From Cork to Cannes: Psy lookalike plots stardom

For all its glitz and glamour, the biggest story of this year’s Cannes Film Festival was a man who took a job in Roche’s Stores to help him with Irish accents.

The story of Denis Carre, 34, has run around the world in recent days after he successfully impersonated the Gangnam Style YouTube sensation Psy to gain access to a host of star-studded parties.

The carefully planned stunt succeeded beyond his wildest dreams and he ended the week with a GQ magazine interview, where he explained how he left his job in Little Island, Cork, when the Gangnam Style dance took off.

Now Denis has a manager and communications consultants to plot his career as an impersonator of the Korean sensation.

Denis was born in South Korea but adopted in Clermont, France, and came to Ireland in 2000 to study music.

He told the Cork Independent in 2010 that, despite 15 years of studying English, the Irish twang had him stumped. So he took a job as a cleaner in Roche’s Stores to help him understand what was going on.