Jean Reno on Just Visiting

Just Visiting is a remake of the 1993 French blockbuster Les Visiteurs, in which I starred as a knight accidentally transported to modern-day France with my squire (played by Christian Clavier).

In this American version, Christian and I reprise our roles, but find ourselves in contemporary Chicago, after a medieval marriage between my character Count Thibault and his intended Lady Rosalind (Christina Applegate with Reno and Clavier) is put in jeopardy.

The relationship with my squire, Andr?, is ordinary for the 12th century. He is my servant, he takes care of me... he is like a loyal dog. This relationship changes a lot during the course of the story. Andr? discovers love, liberty and equality, which is completely new for him - and I have to learn to accept his new-found feelings.

Both versions are directed by Jean-Marie Poir?. In the midst of noise and commotion, Jean-Marie is always creative. We have worked together for a long time. He knows I will follow him completely. He has a fantastic crew, which is important for a comedy. I've done four movies with him - and most of the time, we have a laugh with the crew, which is like gold. I watched them react favourably to our two medieval characters.

At the beginning, it was Jean-Marie and the American producer/director of Home Alone, John Hughes, who got together and said, 'Why don't we do a continuation of the story?' I thought, 'Why not?' However, it was not easy. In America, you cannot expect to make the amount of money we made in Europe, because the humour is very different. We didn't know how American audiences would take the knight and the servant, with all this European history behind them.