French IndyCar driver Simon Pagenaud bears an uncanny resemblance to French antagonist Jean Girard from Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby. TMZ, of course, asked if there was any relation between Pagenaud and the character and apparently that’s a question Pagenaud gets a lot.
Many of us would be rather timid about asking this. I mean, you can’t just assume that every French racing driver is Sacha Baron Cohen’s character from Talladega Nights. There’s a certain visual resemblance between Pagenaud and Jean Girard, though. I think it’s the sideburns.
But no, TMZ went for it at the Grand Prix of Long Beach, and receives a chuckle from Pagenaud in response:
I get that every day—not on the street, actually. Every day on the race track. Yeah, it happens a lot. It’s been going on for a lot of years.
He continued:
Yeah, I’m about over it. I’ve had enough of it. They need to come out with a new movie.
So au contraire, Ricky Boobies, Pagenaud would like to make it known that he’s not the infamous Jean Girard, but he’s totally down for being Cohen’s stunt double if they make another film:
I could be a stunt double, I guess. ... Let’s do it. Look at this face. The accent, man, you did it really well, I’ve got to say.
Phew. I’m glad that’s settled. Although I’m usually anti-sequels-of-movies-I-love, there’s no shortage of material from this weekend alone that could serve as inspiration.