- - Steve Martin Says “The Pink Panther” Has 'Favorite Comic Scene I’ve Ever Done’ (Exclusive)

Meredith WilshereFebruary 10, 2026 at 8:58 PM

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Steve Martin, Beyonce

MGM/courtesy Everett Collection

Steve Martin loved making 2006's The Pink Panther

He shares with PEOPLE which scene from the movie was his career highlight

In honor of the 20th anniversary of the movie, Martin and director Shawn Levy reflect on the now-famous hamburger scene

Steve Martin loved making the Pink Panther. The Emmy-winning actor has had a long and prestigious career, but he cites one scene from this movie as his “favorite comic scene.” The Pink Panther celebrates its 20th anniversary on Feb. 10.

Martin, 80, tells PEOPLE which scene he loved, saying, “We aimed our movie at a younger audience than the originals, and I’m proud that the movie has the favorite comic scene I’ve ever done: “I would like to buy a HAMMBERRRRGAU.”

The scene is when Steve Martin’s Inspector Clouseau is preparing for a trip to New York City to follow a lead. The character is worried that his french accent will make him stand out, so he meets with a dialect coach to sound more American, and works with her to try and master the sentence “I would like to buy a hamburger.”

Filming The Pink Panther, “was a delight to me,” the Only Murders in the Building actor shares.

“I was shooting in Paris, working with wonderful people on a creative set. There were crew lunches over tablecloths bearing carafes of wine (though I abstained), and I was honored to follow in the footsteps of my hero, Peter Sellers,” Martin says.

THE PINK PANTHER, Steve Martin, 2006

MGM/courtesy Everett Collection

Director Shawn Levy also had an enjoyable experience filming the movie, and shares that to this day, fans still talk about the hamburger scene with him.

“To this day, 20 years later, people come up to me just to say, ‘I would like to buy a hamburger.’ That scene started with Steve Martin pitching me an idea over lunch one day,” Levy, 57, shares with PEOPLE.

“It was, what if Clouseau had to go to a dialect coach? And the whole scene is maybe one single sentence repeated 50 times. In the most absurd and increasingly ridiculous ways. I knew as soon as he pitched me that premise that that was a juicy idea, particularly with a performer like Steve,” the Cheaper By The Dozen director says.

“Steve Martin taught me that the comedic premise needs to align with the ethos of the performer. That a funny idea isn't truly funny unless it matches up with the form of funny that the comedic performer delivers best. So this idea of a dialect coaching scene for Inspector Clouseau with Steve Martin as Clouseau was ripe for hilarity,” Levy continues.

He shares that it wasn’t until they test-screened the movie that they realized how much the audience loved that scene.

“A 30-second-long scene got significantly longer because the laughs just kept coming. That was a scene that snuck up on us. And to this day is more beloved than I could have ever anticipated. It's such a simple idea, but brilliantly performed by Steve and our actor playing the dialect coach.”

Levy shares that he is the “luckiest young director even” to be “invited aboard by Steve Martin.”

Steve Martin, Jean Reno

MGM/courtesy Everett Collection

Levy worked with Martin on Cheaper By The Dozen and was asked by Martin to join him in making The Pink Panther.

“To collaborate with and learn from Steve Martin twice on two separate movies in my early career shaped the career that followed. Not only the fun and laughs we shared on set, but the tutelage and the comedy and film education I got from Steve over dinners and lunches and coffees and walks, well beyond the confines of the set. Those are with me still,” he shares.

Ultimately, Levy shares that they made The Pink Panther for the audience, and he’s grateful for the lasting impact, 20 years later.

“The fact that people still quote that movie to Steve and I, strangers who will come up to us and reference a line or a moment in that movie, to know that it reached the audience we made it for, it got the laughs we built it for, and it stuck around 20 years later, that's as gratifying a feeling is any filmmaker can ask for,” Levy shares.

on People

Original Article on Source

Source: “AOL Entertainment”