photo of the model Susie Dyson, who worked with such famous brands as Chanel and Vercace.



But despite the fact that Suzy agreed to a role in the film "Toy", she decided not to act in films anymore, as she wanted to focus solely on her modeling work.

7. For the role of the cold millionaire Pierre Rambal-Cochet, Francis Weber decided to take actor Michel Bouquet, who basically always played the same cold characters.



According to Michel himself, the boy Fabrice Greco was wary of him for several weeks, but then they even became close.

8. It’s unlikely that any of you will be able to forget that very iconic title melody from the movie “Toy”. The author of this composition was the Romanian-French composer Vladimir Cosma.



Vladimir himself never thought that he would write music for cinema, but in the end he became famous as a film composer. Francis Weber first noticed his compositions for the film “The Tall Blonde in a Black Shoe,” after which he invited him to create the music for his first film, “The Toy.”

Since then, the fruitful collaboration between Francis Weber and Vladimir Cosma began. The composer wrote music for such popular Weber films as “The Unlucky Ones,” “The Runaways,” “Papas,” “Jaguar,” “Dinner with a Fool,” and others.

9. In the USSR, the film “Toy” became a real hit, but in its homeland, France, the film failed at the box office. It was watched by only around 1 million viewers, which is a pretty bad result. But despite all this, Pierre Richard considers this film one of his favorite and successful ones.



But Francis Weber was afraid that this film would ruin his directorial career, which had not yet begun. Therefore, for several years he did not even try to sit in the director’s chair, until it came to the film “Unlucky”. And it was this film that became the most successful in his career, thanks to which he became a truly sought-after director.

10. The boy Fabrice Greco did not expect such wild popularity to fall on him, despite the fact that the film essentially failed at the box office. The young actor received a huge number of films, and crowds of fans kept vigil outside his house.



Once, going out into the street, some crazy fan even tried to tear off his jacket, which is why Fabrice was afraid to go out for a long time.



Moreover, the child began to receive offers to star in other films. But the boy’s father charged such a high fee that the producers quickly left the child behind. The boy's father himself explained his action by saying that he simply wanted to protect his son's psyche. And over time, the fans also left, which Fabrice himself was very happy about.

11. The release of the film "Toy" was planned for the Christmas holidays. And many companies, fearful of competition, postponed the premieres of their films, because everyone believed that the new comedy with Pierre Richard would simply be a one-two punch for everyone. But in the end the film failed.