HPI (TF1) – Bruno Sanches: "Gilles can track down the killers, but deep down he’s a teddy bear."

We feel like you really enjoyed playing Gilles, Blackdec’s right-hand man, and we feel like the cursor has gone up a notch in this second season…

Bruno Sanches: Yes, that is very fair. The characters have been further developed. We learned from the first season that you can push the comedy slider all the way and we have to. How much fun we had in this second season!

What inspires you on HPI’s historic cardboard?

Much happiness and joy. I just hope it continues. Nothing is ever won, you have to be aware of that and this is how you manage to renew yourself to maintain this level. I think this season is better but only viewers will judge. I hope they will be there. Either way, we had a lot of fun. Audrey looks a little like our festive conductor.

Gilles is such a lovely character, infinitely touching. How do you see it?

Exactly. He’s a bit of an emotionally lost man. These cops don’t have time for private life, and that’s what makes it poignant. Gilles has three sisters, he was surrounded only by women who pampered him. He may have a caliber, he remains the kind of young nerd who has some difficulty finding himself in life. What I love about Gilles is that he can track down killers and drug dealers, but basically he’s a teddy bear. This paradox is seductive. He is also an old boy.

So this is purely a compositional role as you have two young children!

Definitely. That being the case, I don’t find myself bad at his sensibility. In the characters, we always bring a part of ourselves, consciously or unconsciously. I think we have a common sensibility with Gilles, and that’s probably why I like to embody it. I share with him his natural empathy and tendency to listen to others.

He can’t say no. and you?

Today I do it without difficulty, but I couldn’t for a very long time and I found myself in very uncomfortable situations. At 40, it’s time! I’ve learned a lot about the subject: knowing how to say no is actually helping others. Some people need it to question themselves and grow.

Audrey Fleurot loves the improvisations you both do on set…

I think it was the theater that educated us a lot. So does Marie Denarnaud, who plays the curator Céline Hazan. We can go too far if we find ourselves, Audrey, Marie and me on one stage. It’s true that we have a great connection with Audrey.

Let’s talk TV: Alex Lutz (Canal+) and your iconic duo, Catherine and Liliane, a thing of the past?

Yes. For now… I don’t like to say never. They are retired. If one day we have a good idea and the desire is there, there is no way we can put the wigs back on!

HPI: every Thursday at 21:10 on TF1

Interview Julien Barcilon