Charrière insisted that he and his agent and publisher Robert Laffont
fly first class to the US to negotiate the rights to Papillon. Despite
the cost, Laffond had had his staff upgrade the tourist class tickets
to humour the author. During the flight, Laffont struck up a
conversation with the passenger sitting next to him. He happened to be
an American movie executive returning from Europe. The executive told
him his wife had just read Papillon and insisted he buy the rights to
Papillon on behalf of Universal, but, he complained, he hadn't had
enough time on his trip to look into it. 15 minutes later, Laffont
introduced Charrière and the executive in the first-class bar. They
discussed various deals, but parted without firm commitments. As they
were stepping off, Charrière turned to Laffont and said "Tu vois,
couillon, c'est pas en touriste que tu l'aurais rencontré" - "You see,
you fool, you wouldn't have met him travelling in tourist class".
