Jacques Villeret: “I felt he was violent”, this chilling anecdote from Claude Lelouch

On Tuesday, January 28, 2025, France 3 broadcast the documentary Jacques Villeret, funny and tragic. During it, Claude Lelouch assured that he felt that the regretted actor could be violent.

© France 3 Claude Lelouch mentioned violence by Jacques Villeret.

IN BRIEF

• On January 28, 2005, Jacques Villeret died at the age of 53 from internal bleeding related to liver disease, known for his comedic roles and his alcoholism problems.
• Claude Lelouch revealed in a documentary that Jacques Villeret was sometimes violent on set, particularly under the influence of alcohol.
• Discover how alcohol influenced the career and personal life of Jacques Villeret in this poignant documentary.

It was twenty years ago… On January 28, 2005, Jacques Villeret died at the age of 53 following internal bleeding related to a liver disease.If the actor was known for his comic roles, notably in the films La soupe aux choux, Papy fait de la résistance, or Le d&îner de cons, for which he received the César for best actor, he had a dark side and had fallen in depression and alcoholism in the 1970s.

In 2005, in the columns of Gala magazine, his ex-wife Irina Tarassov, had made it known: “Alcohol is an instrument for him. After a number of drinks, he rediscovers the anger that has encumbered him since childhood, taking himself for the master of the world, threatening, aggressive and sometimes dangerous”. Angry, this one could even be violent.

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Claude Lelouch: “I knew he was going to be violent with his partners”

&On the occasion of the twentieth anniversary of the actor's death, France 3 broadcast the documentary Jacques Villeret, funny and tragic, on Tuesday, January 28, 2025. During it, Claude Lelouch discussed the filming of the movie Les uns et les autres and Jacques Villeret's alcohol consumption. “A little before the shoot, we noticed that he had loaded the mule a little. I told him: ‘Do you want us to postpone the shoot ?’. He told me no, that he was in great shape. Indeed, he was! I felt that he wanted to go a little further than what was planned”, he said.

In all transparency, the filmmaker recalled: “I'm the one behind the camera, it's a sequence shot in part so I followed Villeret the whole time. I knew he was going to be violent with his partners, violent with the girls who were on the set and that's what I told him had asked…“, before slipping in: “I felt he was violent that day”.

Claude Lelouch: “He understood he had crossed the line”

During this documentary, the 87-year-old filmmaker added : “I remember, after the scene was filmed, he understood that he had crossed the line and he went to see the actors saying: 'This is cinema, guys!'“. However, it was then that he went from alcohol to alcoholism that Jacques Villeret allegedly began to destroy everything around him.

In this same documentary, Jacques Weber had indicated to about their evenings at the Sherwood: “I can't tell you what state we were in at the end of the course… And most of the time, as we had classes here at the conservatory, at 8:30-9am, Jacques slept on the bench and it was accepted by Georges, the boss”.