From one police comedy to another.
The producers of
HPI
– Pierre Laugier and Anthony Lancret, from Itinéraire Productions – imagined a series based on the cultural differences between Paris and Marseille… Following a sanction – he unintentionally injured an OM star – , Thomas Chevalier, Parisian cop in the financial brigade, is transferred... to head a group of Marseille police officers!
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The rivalry between the capital and the Phocaean city is everywhere.
As the office man he is in front of the field cops he supervises.
Respecting the law in the face of unorthodox police methods…
Cascading antagonisms
The principle of cascading antagonisms is a mechanic, certainly classic, but which works perfectly here.
“
The success of
HPI
is based on an endearing atypical character who arrives like an elephant in a china shop and shatters the codes of the detective series, with a bit of buddy movie and romantic comedy.
This is another niche, a fish out of water in a hostile environment, with action and adventure
,” underlines Pierre Laugier.
Arnaud Ducret
embodies with the required seriousness a rigid candid, overwhelmed by events, struggling with his shock teammates with their relaxation and punchy chat (Manon Azem always sunny and of rare sensuality, Ilies Kadri, Foued Nabba), under the direction of an imperturbable commissioner (Pierre François Martin-Laval).
The story, written by Jérémie Marcus (
Tandem
), takes its marks in a territory often explored, in France and abroad, in cinema and in series (
No Limit, Marseille, Pax Massilia
, etc.), but always with high potential. .
Marseille is a planet, almost a brand known throughout the world!
It remains a postcard from France that we can send to other countries
”
Pierre Laugier, producer of Mercato
“
Very quickly we wanted to film Marseille,”
continues Pierre Laugier
.
It's a really interesting city with iconic places and monuments like Notre-Dame but also an urban environment that has nourished us, without forgetting the hinterland.
The character discovers the Marseille city and the spectator with him.
Anchoring a series in a region, a landscape, was our intuition with
HPI,
filmed in Hauts de France
.
We talk a lot about the global local.
The public takes pleasure in seeing fictions which take place in the provinces and we take responsibility for the territory in which we are located.
And also to tell the history of this territory through the characters.
Marseille is a planet, almost a brand known throughout the world
!
It remains a postcard from France that we can send to other countries.
»
We had films from the 1980s and 1990s in mind,
Beverly Hills Cop
and
Lethal Weapon.
Something
generous and joyful.
Pierre Laugier, producer
David Hourrègue, director of
Skam
and
Germinal
, set up this major project (shootings, parachute jumps, car stunts, special effects, etc.), before handing over to Simon Astier (
Kaamelott, Hero Corp, Visiteurs
) who brings his a touch of the absurd even in a small role that he tailor-made for himself.
“
We had films from the 1980s and 1990s in mind,
Beverly Hills Cop
and
Lethal Weapon.
Those of Alain Berberian
(director of The City of Fear, Boulet, Editor's note)
and Jean-Marie Poiré
(Papy fait de la Résistance, Les Visiteurs).
Something generous and joyful.
And, of course, the memory of the magnificent Taxi chases
,
particularly on the Corniche, to which we wanted to pay homage
,” confides Pierre Laugier.
Since the start of the school year, TF1 has been stocked with police comedies.
Always with good audiences but varying degrees of happiness.
After
Master Crimes
(Muriel Robin),
Panda
(Julien Doré),
Le Fil d'Ariane
(Chantal Ladesou and Florent Peyre) and before
Le Négociateur
(François-Xavier Demaison) and
Mademoiselle Holmes
(Lola Dewaere),
Mercato
wins, at this time , the game.
Popular and demanding entertainment, which takes the public seriously but without pretension.