Jamie Bamber on ‘Cannes Confidential’ Season 1 [Interview]

Acorn TV’s newest series Cannes Confidential, a six-part international romantic crime procedural, is bound to be the talk of the summer with the series’ captivating shots, scenery, and magnetic vibe between the main cast. The series shines a light on everyday life outside of the glitz and glamour of Canne. 

I recently had the chance to chat with Jamie Bamber, best known for his roles on Battlestar Galactica and Law & Order: UK, about Cannes Confidential, shooting in Cannes, and creating an English-language series with an entire French cast.

Bamber plays Harry King, an international conman who has arrived in Cannes under unknown motives to Detective Camille Delmasse, played by Lucie Lucas, who’s ultimately forced to partner with the charming trickster as he conveniently begins tailing her cases.

“Harry seems on the surface to be someone who moves effortlessly around society, who finds conversation easy, who is not threatened by anyone or anything, and that infuriates this woman who’s investigating a murder, in which he’s a suspect originally,” Bamber said.

“Obviously, at the end of [Episode 2], there’s a bit of a twist, where she discovers there’s more to him, and he realizes she’s the one thing that threatens him because he doesn’t want his past investigated,” Bamber said. “You work out gradually that Harry’s actually a real human being, and life isn’t easy for him. He has a horrible past, which he’s trying to put right, and the surface that you see when he’s around company is a front for a very lost individual who is all at sea and literally lives on a boat. He lives a very solitary life.”

Harry’s recent arrival to Cannes is his attempt at reconnecting with his daughter (played by Bamber’s real-life daughter), unbeknownst to anyone around him.

“I don’t want to give too much away, but there is a depth to all the characters. It’s not just a film about easy relationships. These are people that actually are threats to each other, that are threatened in their security in their lives, and have a lot at stake.”

“For the characters, [Camille’s] dad is in prison, and her family’s falling apart,” Bamber continued.

“He’s been accused of some awful corruption, and Harry comes from that world or has access to it, so she needs him. He needs her to stay quiet about why he’s there; otherwise, he’ll have to leave his daughter again. There’s a lot at stake, and that’s the real drama that goes over the six episodes. We do have the case of the week each time as well to sort of justify and give them an excuse to be together in this odd couple scenarios detecting crimes.”

Harry and Camille’s rocky work relationship will bring the two closer throughout the season, adding subtle subtext to the thought the two could end up in a real relationship. But complications arise as Camille’s work partner, Lea, played by Tamara Marthe, becomes frustrated with Harry’s presence due to her obvious crush on the detective.

“Harry and Camille are not really work partners, and Harry’s crushing their [Camille and Lea] work partnership helping Camille investigate these crimes because he’s got no place anywhere near these crime scenes,” Bamber said.

“In the first episode, he’s a legitimate suspect. After that, he just pops up everywhere. So, there’s this strange rivalry of professional rivalry, but also sort of implicit love rivalry, and it goes in a very 21st-century triangle rather than the traditional male-female. It’s slightly innovative in that way, and that definitely fuels the season.”

Bamber said Harry’s infuriating unflappability, effortless dialogue, and hilarious back-and-forth relationship with Camille were the highlights that drew him to the project.

“They meet, almost in a motor accident, and immediately they’re at each other in contrasting ways,” Bamber said. “She’s going for his throat, and he’s deflecting. That kind of dialogue, the relationship between the two, reminded me of old Cary Grant or David Niven movies. Post COVID, I was in the mood for something fun; to play a character who doesn’t seem to take life too seriously and has a way with people that ingratiate him to them and infuriate them at the same time.”

What makes Cannes Confidential unique to Bamber is the lack of escapist, inclusive, fun procedural television shows out at the moment, something the series embodies as a whole.

“We’re definitely going through a golden age of telling dark political stories. I think Cannes Confidential has some of those elements, but it’s a throwback to moonlighting, Miami Vice, Lethal Weapon, largely an 80s sensibility, and I think there’s going to be an appetite for that.”

The most challenging aspects of filming Cannes Confidential for him were doing an English-language story with a French cast, a co-production between Sweden, France, and the United States, navigating those reference points, and ensuring his character was well-rounded.

“The producers were great with me. They were very good about allowing me to essentially take care of the character and the dialogue. I was quite free, but with that comes a responsibility to your castmates to make sure that they’re equally equipped. We had a really wonderful French dialect coach helping them with French, but he was coaching them in English as well,” Bamber said.

“He was really influential in terms of just making sure each of these scenes worked for everybody involved. That was really a challenge for me. It wasn’t action, it wasn’t a whole lot of research — it was just making sure the humor worked, that there was depth to the characters, and that the relationships evolved because that’s really the heart of the show.”

“It’s not a procedural in the style of Law and Order or anything like that, which is forensically into detail. This is a character drama that involves these cases, but you really have to fall in love with the characters, and that depends on the dialogue and the relationships,” Bamber continued.

Living in France for a portion of his life and his mother residing in that part of the world for thirty years, he said he felt a sense of responsibility for it to be authentic. To the best of his ability, he worked to ensure the audience understood the suspension of disbelief with a series in English portrayed by a French cast.

“There was also the challenge that we’ve dubbed it all into French. I dubbed my character in French, and all the French actors dubbed it into French, so it’ll be a different show; largely, the dialogue is actually reworked.”

“I felt very much at home in that part of the world, and I just hope people see it in a slightly different light. Harry represents the international elite that sort of inhabits the city in certain months of the year. Camille, the local policewoman, stays all year long and has to make a life there. There are two sides to Canne, and our show really is about the interaction between those two as is embodied by Harry and Camille.”

Cannes Confidential is available to stream on Mondays on Acorn TV.

 Follow us on Twitter and on Instagram!

Want more from Tell-Tale TV? Subscribe to our newsletter here!

15 Excellent Documentaries and Docuseries You Can Stream Right Now