What kind of relationship do you have with the biggest British divas? Ten Percent’s cast says be a diva too

Helena Bonham Carter, Phoebe Dynevor, Dominic West, Emma Corrin of The Crown… Rarely has a series had this many star guest stars, and the best thing about the new Amazon Prime Ten Percent comedy is that it all ships with nobility.

Popular French TV series Call My Agent! Speaking of a chaotic talent agency (Dix Pour Cent in its original language was the agency’s traditional rebate from star fees), this British version had the best of Paris – and the good news is, it does it in a flashy way. .

Like the original series, it centers around a group of incompetent cops trying to get along with diva celebrities and seeing these real-life stars play their dreaded alter egos that really gives the show its warmth and feel.

Just like Ricky Gervais’ Extras, where leading actors like Samuel L Jackson, Ben Stiller, Robert De Niro, and Kate Winslet dismiss themselves as being bullied or bored, it’s not like some of our favorite actors play gruesome parodies of themselves. hilarious, it’s also a clever conspiracy gimmick that allows agents to plot and lie while desperately trying to placate their clients.

Subtle changes have been made that reflect the authenticity of British show business while retaining the core element of French show business. For example, When Calling My Agent! If cops yell at each other at 90mph and wave their arms in typical Gallic fashion, you’re Ten Percent more likely to see a passive-aggressive nod and a raised eyebrow.

This is Nightingale Hart, the entertainment agency founded by agencies Richard Nightingale and Stella Hart (Jim Broadbent and Maggie Steed), which has some of the country’s best actors on the books.

“Over the years, they’ve become a very successful agency,” says Maggie. “Completely committed to its customers and very principled.”

But the fly in the ointment is Richard’s son, Jonathan (Jack Davenport), who sees himself as the visible heir. “In his mind, he is second in command,” says Jack.

He is the comedy Prince Charles, who awaits the start of his life even as he approaches middle age. He was a somewhat privileged upper-middle-class boy who was hanging around after an expensive education.

“Then he went to work for his father and Jonathan’s past was always ‘Do I deserve to be here?’ This ambiguity is fun to play with because insecure people spend a lot of time hiding their insecurities.

Her rival is the brutal police officer Rebecca (Lydia Leonard). He’s tough, gay, and passionate about his job, but turns out to have a heart of stone.

Jean Gabin, Arlette, Andréa, Mathias and Gabriel from the French series. This is Nightingale Hart, the entertainment agency founded by agents Richard Nightingale and Stella Hart.

And then there’s Dan (Prasanna Puwanarajah), the much scruffier Dan (Prasanna Puwanarajah), the actor-turned-cop who always fights for his stars but doesn’t know how to give them the bad news. Core staff include Jonathan’s PA, Julia (Rebecca Humphries), who misses her boss Dans PA Ollie (Harry Trevaldwyn) and ambitious receptionist Zoe (Fola Evans-Akingbola).

At the start of the show, two big events are about to have a big impact on the office. First, a young woman named Misha (Hiftu Quasem) goes to Nightingale Hart in search of Jonathan and eventually gets a job as Rebecca’s assistant, horrified that Jonathan is keeping a secret about her.

And then Richard dies, leaving the company in financial trouble and ripe for the acquisition of a major American company. Meanwhile, Dan’s client, Kelly Macdonald, is overlooked for her role in a Hollywood blockbuster because she looks so old and doesn’t know how to tell him.

The actors spoke to their agents for inspiration to explore their roles. “I admit that I have a somewhat misguided relationship with research in general, but I called my manager and asked him, ‘Can I take you out to dinner and ask a few questions?’ I asked,” says Jack.

“He told me that one of the hardest things about his job was being Santa or the Grim Reaper all day, going back and forth between the two, and it was emotionally exhausting.” Jack knew many of the guest stars and says he was initially confused about working against them, as they were playing scary versions of themselves.

“Because I’ve been around for so long, I know 80% of the guests and they’re my friends, people I work with, or both,” he says. “My first scene was with Olivia Williams, whom I’ve known since 1995.

“At first I felt dizzy; I did this scene thinking, “Wait, it’s you, a little bit, when I’m not myself and we’re both still pretending.” It took me a minute to get my sea legs.

“She was equally confused by David Oyelowo and his wife, Jessica, because I worked with both of them on the same movie, with Jessica playing my wife. It looked like a hall full of mirrors.

In the Olivia Williams episode, Helena Bonham Carter plays her wonderful old school friend, and they’re both up for the same role. “Olivia is a really good friend in real life – we actually went to school together – and we were offered the same role on the show,” Helena says.

“But instead of being honest with us, they are trying to manipulate the whole situation. Jonathan actually risks losing us as customers.

“The great thing about playing myself was that I could wear my own clothes, I knew I would feel comfortable. My last job was to play Princess Margaret, which was incredibly disturbing!’

And Helena wasn’t the only one who enjoyed playing herself. “It’s easier because you don’t have to do an accent,” laughs Dominic West, who had a crippling stage fright before appearing in a play on the show.

“And it’s not really me. The beauty is that it becomes a kind of parody of yourself. I love how the agents of the series seem to dominate the world and solve all your problems. I love my manager, so in a way he was like him.”

Bridgerton star Phoebe Dynevor also plays herself as the agency tries to sign her up. “There was no preparation, it was beautiful,” she jokes.

‘Of course I know my past so I didn’t have to find out. But it was fun to figure out what kind of upgraded version of me to play because I couldn’t be alone. You want to be honest with your true character, but give the audience something extra.’

Sure, television history is littered with spooky remakes of hit TV shows, but that doesn’t mean they can’t be done right—think the American version of The Office. The man who had to work ten percent was screenwriter and director John Morton, who gave us the award-winning Olympic comedy Twenty Twelve and the hilarious BBC W1A satire.

He was a fan of Call My Agent! before he took the job and knew the importance of getting the restructuring right.

“Ironically it started with a phone call from my manager,” he laughs at the first conversations three years ago. “I was one of the first fans of the show before it became a huge hit.

Helena Bonham Carter (pictured), Phoebe Dynevor, Dominic West, Emma Corrin of The Crown…

“But that was discouraging because my first thought was, ‘How can I not screw this up?’ it happened. I had a great sense of responsibility for the original show because people loved it, but I knew it had to be done differently. ”

He began by carefully studying the original and then trying to forget it. “Oh my God, how am I going to do something so good?” It was pointless to think that,” he says.

“I realized that I had to do without them, and in order to do that, I had to fall in love with a new version of the characters. But it actually surprised me that it went that fast. It’s kind of like moving home and thinking you’re going to miss your ex, but that’s not the case.

The scripts were written with specific actors in mind, but they needed to be versatile enough for another celebrity to step in if the first option wasn’t viable or didn’t want to participate. Each guest star had to take eight days off from filming, and David Harewood, who lives in the United States but is on vacation in England to see his family, got the chance to attend the show as part of a story adapted from a James Bond movie. . .

He is asked to study for the role, but decides to quit acting and become a black taxi driver. “My agent said, ‘You have to do this!’ I was planning to go back to rest when he said.

“When they talked about Bond, I thought, ‘He’s amazing, he’s probably the closest I’ve ever gotten to the character. I liked that there were some emotional stuff and some comedies as well.”

Perhaps the most unexpected star of Ten Percent is Stella Hart’s dog Mathias, who crawls under everyone’s feet as he nods to Arlette Jean Gabin’s head Jack Russell terrier on the French show.

“She was the star of the show,” says Maggie Steed. “He wasn’t a team player. He was surprisingly good and enthusiastic: He wanted to give his best very early on and ran straight to a glass door.

“I could always get him to do more than on camera, it was frustrating. In one scene I had to sit in the crush because he had to smell my chest for most of the day, but he obviously didn’t act.’

It may be crazy, but don’t bet ten percent it will outshine the success of the original.

• Ten percent is now on Prime Video.