Inside Netflix’s ‘Call My Agent The Movie’: George Clooney Cameo, Cannes Shoot and Andrea’s Big Comeback (EXCLUSIVE)

Five years after the fourth and final season of the hit French series “Call My Agent!” won an International Emmy Award, the gang is back for a feature film that sends its beloved agent-turned-filmmaker Andréa Martel (Camille Cottin) into the south of France and straight into the chaos of a movie shoot gone off the rails.

The hotly anticipated Netflix movie also sees its characters return to the Cannes Film Festival, where the popular cast — Cottin, Fanny Sidney, Grégory Montel, Liliane Rovère, Laure Calamy, Nicolas Maury and Thibault de Montalembert — walked the red carpet in style on Friday. Like Mike White’s “The White Lotus,” which picked Cannes as the backdrop for Season 4, the production of “Call My Agent The Movie” is on the Croisette filming additional footage for backstage scenes around the Palais des Festivals.

In an interview with Variety at Cannes alongside co-writer Lison Daniel and director Émilie Noblet, Fanny Herrero, the series creator and co-writer of the film, said the movie will chart Andréa’s transformation as she pivots from super-agent to filmmaker, assembling a troubled production plagued by cast meltdowns, contract disputes and behind-the-scenes disasters in true “Call My Agent!” fashion. But the Cannes shoot suggests it will end well for Andréa’s movie. Picking up five years after the bittersweet end of the series, which saw Andréa fold her talent agency A.S.K., the film sees Andréa losing her lead actor just days before shooting starts. “She has to bring her old team back together,” the synopsis says, alluding to Mathias and his daughter, who have launched a talent agency, and Noémie, who became a producer.

Herrero said one of the biggest writing challenges was finding “the right organic plot” to bring everyone back together, not only because of scheduling conflicts but also because they “all went in different directions.” Mathias (Thibault de Montalembert) launches a talent agency with his daughter, while Noémie becomes a producer. Ultimately, Herrero and Daniel broadened the series’ canvas. “It’s very rich because it allows us to expand on what we’re telling about cinema, about the making of a film, about behind the scenes,” Herrero said.

The film starts within the conventions of the “Call My Agent!” series, “then we take the characters and the story elsewhere,” Herrero said. “At one point, the shooting of Andréa’s film begins, and we head to the south of France, into landscapes that are completely different from their usual Parisian backdrop.” Noblet, who had not been involved in the series, said she approached the film by following the “cinematic conventions” of “Call My Agent!” “We had a little more time and more budget, so it’s more sophisticated, but it’s actually the same rhythm,” Noblet continued.

The feature expands the franchise’s signature celebrity cameos with a pair of Hollywood stars, George Clooney and Eva Longoria, alongside French talent such as Laurent Lafitte, Vincent Macaigne and Laetitia Casta, among others.

“Lison and I used to fantasize about actually having an A-list American actor. At one point, we thought, ‘We’re making the “Call My Agent!” movie, so let’s go all out,’” said Herrero. “We weren’t crazy; we’d been given a little leeway. We weren’t in full-on delusional mode; the producers encouraged us in that regard,” she said, noting that the series’ global success had earned admiration from stars ranging from Brad Pitt to Cate Blanchett. Herrero revealed that Pierre-Antoine Capton, the boss of Mediawan, played a decisive role in securing Clooney — a good friend of his — for the film.

Herrero, Daniel and Noblet had the same constraint for the Clooney cameo. “It had to be a single unit of time, a single location, a single scene, and no more than one day. That’s what he’d given us. So we had to figure out how to coordinate that moment, both in the writing and in the directing,” Herrero said.

Clooney initially turned down the first version of his scene — which was a “comedy scene but with more slapstick,” Herrero said. Clooney ultimately worked closely with the writers on a new one that sees him meet Andréa (Cottin) and Noémie (Calamy).

“He said, ‘I want to do this — I love the show too much,’” Herrero recalled. “He got involved, he suggested ideas to us — it was a true collaboration.”

Noblet admitted she was intimidated directing Clooney for the first time. “Fanny and I went up to his room, and he said to me, ‘Tell me whatever you want; it’ll be fine.’ And that’s exactly how it went,” she said. “He was excellent, very professional. We shot for six hours, and he talked to the film crew between each take.”

Longoria’s cameo in the movie grew out of a real-life meeting in Paris with Herrero. Longoria had spoken to her about adapting the series for Latin America and expressed an interest in shooting more projects in France.

“We thought, why not offer her a little cameo in the movie? We loved the fact that she’s already connected to ‘Call My Agent!’ She’s also a fantastic comedy actress; she really adds a little extra spice to the film. And she said yes right away; she was super excited,” Herrero said.

Longoria plays a producer rather than an actress “because she’s actually a producer herself.”

“People are less aware that she’s also a producer. And we like to show that actresses can also eventually become producers, become powerful women — which is really the case with her. She’s truly an accomplished businesswoman.”

And while the movie marks a long-awaited reunion for fans, Herrero, Daniel and Noblet hinted it may not be the last.

“They’re still alive,” Herrero joked. “They haven’t stopped at all. No one’s dead, no career has ended. No one’s in prison. Anything’s possible.”