Martin Lartigue, 59, who became famous fifty years ago thanks to his role as Petit Gibus in "La Guerre des boutons", has long since left the lights of the film sets to live in Sore, a peaceful village in the Landes region, where he has established himself as a painter.

A few days before the anniversary of the film's shooting, the performer of the now famous line "if I had known, I wouldn't have come" is preparing to head towards Eure-et-Loir, where the film was shot in September and October 1961.

This will be an opportunity for him to exhibit, for a month, around fifty of his works in the castle of Maintenon, but also to celebrate, on September 24, the anniversary of the film in the neighbouring village of Bailleau-Armenonville, whose streets and school served as a backdrop for director Yves Robert in 1961.

"It's going to be both fun and very moving," hopes the son of painter Dany Lartigue and grandson of the famous photographer Jacques-Henri Lartigue, enthusiastic about spending a day with those who have worked alongside him.

« Pour lui, ce film reste « un très bon souvenir qui a marqué sa vie ». « On le prenait très à coeur, l’histoire et le tournage étaient passionnants, même si c’était sérieux et pas toujours comique », se souvient cet enfant de la balle, dont la mère était comédienne.

Reserved, this fifty-year-old with a face marked by life's trials nevertheless shares a few anecdotes in his modest house nestled in the heart of the Landes forest.

"For two months, I stayed with my brother François, who played Grand Gibus, in Bailleau-Armenonville, it was like a holiday camp, young people took care of us, we slept in a tent and washed in the river," says Martin Lartigue, who has kept the shirt, beret and slingshot that were used for the filming throughout his moves.

"Initially, I wasn't supposed to have such an important role in the film, but Yves Robert, who was my father's brother-in-law, added to it because I was boisterous and funny; it was later that I became shy," he admits.

But very soon after the release of the film, which met with immense popular success, the young boy, who was then living with his parents in Paris, became a "star", the subject of numerous reports.

"I didn't want it to change things for me, but as I went on to do other shoots, like +Bébert et l'omnibus+, my schooling was erratic and so I couldn't do anything other than become an artist," explains the man who, at the time of "La guerre des boutons," dreamed of later being "a cook on a boat."

At 15, Martin Lartigue left the school system to attend a mime school. "At first, I didn't want to be a painter because I thought my father had done it very well, so I turned to acting," where he would notably play alongside Romy Schneider, Jean Richard, and Michel Serrault.

Then, around the age of 25, "painting took over" and the artist moved to the Cévennes before settling, eighteen years ago, in the Landes where he produces a body of work ranging from sculpture to very colorful "narrative" paintings.

The artist has not, however, lost the playfulness and impertinence of his younger years. "I'm waiting for them to send me the DVDs of the two 'War of the Buttons' films that are coming out this month, so I can watch them with some friends. They might be good," he says humorously.