A French series that breaks all records! HPI, joyous detective series worn by Audrey Fleurot, had the best launch for a French series since Dolmen in 2005. Each episode of the adventures of the gifted and cheeky Morgane Alvaro, single mother and housekeeper who became a police consultant and, totaled 11.5 million viewers on average on TF1. After the success of Kaamelott, A French Village, Gears and The Bazaar of Charity, HPI crowns Audrey Fleurot as the most bankable actress in French series. The actress looked back on her career during a round table at the Monte-Carlo Television Festival. Selected pieces.
The year 2020-2021 has been a busy one for Audrey Fleurot. “I was fortunate enough to work a lot during COVID. I had to shoot 300 days out of 365. But, I feel very, very, very lucky to be on beautiful projects that are very different each time ”, launches the actress straight away. “I’m lucky people are waiting for me. So, I managed to shift the projects a bit to be able to do everything. And I went from a feature film, to a comedy, to a thriller, to a genre film and there, a period series. So in terms of the panel, it’s quite exceptional, ”she rejoices.
Audrey Fleurot “doesn’t like the end” of “Engrenages”
The one who played Joséphine during the eight seasons ofGears did not really appreciate the fate reserved for the lawyer. “I’m not going to be very corporate but I don’t like this ending,” she confesses. And to explain: “What always attracted me in the character of Josephine is that she did not look like the female characters that I could see on TV. He’s a female character with rather masculine characteristics, anyway, at the time, fifteen years ago. “
The actress did not like that she ended up falling into the arms of master Eric Edelman. “Something as normative as a love affair with this guy, that she’s been around for so long. I find that a little bit disappointing. I am absolutely not supposed to tell you… ”Audrey Fleurot would have preferred that Josephine go to the“ dark side ”.
“I would have preferred that she left the bar and become the queen of the mafia. In any case, I find that it was more in the DNA of the series that she switches to the other side, since she has always had this tendency, a little borderline, and that she will have been until at the end of trying to defend the widow and the orphan and in the face of so many failures, I would have found it strong enough that she returned the dress. “And put it into perspective:” When you are part of a choral series, you are part of a great story. There are bound to be disappointments ”
Audrey Fleurot was “scared like never before” for “HPI”
Audrey Fleurot has invested heavily in HPI. “When I read the script for HPI, which was very far from the final result because it was not a comedy, the character stuck with me for a long time. And I was like, “She’s still in the back of my head anyway, so that means something.” I felt that the tone was not the right one and that as soon as we found the tone, something would happen, ”she explains. The actress has put so much of herself in Morgane Alvaro that she said to herself: “If the character does not meet his audience, it’s hard … It’s hard professionally and even humanly. I was scared like never before! “
The immense success of the series surprised her. “I couldn’t imagine this success at all,” she says. In the future, the actress hopes “that we obviously gain a little freedom of tone, insolence.” “Audrey Fleurot is not against the idea of seeing Morgane Alvaro more in her daily life:” Me, it’s my personal taste, but we are in the police box on TF1. I had even considered doing one episode per evening, with a little more time, to develop. But, there, I no longer have my hand, it is beyond me. We will try to continue like this and we will see. If this continues to work, we will gain freedom. “
“I am very attached to him because he is the character who is closest to me”, she confides about Morgane Alvaro. “Still, I still live with her in the back of my mind, I buy her clothes on Vinted. I take notes. I am more attached to it because I am at a more important level of investment in the process. What I’m most proud of and which touches me is that it works with children, with people who were not going towards this kind of series or not even towards TF1. Afterwards, it’s complicated to satisfy all this panel and we end up with a responsibility. “
Audrey Fleurot “found the atmosphere of the series” on “Kaamelott”
Audrey Fleurot is currently showing the first installment of the film trilogy Kaamelott. “I totally rediscovered the atmosphere of the series. We give you the text in makeup as in the great era. The manufacturing process is exactly the same, with this theater troupe side, we improvise a little, spontaneously and hard. The energy is really the same with a lot more resources so it’s pretty funny, ”she says of the shoot.
“I had a total of two free days,” she explains. The actress therefore makes a cameo appearance and was not even sure she was not cut in the edit. Before the film came out, “I even sent Alex a short text [Alexandre Astier] to ask her: “You tell me I’m in the movie because people tell me about it. I wouldn’t want to find out at the last minute that I was cut, it’s still a little embarrassing anyway.” He said to me: “No, no, not at all!”. “
Audrey Fleurot is crazy about the “great historical drama” genre
After The Bazaar of Charity, the actress will star in another historical drama on TF1, The Fighters. “What I liked a lot is that it happens during the 1914-18 war, and it’s from the point of view of women,” she explains. And to detail: “I have the impression that we saw a lot of the men in the trenches, it is a narrative material which has been exploited a lot, but mainly on the male side. I find it interesting to see women who start working in the factory, women who find themselves nurses a little overnight, who went to pick up men on the front lines. Here, I have the impression that that, I did not see it. “
The actress is crazy about the “great historical drama” genre: “I find it really cool that TV is reviving this genre. With the costumes, we dress up what. And I really did this job to disguise myself ”.
Audrey Fleurot is “delighted with the globalization of series”
The actress referred to 20 minutes the rise of French series. “I was lucky to arrive at the very moment when the requirements started to be different. We can see that film actors are increasingly coming to television, where it was totally inconceivable fifteen years ago. It marked you very strongly, it was impossible for a TV star to go to the movies. I benefited from the beginning of the golden age. I was lucky to have the right projects in my hands and to know how to read correctly. But there is still an undeniable dimension of luck. “
For her, “improving series is very much linked to globalization. Obviously, the platforms have given us access to a lot of series from all over the world. There are a lot of series, so it’s more and more competitive and suddenly, the level of global requirement has increased. It’s a place that also generates a lot of money, a lot of enthusiasm, so it’s the overall international level of series has risen in all countries. So, we just followed and benefited from this global movement. We can only rejoice, for once that globalization has an interest, it is perhaps that! “