This evening, TF1 is broadcasting the first two episodes of Panda, its new event series in which Julien Doré plays Victor Pandaloni, a pacifist cop with a cool attitude. But was this police comedy written for the singer?
It’s a new adventure that’s starting for Julien Doré.
Indeed, TF1 is launching Panda, its new detective series this evening. In this fiction, the singer lends his features to Victor Pandaloni, known as Panda, a cop like no other. Pacifist”fan of cool“, Panda resolves investigations in his own way, that is to say without weapons or violence and especially not too early in the morning.
Although he had already tried his hand at comedy, notably in Ten Percent, this is the first time that Julien Doré has played the main role in a series. And suffice to say that the character of Panda sticks to him.
From the first minutes, the similarities between Julien Doré and Panda are obvious, whether in his clothing or his relationship with others. A proximity between fiction and reality which inevitably raises questions. So, is Panda a role tailor-made for Julien Doré?
WAS THE SERIES WRITTEN FOR JULIEN DORÉ?
By Julien Doré’s own admission during an interview given to Allociné at the TF1 premises a few days ago, this is indeed the case.
“At the very beginning of the adventure, there was only one pitch”he explains before continuing: “With the production team, we worked to build a series that would be in areas in which I felt good, which seemed right to me and above all which seemed new to me. I would not have accepted something that was already installed with established codes. There was everything to do and it was great “.
Comments confirmed by Thomas Mansuy, one of the writers of the series. “You had to find the balance without being too complacent about your character on stage. We had to find something that could suit him.
Very quickly, Matthew Leblanc joined the adventure and we built it like that. It was truly tailor-made for Julien. He quickly mentioned the Camargue because it is a region that is close to his heart. He really fueled the concept.“.
If there are many points in common between Julien Doré and the character of Panda, the screenwriters have of course forced the line on certain aspects. According to Thomas Mansuy, “Panda, it’s not completely Julien“.
It must be said that the writers of the series did not really know the singer before embarking on this project. So they met and talked a lot, especially about humor.
On this subject, Thomas Mansuy told us: “Julien brought a real touch during the preparation work. He had desires like the decor, the relationship with animals. He was very concerned about the tenderness between the characters and he wanted the audience to like it. In fact, he had absolutely no snobbery in this approach.“.
Julien Doré really wanted to make a TF1 series that everyone could watch. If he had no ambition at all to revolutionize anything, he did, however, desire “do something very sincere and popular“.
“He was not interventionist, he nourished“, reveals Thomas Mansuy. And the screenwriter concludes: “He didn’t take it as a job or a game at all. He was very involved. It was very pleasant, which isn’t always the case when you’re dealing with star egos.
He really doesn’t have that. He was very tender and really a team player very interested in writing, in music, in directing, in his playmates. He was really very involved“.