Trivia / French Fried Vacation

• Adored by the Network: The first two movies, and especially the second one, enjoy multiple reruns every year on TF1. Then again, they're adored by the viewers.
• Cast the Expert: Jean-Claude's ski instructor in the second film who loves mulled wine and insists on "planting the ski pole" was played by a real ski instructor.
• Creator Backlash: Director Patrice Leconte hates the theme song of the second film, "Just Because of You".
• Defictionalization: No, shallot liquor with a toad inside the bottle wasn't a real thing before French Fried Vacation 2. But now, you can try the recipe yourself.
• Deleted Role: In the second film, Martin Lamotte had a role (different from the one he had in the first film) in a nightclub that didn't make it past the cutting room's floor.
• On-Set Injury: For the second film, Marlène Auffret (the actress who played the hotel receptionist) slipped on an icy patch before her scenes could be filmed. She broke her leg. Consequently, her legs were hidden in every scene featuring her character.
• Real Life Relatives:
  • Christian Clavier (Jérôme) and Marie-Anne Chazel (Gigi) were married from 1976 to 2001.
  • In the third movie, Bernard's son Benjamin is played by Gérard Jugnot's real-life son, Arthur Jugnot.
• Screwed by the Lawyers: The title song of the second film, "Just Because of You", was performed by one Dan Perlman (stage name of Jean-Denis Perez), who never had his name in the credits nor got royalties from it. It took him years of legal procedures to get royalties (in 2015).
• Sequel Gap: The third film (released in 2006) came out 27 years after the second one (released in 1979).
• Star-Making Role: Thierry Lhermitte, Christian Clavier, Gérard Jugnot, Michel Blanc, Marie-Anne Chazel and Josiane Balasko became household names in comedic French cinema thanks to the first two films of this series.
• Technology Marches On: Nowadays, with cell phones, Jean-Claude's misadventure and the moment when the group is lost in the mountain heights (both in the second film) would be quickly resolved. Unless, of course, they have reception problem.
• What Could Have Been: The second film was first conceived as a Black Comedy story inspired by the Uruguayan Andes flight disaster of 1972, with the group going to the Himalaya mountains. Their plane would have crashed, and the group would have survived the crash along with a stewardess. After a while they would have lacked food and thought about eating the stewardess. It simply became the subplot of the group being lost in the French Alps and being rescued by rugged villagers.

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