At the last Alpe d’Huez Festival where he presented Retirement Home *, a comedy he co-wrote, comedian Kev Adams confided in his links with the third age.
At 30, how do you get the idea of writing an intergenerational comedy in an Ehpad?
KEV ADAMS : I wanted to honor the elderly and pay tribute to my grandparents who partly raised me. I only have my two grandmothers. Last year, my last grandfather died of Covid. It’s a film I want to show my little brothers so they don’t forget how precious our elders are in our lives.
What did your grandparents pass on to you?
To always respect others and especially the elders. To be curious about everything. I was lucky to be brought up by very open-minded people, Tunisian immigrants on one side, Algerians on the other, who arrived here with nothing in their pocket and everything to build. They kept this recognition with regard to France and passed on to me a certain humility and joie de vivre.
Filming was interrupted by the first confinement. How did you experience it?
Very badly because we had a lot of trouble financing the project and getting insurance. And I was very afraid for the health of my partners, especially for Mylene Demongeot, hospitalized in intensive care, who was in a coma! We said to ourselves that we were not going to resume filming, that it was a cursed film. And then, once the editing was completed, we had the impression of being there at the right time with the right story.
Indeed, your film, written before the health crisis, is at the heart of the news!
It is true that since the start of the pandemic, the isolation of the elderly has never been so marked. This dismissal is very violent. It is a form of abuse. Some elderly people, isolated at home, die in indifference. We prefer to put the subject aside, under the carpet as a shameful thing.
At 30, do you already feel old?
Unfortunately, yes ! When I started this job, I was very young, and every time I see images of my beginnings, I feel a hell of a lot of old! I’m getting into my thirties with difficulty. I have more and more trouble with my physique. Sometimes I feel like I’m not aging the right way. And then I have my best friends who are getting married and starting to have children. It’s panic in my house!
Your challenge in the coming decade is to go from teen idol to nursing home mascot?
(He laughs.) Maybe. Frankly, I’m not doing this to respond to the media that stuck the label “eternal teenager” on me. I do it how I feel, with my heart. Sometimes I screw up, sometimes I just type. I doubted a lot because in this business there are ups and downs. Today, I feel in my place, I no longer doubt.
How do you see yourself in 50 years? Which old man would you like to be?
Well in my pumps, happy to be there, surrounded by my family. Happy to pass on. And have the giggles, always!
*In cinemas on 02/16/2022.
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