The Perfect Man with Didier Bourdon: the incredible physical transformation of his partner…

After Building permitwhich won nearly 600,000 spectators last March, Didier Bourdon is back on the big screen in The perfect man June 22.

This comedy, directed by Xavier Durringer (The conquest), tells the story of Florence, encamped by Valerie Karsenti.

Overwhelmed by her family life and her work, she decides to buy a robot with a human appearance and a perfect physique. He meets all his expectations: maintaining the house, taking care of the children, and more.

But the robot, named Bobby (EFP), will quickly arouse jealousy in Franck (Didier Bourdon), her unemployed actor husband who cares.

For fear of losing his wife, Franck decides to take matters into his own hands, especially since the robot seems to find malicious pleasure in causing trouble in their relationship!

A KEN-STYLE ROBOT

Director Xavier Durringer wanted a blond, tall, muscular, attractive robot with a dazzling smile and beautiful blue eyes with which he could look his interlocutors straight in the face.

In addition, the filmmaker wanted an android with a physique like Ken, the muscular fiancé of the Barbie doll!

“When it was “designed”, we had fun inventing functions for it. We gave it the power to speak all languages ​​and to perform a thousand and one tasks, household and then other, more glamorous, play bowling or chess”specifies the director in the press kit.

“We even invented clothes for him for every circumstance, sold in panoply. In fact, we tried to make him a “perfect” humanoid, evolutionary, because he feeds on new human expressions as he goes. to develop new skillshe says.

INTENSIVE TRAINING FOR PEF

To interpret the Uman 3 robot, Pierre-François Martin-Laval really underwent intensive training in addition to make-up sessions. No special effects were added in post-production, the artist really lifted the cast!

The actor did it the old-fashioned way, at home. To find a young man’s line and rebuild an athlete’s bodybuilding, he ate mainly chicken breasts: “as I had seen Stallone do in rocky“he says

The actor started by doing 100 push-ups on the first day and he added ten more each day, which brought him on D-Day to 350 push-ups!

“I gained muscle mostly from my daughters sitting on my back while I pushed! And for the first time in my life – because I usually don’t like people watching me work – I practiced playing in front of them”he says.

“When they started to take an interest in what I was doing, I thought to myself that I was on the right path. I was moving slowly and talking to them in a voice that I had quite stupidly tuned into the voices of the GPS, these voices which do not speak out of tune but which are mechanical and displace the tonic accents of French.

I said “good morning” to my daughters, and I asked them what they wanted, specifying that I was at their orders. This delighted them madly. Especially if they asked me for an ice cream, just before sitting down to eat. As I had to comply, their mother did not always agree!confides the one nicknamed PEF.

THE THRESHOLD OF PAIN

However, this drastic training was not the most difficult for Pierre-François Martin-Laval. The most painful thing was having my entire upper body, back, chest, arms and shoulders waxed.

“Being quite hairy, the ordeal of the wax, which I had to undergo three times, was a martyrdom. I was stoic thinking of women and the adage “you have to suffer to be beautiful!” ( laugh.) But the hardest thing for me was learning not to blink.

On a daily basis I can’t wear contact lenses but unfortunately to be Bobby, I had to wear them all day and keep my eyes staring and wide open for endless minutes”reveals the 53-year-old artist.

To blink and relieve himself, PEF eagerly awaited opportunities to turn his back on the camera. In addition, the actor did not wear a mask. Thanks to the magic of make-up, her face is as if drawn with wax.

“The make-up sessions lasted two hours. The make-up artist must be congratulated. She did something artisanal for me that had been used in the 90s for the Mrs. Doubtfire with Robin Williams. To erase my wrinkles, she stretched the skin of my skull with rubber bands attached behind my head and neck with tape. My wig, very covering, à la Ken hid all that”explains the actor.

Once this gear was in place, completed with gloves and a skin-tight jumpsuit, PEF became Bobby. When he played, even if he suffered a little, he was “happy as a pope”. The native of Marseille felt like a child, the one he was when he wanted to be a clown.

“I told myself that I was doing an extraordinary exercise that I was probably not ready to do again and that I had to make the most of it. The only scene that was really difficult for me to bear was the first , when they had to lock me in a box, like a gift package.

Because I’m claustrophobic! But the reaction of the set when I was released and started to walk made me immediately forget my discomfort. Seeing my Bobby’s surprise effect on my little comrades really filled me with joy”concludes Pierre-François Martin Laval.

The Perfect Man hits theaters on June 22.