Welcome to the auto-trivia channel! I recently stumbled across an article about an actor from a movie franchise that I was crazy about back in the day. Namely about Samy Naceri from the “Taxi” movies. And I started to wonder where this actor disappeared to and what happened to him now. You won’t believe it, but the actor himself is very different from his character.
In the movie, the simple-minded and resourceful guy was not so simple in real life. The actor and his character have only one thing in common: bullying cops.
As for the actor, in real life he is very aggressive, uncontrollable and likes to get drunk and wave his fists, including at home.
Perhaps everyone has heard that on arrival in Moscow he had time to fight and even lie in the local hospital after a scuffle.
Samy (real name Said) has a string of arrests for causing damage, drunk driving, and fights with police officers, drug dealers, and passersby, up to and including stabbings.
But the worst part is that he also uses hand-to-hand violence against his wife at home, which also got him arrested.
Being born into a poor family with six siblings and dropping out of school at 16 is something that has haunted the actor all his life.
No matter how Sami tries to mend his ways, it all ends the same way at the police station.
After learning the truth about this actor, I have a double impression of him:
On the one hand it is a common boor, which can be found everywhere and by some happy accident got into the movies.
And on the other hand, the “Taxi” movie would not have that charm, vitality and lightness if it had not had Samy Naceri in it.
And yes, in photos he looks very much like Panin :D And it seems to me that there are not less scandals around him in France too, though not of such a kind, of course.
In general I want to say that as an actor he was very good in Taxi movies. And without him, the movie probably wouldn’t have had as many fans and worldwide fame.
And to think of someone else instead of Samy Naceri in that role is already impossible for me.