Between the principality and filming, it’s a real love story! It all started in 1954, when Alfred Hitchcock chose the heights of Monaco to shoot The Hand in the Collar, a film carried by Cary Grant and the fetish actress of the master of suspense, Grace Kelly. It was on the set of this film that the beautiful American actress met Rainier III of Monaco, whom she married in 1956.
The Principality of Monaco has always been a privileged setting for the 7ᵉ art. As early as 1905, Georges Méliès, one of the pioneers of cinema, was already imagining a Raid Paris-Monte-Carlo in two hours, a silent film following the road trip of the Belgian King Leopold II. James Bond has his habits on the Rock. Of Ocean’s Twelve To Grand Prize Passing by Iron Man II, of The Scammer To The girl from Monaco Passing by Les Tuches, there are no less than 300 films whose action takes place in Monaco. While the 62nd edition of the Monte-Carlo TV Festival, created in 1961 by Prince Rainier III of Monaco, opens its doors this Friday until Tuesday, 20 minutes wondered if Monaco was also a popular setting for series showrunners.
The first episode of “Friendly Yours”
“If only one had to be mentioned, the series Sincerely yours carried by the Roger Moore and Tony Curtis duo remains in everyone’s memory”, launches Marina Ventura, who works in the communication department of the Principality of Monaco. Remember, in the first episode of the only season of this cult series from the 1970s, entitled “First contact”, the two heroes, Lord Sinclair and Danny Wilde meet at Nice airport and have a car race to Monte-Carlo, Lord Sinclair driving an Aston Martin and Wilde, a Dino 246 GT. Arrived at the same time in front of the famous Hôtel de Paris, one of the legendary bickering between the two heroes ensued over the number of olives used in the composition of the Créole Crème cocktail…
By itself, this episode of the British series created by Robert S. Baker sums up everything that film or series directors come to look for in the principality. “While there are no particular advantages offered by Monaco in terms of filming – apart from perhaps the greater ease of bringing together all the stakeholders in a cramped territory, the Principality has always attracted showrunners. because it concentrates a strong image in the imagination of the general public, combining at the same time the glamour, the postcard of the Mediterranean shore and the aura of emblematic places and events such as the Casino and the Grand Prix”, summarizes Marina Ventura.
A special episode of “Love, Glory and Beauty”
The principality has since hosted many filming series. In the 1980s, George Hamilton and Joan Collins shoot the spy miniseries Monte Carlo for the American channel CBS. More recently, some sequences from the series Riviera worn by Julia Stiles and broadcast in 2017 on Sky Atlantic were filmed in Monaco. In 2017, the ten episodes of the web series Deep Mare Nostrum, worn by Caterina Murino and Pierre Frolla, were shot entirely in the principality. In 2021, the teams for season 4 of the BBC series The Syndicate have taken up residence in the Hôtel Métropole.
Don Diamont, Katherine Kelly Lang, Jacqueline McInnes Wood, Darin Brooks, Heather Tom… The cast of the cult American soap opera Love glory and beauty is one of the regulars at the Monte-Carlo TV Festival. The series also celebrated its 30th anniversary during the event in 2017. During an episode, the scriptwriters of the American soap concocted a trip to Monaco for the Spencers and the Forresters. “The Television Festival is more of a showcase for the professionals it welcomes and can therefore generate ideas or vocations for filming, as was the case for the series Love glory and beauty whose cast has become accustomed to Monaco during the Festival”, comments Marina Ventura.
“Kaiser Karl” soon to be filmed in Monaco
One of the most anticipated French series will soon start filming in the Principality of Monaco. Kaiser Karl, the biopic series on Karl Lagerfeld, created by Isaure Pisani-Ferry, Jennifer Have and Raphaëlle Bacqué and expected soon on Disney+, will be partly shot in Monaco. Are expected on the Rock, Daniel Brühl who will play the legendary couturier, but also Théodore Pellerin, Arnaud Valois, Alex Lutz and Agnès Jaoui.
If this fiction is partly shot in the principality, it is because Karl Lagerfeld, in love with Monaco, succumbed to the beauty of La Vigie, one of the most beautiful and prestigious villas on the Côte d’Azur, at the unique architecture, which will be his residence for more than ten years. “If the Principality has often been chosen as a setting, it must be recognized that it is more often in the cinema than in series”, recognizes Marina Ventura. No doubt that Kaiser Karl will make many series creators want to set up their cameras in this iconic destination for the international jet-set!