Throughout its hugely popular run on TV, Call My Agent! attracted an incredible selection of big-name guest stars – from French acting legends like Isabelle Huppert, Isabelle Adjani and Juliette Binoche to acclaimed modern day stars such as Virginie Efira.
So it was always likely that the new feature film sequel would include some pretty major cameos – and they don’t come much bigger than Hollywood A-lister George Clooney.
But although the legendary actor does make a pretty memorable appearance in the film, it turns out he initially said no when he was asked to take part, despite being a huge fan of the series.
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Speaking exclusively to Radio Times (above) ahead of the film’s release on Netflix, the show’s co-creator Fanny Herrero – who co-wrote the film with Lison Daniel – revealed that Clooney even called the original script “unfunny”.
“We were fantasising a big A-list actor from Hollywood, without knowing who he could be, but just writing for someone a big scene, not a little cameo, something relevant,” Herrero explained of the writing process.
She added that when the script was “becoming solid”, Pierre-Antoine Capton – the CEO of production company Mediawan – explained that he was a friend of Clooney and could easily send him a copy of the script.
“And the answer came that he really didn’t like it, the scene we wrote,” Herrero explained. “I understand… it was not really written for him. It was written for someone, and George Clooney has this gentleman… like smart and chic character.
“So, what we wrote was more in a physical way of being funny, and he didn’t like that. I think it made him feel ridiculous! So that’s what he said, it’s like really unfunny.”
Although Herrero confessed to finding the situation a little “humiliating”, she added that Clooney did make clear that he was a big fan of the show and would still consider appearing if they made some tweaks to the scene.
“So we had a second chance,” Herrero said. “We went back to work with Lison, and then we came up with that scene, and he read it, and he said, ‘Yeah, I love it.’
“From that moment, he really entered the writing process,” she continued. “He’s a writer himself and he helped us find even better jokes and put a lot of himself in.
“This Monuments Men idea [which appears in the film], he was the one to have it, and so he really helped us going further – it was really cool!””
When it came to actually working with Clooney on set, director Emilie Noblet described the experience as “crazy” and said the star was “extremely elegant and generous and funny and very accessible”.
“At the beginning of the day, he told me, ‘OK, you can tell me everything. Everything is going to be OK.’ So we started from this point, and everything went well!”
Meanwhile, Hererro remarked that it was a “special day” and that “everyone was a bit crazy” on the set, especially Noémie Leclerc star Laure Calamy.
‘She’s a very extroverted character,” she said. “[But] she was like a little girl. She was so impressed because she’s such a fan and she doesn’t speak English so well, so it was really funny to see her being very shy!”
Call My Agent! The Movie is now streaming on Netflix. You can sign up to Netflix from £7.99 a month. Netflix is also available on Sky TV and Virgin Media.
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