40 Fun Facts About The Intouchables

Which treasure does Driss pocket from Philippe's collection at his job interview in The Intouchables?

A Fabergé egg leaves the mansion in his jacket, and his aunt takes it for a Kinder chocolate. He sets it back in front of Philippe in the final scene.

Which Italian make of car does Driss race through Paris with police in pursuit in The Intouchables?

Maserati built the Quattroporte that opens the film at full speed. The story then loops back to the same chase near its end.

Which sport paralysed Philippe in The Intouchables, and later gives a nervous Driss a mountain thrill?

Paragliding also injured the real Philippe Pozzo di Borgo, in 1993. The film shot its flying scene at Col des Saisies, the Alpine resort where he crashed.

Which American band's hit does Driss play to liven up Philippe's birthday concert in The Intouchables?

Earth, Wind & Fire's Boogie Wonderland gets the guests dancing after the private classical recital. The band's September also features on the soundtrack.

What does Philippe fake so that police escort Driss's speeding car to a hospital in The Intouchables?

A seizure, faked on cue, turns an arrest into a police escort. The two men drive off again the moment the officers leave them at the hospital.

Which American remake of The Intouchables was shelved when its original distributor collapsed in scandal?

The Upside premiered at Toronto in 2017 but waited until January 2019 for its release, after the Weinstein Company's downfall forced a sale to new distributors.

Which Netflix retelling of classic French crime novels stars Omar Sy, Driss in The Intouchables?

Lupin cast him as Assane Diop, a thief inspired by Maurice Leblanc's Arsène Lupin stories. It reached 76 million households in its first month.

In The Intouchables, which world leader does Magalie say Driss resembles when he dresses up in a suit?

Barack Obama is the comparison, and it drew criticism: Variety's reviewer singled the line out while accusing the film of racial stereotyping.

Which actor plays the ex-convict carer, renamed Dell, in the American remake of The Intouchables?

Kevin Hart signed on in 2014, after Chris Rock, Jamie Foxx and Idris Elba had all been eyed for the role.

Which Breaking Bad star plays the quadriplegic billionaire in the American remake of The Intouchables?

Bryan Cranston joined in 2016, taking over a part that another actor had been attached to for years while the remake cycled through directors.

In which French luxury trade did the real Philippe behind The Intouchables work as a company director?

Champagne was Philippe Pozzo di Borgo's business: he ran the Pommery house in Reims after a spell as a manager at Moët & Chandon.

The real carer behind The Intouchables, Abdel Sellou, has roots in which country, swapped for Senegal on screen?

Algeria is Abdel Sellou's country of origin. The film made Driss Senegalese instead, the nationality of Omar Sy's own father.

Which northern French port is home to Éléonore, Philippe's unseen pen pal in The Intouchables?

Dunkirk is where his letters and poems go, to a woman he has never seen. Driss pushes him into phoning her.

What does Philippe secretly have swapped for an older one before it is posted to Éléonore in The Intouchables?

A photograph showing his wheelchair is the one Driss picks out. Philippe loses his nerve and has an aide send a picture taken before the accident.

In which Normandy seaside resort does Driss leave Philippe to meet Éléonore at the end of The Intouchables?

Cabourg hosts the finale, set in its Grand Hôtel. The resort was Marcel Proust's favourite holiday spot and the model for Balbec in his great novel.

Which work by Driss does Philippe sell for 11,000 euros in The Intouchables, crediting an unknown talent?

An abstract painting improvised by Driss fetches the money, which Philippe hands over in an envelope aboard his private jet.

Which cartoon does Driss name on recognising a classical piece at Philippe's concert in The Intouchables?

Tom and Jerry is one of his reference points. He places other pieces as advertising music and as the hold tune of the unemployment office.

What must Bastien bring Elisa every morning in The Intouchables, after Driss frightens him for dumping her?

Croissants every morning are the penalty Driss sets after scaring the boy, who had dropped Elisa so harshly that she took pills.

In The Intouchables, Driss has just spent six months in prison for holding up what kind of business?

A jewelry store robbery put him away, a record one of Philippe's circle digs up as a warning. Philippe keeps him on regardless.

Which member of Philippe's household calls Driss back when the replacement carers fail in The Intouchables?

Yvonne, the aide who told Driss he had the job on trial, makes the call once Philippe stops looking after himself and grows a beard.

What does Philippe value in Driss when a friend warns him off hiring an ex-convict in The Intouchables?

His lack of pity is the point: Driss alone treats Philippe as a man and not a patient, so the criminal record leaves his employer unmoved.

In The Intouchables, what is the spoilt teenager Elisa to Philippe, whose late wife never had children?

His adopted daughter orders the staff about until Driss urges Philippe to rein her in. The real Pozzo di Borgo and his first wife adopted two children.

Which directing duo, later behind Samba and The Specials, wrote and directed The Intouchables?

Nakache and Toledano had already directed Omar Sy in Those Happy Days and Tellement proches before handing him the part of Driss.

Which Italian pianist, grandson of a president of Italy, composed the music for The Intouchables?

Ludovico Einaudi contributed Fly, Writing Poems and Una Mattina among others. He trained as a classical composer at the Conservatorio Verdi in Milan.

Which actress, the lawyer Joséphine Karlsson in Spiral, plays the assistant Magalie in The Intouchables?

Audrey Fleurot also filmed a part in Woody Allen's Midnight in Paris that year, and was disappointed when most of it was cut in the edit.

Which French star turned down Philippe in The Intouchables to make his directing debut instead?

Daniel Auteuil said no in order to shoot his first film as a director, a romantic drama in which he also starred. François Cluzet stepped in.

François Cluzet of The Intouchables won his César for which thriller about a doctor suspected of murder?

Tell No One, adapted from a Harlan Coben novel and directed by Guillaume Canet, brought him the Best Actor prize in 2007.

Which film, that night's Best Film winner, lost the Best Actor César to Omar Sy of The Intouchables?

The Artist won six Césars, but its star Jean Dujardin lost to Sy, who became the first Black actor to take the award.

Which comedy about a postal manager sent north kept The Intouchables second among France's homegrown hits?

Welcome to the Sticks, Dany Boon's 2008 comedy, stayed ahead, though the newcomer still sold more than 19 million tickets in France.

Which Hollywood blockbuster cast Omar Sy of The Intouchables as Barry, a colleague of Chris Pratt's character?

Jurassic World made him Barry Sembène, who helps care for the park's raptors. He had moved his family to Los Angeles in 2012.

Who appears on a hillside in the closing moments of The Intouchables, as captions reveal what happened next?

The two real-life friends, Philippe Pozzo di Borgo and Abdel Sellou, are shown together. The captions add that both men went on to marry.

Which Luc Besson film did The Intouchables overtake in March 2012 as the highest-grossing French production?

The Fifth Element, with $263.9 million, had been the benchmark. The comedy went on to gross well over $400 million in total.

What kind of work first showed the directors of The Intouchables the true story, years before they filmed it?

A documentary from 2003, À la vie, à la mort, introduced them to the two men. Feeling unready for the subject, they set the idea aside for several years.

Which memoir by Philippe Pozzo di Borgo, published a decade before The Intouchables, gave the film its story?

A Second Wind appeared in French in 2001 as Le Second Souffle. It was reissued for the film with a new part about his carer, titled Le Diable gardien.

Which French-language film won the foreign-language Oscar the year The Intouchables, France's entry, missed out?

Amour won for Austria, home of its director Michael Haneke, though its dialogue is French. France's own entry reached the shortlist and went no further.

The Indian remake of The Intouchables, Oopiri, was shot at the same time in Tamil and which other language?

Telugu was the other language, and the Tamil cut went out as Thozha. Nagarjuna played the quadriplegic billionaire and Karthi his carer in both.

Which South American country remade The Intouchables as Inseparables, starring Oscar Martínez?

Argentina's version, directed by Marcos Carnevale, renamed the two men Felipe and Tito and cast Rodrigo de la Serna as the carer.

Which Asian capital's film festival gave The Intouchables its Grand Prix and both leads a shared Best Actor?

Tokyo's festival gave it the Sakura Grand Prix in 2011, and Japanese audiences followed with more than 1.3 million tickets.

Philippe Pozzo di Borgo, the real Philippe of The Intouchables, came from a noble family rooted on which island?

Corsica is the family's home, and he is buried there at Alata. Its titles came from abroad, among them a Russian countship granted by Tsar Nicholas I in 1826.

Which French order made Philippe Pozzo di Borgo, the real Philippe of The Intouchables, a knight in July 2012?

Legion of Honour membership came eight months after the film opened in France, in a decree dated 13 July 2012.