Trivia / La Soupe aux choux

• Ability over Appearance: The alien is skinny in the novel, while Jacques Villeret was anything but. He had the required comedic talent nonetheless.
• Playing Against Type: Somewhat. While still a comedy and keeping most of his Large Ham style, here Louis de Funès plays not a tyrannical boss but a kind old, down-to-earth modest countryman (the closest to this role he previously played was a poacher in Ni vu, ni connu 23 years earlier). He also has more emotional moments (mainly with his wife Francine) than in his previous comedies.
• Those Two Actors: Claude Gensac plays once again alongside Louis de Funès, for the penultimate time (ten films in total, and one out of three films where she's not his wife). The last time they played together ended up being Le Gendarme et les Gendarmettes the following year.
• What Could Have Been:
  • De Funès first wanted Jean Lefebvre to play Le Bombé. Lefebvre was still not over their feud on the Gendarme de Saint-Tropez that caused Lefebvre to quit after Le Gendarme en balade, so Jean Carmet played the role instead.
  • De Funès first thought about Olivier Lejeune (the Disposable Fiancé in The Mad Adventures of Rabbi Jacob) to play the alien before Jacques Villeret was cast in the role.

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