In the “JDD”, the director of the rocker recounts the day when his brand new Ferrari had hit the facade of the Ministry of the Interior…
By Marc Fourny
Published on
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HASith Johnny, it was always life at a hundred miles an hour… As proof, this new story told by its director Bernard Schmitt in the Sunday newspaperwho has produced many of his concerts and music videos – he publishes Johnny Hallyday, private access (Editions Seghers) with other relatives. In the JDD, Bernard Schmitt explains how much the Taulier liked to make music videos, he who always dreamed of being an actor. And in the 1980s, he went on filming to support his hits on the screen.
“He had just bought a Ferrari, remembers his director. In the evening, after the day of filming, he wanted to show us his skills as a pilot. We were turning towards Bercy. Johnny takes us to the docks at 160 km/h. Here they are, arriving towards Concorde and taking to narrower streets. “But caught in the rain, the car skidded in a small square and crashed into a sentry box. It was the Ministry of the Interior! »
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” I’ll take care of everything “
Very excited, the rocker then quickly takes matters into his own hands. “Furibard, Johnny comes out of the cabin and demands a phone from the panicked guards. It must have been 1 a.m. when Johnny woke up Chirac in the middle of the night. He was yelling on the phone, but his interlocutor, very understanding, reassured him: Don’t move, Johnny, I’ll take care of everything. Chirac, then mayor of Paris, immediately called Interior Minister Pierre Joxe, who sent a police tow truck fifteen minutes later to take care of the damaged Ferrari and bring it back to the garage in Neuilly, where the dealer had seen it leave that very morning, brand new. “Then a car of cops took us home,” says Bernard Schmitt. When it was Johnny, there was no longer any left or right. »
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It’s not the only time the rocker will ring his high-placed pal. His cameraman Patrice Gaulupeau had told how he had also called Chirac in the middle of the night, in 1993 to try to find… his stolen motorcycle. “Here, I would like you to do me a favor, he asked her at the time bluntly. They stole my motorcycle, at home, in La Lorada… As you are the mayor of Paris, you are the mayor of all mayors. Could you give the mayor of Saint-Tropez a call to find my Harley? »
It must be said that a real bond of trust had been established between the two men, consolidated by their common friendship for Line Renaud. The rocker even committed himself politically to the mayor of Paris, when the latter ran for the presidency of 1988: “We all have something in us of Jacques Chirac”, he launched during a monster meeting, at one month of the first round. It is well worth a few small services in return… Chirac will always have attentions for his friend, he will send him a very personal letter when he has hip surgery in 2011. In return, the singer has never hidden his preference for the former President of the Republic. “Jacques Chirac is a simple and upright man. A beer fanatic who washes down his coq au vin with Corona, will judge the rocker in The Express. He is not a pedantic president like some were. And believe me, I’ve seen it happen…. »
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