Death of Laurent Tirard, director of Le Petit Nicolas, Le Retour du Héros, Le Discours…

He also directed Asterix and Obelix in the Service of Her Majesty and Molière.

Laurent Tirard has just passed away, following a long illness, reveals the distributor BCG. Director, screenwriter and producer, he was only 57 years old. Presenting him as “a great admirer of Star Wars influenced by Jacques Tati”the press release recalls his career, from his film studies in New York to his experience as a journalist at Studio magazine, before becoming a screenwriter for television and cinema, notably with Eric Lartigau for Lend me your hand or Julie Lipinski for The best day of the rest of my lifethen creator of short films at the turn of the 1990s-2000s.

His first feature film, Lies and betrayals and more if there is a connectionwith Edouard Baer, ​​Marie-Josée Croze and Clovis Cornillac, was conceived exactly 20 years ago, in 2004. His latest, Just Heaven !, another comedy led by Valérie Bonneton and Camille Chamoux, was released in theaters last year.

In between, he directed many popular actors in films aimed at a wide audience: Romain Duris and Fabrice Luchini in Molièrein 2007, Kad Merad and Valérie Lemercier in Little Nicolasin 2009 (which had a sequel in 2014), Catherine Deneuve and Vincent Lacoste in Asterix and Obelix: In the Service of Her Majestyin 2012, Jean Dujardin in A man up to the task And The Return of the Heroin 2016 and 2018 and finally Benjamin Lavernhe in The Speechadapted from Fabrice Caro’s bestseller four years ago.

The Speech: Benjamin Lavernhe’s stunning virtuosity (review)