The comedy “Need for love”, available on OCS, notably features Camille Combal in the skin of Bryan Colbert, a mediocre actor with an oversized ego. The host of Mask Singer tells us about his first steps as an actor in a series.
Currently in the spotlight thanks to the program Mask Singer, whose season 5 is broadcast every Friday evening on TF1, the host-star of the One Camille Combal has a double topicality since he plays a role in the comedy Need of love, available from this Thursday, May 11 on OCS.
The opportunity for him to make his acting debut in a series, after having played in numerous sketches on television and experienced dubbing through a few animated films, including Tous en scène 2, released in December 2021 At the movie theater.
Created and driven by Frédéric Hazan (Mike), Need for Love focuses on the daily life of Marco Delgado, a famous porn actor whose career seems to be coming to an end and who, for some time, has suffered from strange discomfort: he collapses for a yes or a no, falls inanimate, as if struck down. After studying his brain, he is diagnosed with a very rare disease: Marco needs love. If he doesn’t find this love, if we don’t love him, one day he will collapse and not get up again.
In this romantic drama with a particular rhythm and colorful characters, Camille Combal lends her features, for the time of a few sequences, to Bryan Colbert, an actor with an oversized ego who collects successes in television films and societal series like the big ones. chains love them. And who loves himself as much as the housewife adores him.
Met a few weeks ago as part of the Series Mania Festival in Lille, where Need for Love was presented in preview, Camille Combal talks to us about this first experience in a series, about her character who could well become cult, and of his desires for fiction.
AlloCiné: How did you come to the Need for Love project?
Camille Combal : Fred Hazan is a well-known author from Paris who has done many things, be it movies, series, or shows. We’ve known each other for a long time, we worked together, and it turns out that he was setting up this project and that he thought of me.
He wrote me this Bryan Colbert character and we managed to fit that into my schedule, so that I was available for three or four days of filming. I am delighted that it could be done and I thank Fred for writing me this role.
What did you like about this actor character with an oversized ego? Did you want to go towards the opposite of who you are?
In any case, I hope this character is the opposite of me because, really, he’s an idiot (laughs). But maybe people will tell me “We recognize you in the character”which would be super hurtful (laughs).
Bryan Colbert is sure to have an extraordinary career. He really looks like those guys we meet, and who, when you talk to them, you know they’re just looking for their reflection in your eyes, they love each other so much. So Bryan Colbert is part of this vein that you have necessarily come across AlloCiné (laughs). You have interviewed these guys! Who are sure to be the best, believe to be great, and who are crazy smug. He is convinced to be the new Bradley Cooper, when not at all.
I met a lot of Bryan Colberts. In comedy, on TV, but even outside. There is not a slightly social dinner that is done without at least two Bryan Colberts around the table. The best thing is when at the table, two Bryan Colberts find themselves next to each other. There it gives a Bryan Colbert match, that’s what we love (laughs).
Fred imagined this character which I liked right away and then we worked on it together, to see what we could add to have even more fun. And he left a real part to improvisation, I was able to suggest and try things, so the shooting was super nice, it’s a very good memory.
2023 Phase 4 Productions – OCS Camille Combal in Need for love.
After the dubbing for Tous en scène 2, and the many parodies or sketches that you were able to do on television, was it the next logical step to try your hand at comedy in a fiction?
When I arrived in Paris, it was to make fiction. I did a lot of things with my friends who continued and who have now become great actors. We made short films, lots of things. I went up to Paris for that at the base. And then afterwards, a little by chance, I found myself on the radio, on TV, which I like a lot too.
But it was cool to go back to my first love, let’s say, it had been a long time since I had played, apart from sketches with wigs (laughs). It was great, I had a lot of fun.
Bryan Colbert is a mediocre actor who thinks he’s awesome and is adored by the housewife. Is it complicated to play a guy who plays badly?
Given my level of acting, it’s not too hard to play the actor who plays badly (laughs). No, seriously, it’s a lot of fun playing an actor who doesn’t act very well. I don’t have the greatest experience, but I know that all the actors will be able to say it, it’s really very enjoyable to play an idiot.
Bryan Colbert is just stupid at bottom, he is a bit low ceilinged. He’s not mean, he’s not a bad guy either, but he’s a bit stupid and convinced he’s the best. We’re a bit inspired by a few people we’ve met, like… No, just kidding, I won’t name names (laughs).
How was filming with Fred Hazan?
It was great. I was lucky enough to have very nice scenes to play, rather funny. With Fred, whom I know very well, we spent our time laughing.
But on this series, Fred is the main actor, director and screenwriter. It requires a crazy job. You should know that it even validates the knot of the laces of your shoes (laughs). He passes by you and he tells you “I don’t think shoelaces should be tied”. He’s in a pretty crazy level of overwork and precision. With budget constraints which are those we have on a series like this. You still have to get a lot of sequences in one day.
The filming of Need for Love was done at a fairly frenetic pace, but in an atmosphere that was both very cool and very studious. I take this opportunity to thank all the technical teams who were really very nice. And we had a very good cream risotto in the catering, you know, we had a great time (laughs).
Claude Pocobene for OCS and Phase 4
Anouk Villemin and Frédéric Hazan, alias Marco and Lila, the two heroes of the series.
You have a scene with Gerard Jugnot, who plays Marco Delgado’s agent. Was it impressive to give him the line?
Gérard is a wonderful person, really. That’s part of the fun of this job too. It’s now checked off my list: do something with Gérard Junior. It’s great, I’m very lucky.
In your opinion, which of Bryan Colbert’s series could really see the light of day?
There are many who are quoted in the series: Décon, “the story of a deconstructed guy”color, “about ass cancer” if we take the words of Bryan, Vasec, “the story of two guys who meet on the day of their vasectomy, but beware it’s a thriller”, and of course PN, about a narcissistic pervert. I’m probably forgetting one or two. But you will understand, Bryan Colbert likes trouble. As soon as there is a disorder that comes out, he makes a series of it (laughs).
What really worries me is that I think there are one or two that are not safe from seeing the light of day in a few years. But if I have to choose one, I would say Vasec. I would love to do Vasec (laughs). Which is a good inspector name too. We could find that in a detective series, Inspector Vasec. “Inspector Vasec, I ask you to leave the premises immediately”.
Is there a scene or line from Bryan that sticks out in your memory?
“Do you know what they say in the jungle? If you’re looking for the chimpanzee, go to the crocodile, he’ll always know where he is”. It must be this one. I love it, it’s great Bryan Colbert, always in big con mode.
At one point, he finds himself with an actor played by Jean Baptiste Maunier, who is going through a bad buzz. Basically, Bryan Colbert pretends to be concerned, but he doesn’t give a damn. He says “No, stop with the cell phones, unplug the cell phones. Me, for example, I don’t have a cell phone. If you want to reach me, you ask someone who knows someone who knows me. You know what what do they say in the jungle? If you want to talk to the chimpanzee, ask the crocodile, he will always know where he is”. Which means nothing (laughs).
It looks like Bryan Colbert’s philosophy, to mix animals in everything he says, he thinks it’s smart, when not at all.
It’s Fred’s specialty to write good texts, and texts that don’t resemble the humor that we are used to seeing or hearing. It’s a humor with a particular rhythm, a little on the “embarrassment”. The series will perhaps surprise. It’s not a series of humor with the rhythm that we are used to finding. It’s something completely different, it’s 100% Fredo, which is a bit offbeat in life too. And I find that we find his discrepancy in the series and in Bryan Colbert.
Do you want to go more towards comedy from now on?
I obviously don’t let go of TV and animation, I still have a blast doing Mask Singer or Dancing with the Stars. But I have lots of plans. We have created things with my teams, we are in a lot of demand. After that, what is needed is time. I’m trying to free up some time and, if I manage to do that, then the idea would be to propose things in fiction, yes, that would be great.
TF1 does not offer you scripts for series or TV movies?
It would be difficult to fit I think. And then there are already some on the channel who do it very well, like Jean-Luc Reichmann. I rather want to go towards more personal things. We’ll see if it sees the light of day.